GREEN LINE DESIGNS
A cable stayed bridge, notable for its tall vertical pillar with support cables, is one of the bridge types being explored for the Green Line LRT project.
For the first time since the city announced the Green Line’s new path through Calgary’s core, residents can see what it might look like in their communities.
Getting the LRT through downtown has been a thorny issue for city council for months. The Green Line project team has been working since July to come up with a new route for the four-kilometre stretch through the core after city officials warned previous plans could see the $4.9-billion transit project go over budget by as much as 10 per cent.
The city is hosting its first open house on the new Green Line plans Wednesday. More events are planned throughout March, and Calgarians can also share their thoughts online.
In February, the Green Line committee asked to push a crucial vote on the project to April, giving the city another month to consult the public about the LRT expansion plans.
The Green Line committee is scheduled to see a recommendation about how to proceed on April 23, with a final city council vote to follow just days later.
Coun. Druh Farrell said that gives Calgarians more time to wrap their heads around the new transit plans in their neighbourhoods.
“We engaged for four years on the previous plan and now we’re really abbreviating it as we engage with these very substantial changes,” she said Wednesday.
Here are some of the renderings the city shared that offer a glimpse at what the Green Line’s future could look like.
BRIDGE OVER THE BOW RIVER
Previous plans for the Green Line called for a deep tunnel through downtown, travelling north underneath the Bow River. To make it easier for people to actually get on the train, the city now is planning for a shallower tunnel that emerges at 2nd Avenue S.W. and a bridge over the Bow River.
The bridge will also take the train over a part of Prince’s Island and river pathways in the area.
The city released images of four bridge options being considered, with possibilities for different support column designs or arches.
Farrell said the city will need to decide whether it wants to keep the bridge simple or build a “signature bridge.”
She added there are more design questions to be answered, including what the bridge looks like from underneath since it will run over existing pathways.
CENTRE STREET PATH
One of the biggest changes to the Green Line’s previous alignment is street-level travel on Centre Street N., south of 16th Avenue. Originally, the LRT was to travel underground through the Crescent Heights neighbourhood.
Some businesses and residents have raised concerns suggesting the train could divide the community, but others say they welcome it as an opportunity for traffic calming and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.
The Green Line would take up two of the four lanes of traffic on Centre Street, running along the middle of the road as a low-floor train.
Farrell said one of her top concerns is getting Centre Street right.
“How it’s integrated is looking better than the original ideas I saw. I was freaking out, frankly,” she said. “They really worked at making it ‘land lighter’ into these communities.”
The Ward 7 councillor is also in favour of adding a station at 9th Avenue, something area businesses have asked for.
“It seems really short-sighted if we put a train on the surface and it travels through Crescent Heights but doesn’t stop,” she said.
Farrell said there are also still questions about how the city will deal with parking in Crescent Heights and how to prevent clogging Edmonton Trail with too much traffic if there’s less capacity on Centre Street.
How (Centre) is integrated is looking better than the original ideas I saw. I was freaking out, frankly.
2ND AVENUE S.W. STATION
After the Green Line travels underground through downtown, plans call for it to come to the surface with a station at 2nd Street and 2nd Avenue S.W.
It’s a big change for the businesses and residents in Eau Claire and Chinatown, after previous plans for an underground route.
It’s also a complicated piece of the Green Line; when the LRT surfaces from the underground tunnel it stops at a station, and then goes over a bridge to the north side of the Bow River.