Costs climb for west LRT leg
Overruns likely to eat into funds for southeast transit upgrades
The total cost of the west LRT continues to creep upwards, thanks to land costs and the city’s decision to stop sidestepping council’s public art policy, aldermen will be told next week.
The city is keeping the actual dollar figure a secret for now, as 12 more property acquisition deals have yet to be settled at the Land Compensation Board.
But whatever the city pays beyond the roughly $1.4-billion overall budget stands to come out of Green Trip transit funds that are now earmarked for future southeast transit upgrades meant as a precursor to that quadrant’s own LRT line.
On top of the $35 million previously revealed in construction cost overruns for the six-station west LRT, a city report confirms that the budget will grow by a further $8.6 million to attach public art to the project — as is demanded by a policy stating that one per cent of any infrastructure budget must be spent on public art.
That money should have already been in the new C-train line’s budget, but a now-retired city transportation executive “circumvented” that policy, said Ald. John Mar.
It’s not big dollars . . . but it adds up CITY OFFICIAL GORDON STEWART
“It’s extremely unfortunate that that’s been the case because there was a policy that was put in place, and a policy’s a policy until council changes that,” Mar said Friday.
Council could decide to once again skate around its art guideline and make an exemption here. Because it hasn’t yet been commissioned, any sculptures or installations won’t be erected in time for the line’s projected March 2013 opening.
“In principle I would love to see the public art go forward. If we are looking at significant cost overruns, then we have to reassess the timeline on which we proceed with the public art,” said Ald. Richard Pootmans, the other member whose ward includes the west LRT route.
Pootmans declined to discuss it any further, at least not before a closeddoor discussion senior administration and council’s transportation committee will hold Wednesday on the status of land claims that are straining the west LRT budget.
A senior city official declined even to provide an update to February 2011 figures which show that the city had already paid out $115 million in property compensation and fees.
“We’re concerned that if we get information out there it’s going to detrimentally affect how we settle the remaining things,” said Gordon Stewart, director of transportation infrastructure. He confirmed there are a dozen claims still outstanding on land expropriated for the LRT line.
Last fall, the Herald reported that the city had offered $21 million for the properties which last year remained unsettled, while those businesses and landowners had claimed an additional $41 million at provincial hearings.
Overall, it could put the city above $200 million in land acquisition costs for the eight-kilometre train line, including the deal to displace and rebuild Ernest Manning High School.
Mar said he’s “a little bit concerned” about the overruns on land costs, but acknowledges there was a risk. He added that he’s “very concerned about the emotional toll” on people whose homes were expropriated to build the line.
Council has already green-lighted a plan to cover west LRT overruns with the Alberta government’s transit grants, which are mostly set aside for new light-rail vehicles and a future busway along the southeast LRT alignment.
While the report released Friday sheds little light on the full scope of cost overruns, it does explain somewhat further the $35 million in construction overruns confirmed last fall.
In some cases, contracts the city thought covered all a project’s requirements turned out not to include things like grass seeding, Stewart said. In others, the west LRT project office chose higher-quality materials such as more durable finishes than originally planned to lower future maintenance costs.
It also cost more than expected to deal with contamination at a former gas pump site around the underground Westbrook station. Plus, a few add-ons were thrown in late in the game, largely at community requests, the report explains.
“We’ve had to adjust a little bit here in the height of a sound wall, or a little bit more landscaping,” Stewart said. “It’s not big dollars, but . . . it adds up.”
The overruns total less than one per cent of the overall west LRT budget, Mar noted.
The project, the costliest ever commissioned by city hall, is more than 80 per cent complete. The city is past the point where it risks more major unforeseen budget increases, Stewart said.
With the tracks complete — though not the overhead power traction lines — the contractor will run a test train on the new line early next week.