Three different routes for Calgary’s Green Line have been offered up to an executive committee, two of which include elevated options through the city’s core. The plans were created following consultation with downtown businesses, the city says. “Each option represents a different approach to delivering rapid transit through downtown, with different benefits, impacts, costs, risks and long-term outcomes,” the city said in a report released Tuesday. The three options include 10 Avenue and Second Street S.W. elevated alignment, 10 Avenue and First Street S.E. elevated alignment and 10 Avenue and Second Street S.W. surface alignment. “The three shortlisted options were compared using criteria that reflect the key considerations influencing council’s decision and the areas where meaningful differences between the options exist, including cost and value, downtown integration, mobility, ridership, constructability and future network connectivity,” the report reads. “The comparison identifies the benefits, impacts and trade-offs associated with each option. It does not assign scores, apply weighting or rank the alternatives.” According to the city, the first option is “the most advanced design” that would be able to handle the highest number of riders. It would include a downtown connection point near the Red and Blue Line network. It would require more funding – costing approximately $1.7 billion – and would include an elevated track along Second Street S.W., which the city knows would pose “significant impacts on adjacent properties, public spaces, and construction activities in a constrained downtown corridor.” The second option, while also using an elevated track, would shift that challenge to First Street S.W., but may reduce some of the overall impact to area businesses. It would also require additional funding, carrying a price tag of $1.3 billion, but there would be no Beltline Station. The third option, the most affordable at $850 million, ditches the idea of an elevated option altogether. It would include a Beltline Station and would integrate rapid transit into the street environment. The downside is that it would have much less ridership than Option 1 and nominally less than Option 2. The three options are expected to be reviewed by a committee and voted on in a timely fashion in order to “advance planning, design, procurement, targeted engagement for the selected option.” “Timely direction will keep the project aligned with the funding agreement and provide greater certainty for project costs, procurement planning, and coordination with the Green Line LRT – SE Project already under construction,” the city said. Phase 1 development of the Green Line has so far cost $1.8 billion.
