Tunnel initial winner of Calgary Green LRT evaluation
Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
City of Calgary
The Green Line Light Rail Transit (LRT) project team has completed the first stage of evaluation for the project's Centre City alignment in Calgary, AB, Canada.
The Green Line LRT will connect from the Inglewood/Ramsay area in the southeast to Crescent Heights/Mount Pleasant in the north, via the Beltline and downtown core. The transition from downtown to the north segment of the line requires the LRT to cross the Bow River to connect with Centre Street North.
The results of the evaluation show that Option D best meets this criteria. This option would see the Green Line LRT run underground from the Beltline (Beltline route is yet to be determined), under 2 Street S.W. and under the Bow River. The line would resurface at approximately 20 Avenue and Centre Street N.
While the underground option was the highest ranked in the evaluation process, further analysis is required before the project team takes a formal recommendation to council within the next year. Technical design, economic analysis and further discussions with the public will form the official recommendation.
“This is an exciting first step in designing the downtown segment of the Green Line LRT,” said Jon Lea, project manager. “We’re starting to get a sense of what this project could mean for downtown and we’re looking forward to continuing our work with Calgarians to further shape this new transit line.”
The city examined five possible routes in downtown, with various combinations of elevated, street level and underground running service. Each option was evaluated using the criteria of environmental sustainability, technical feasibility, cost, alignment with city policies, urban development and public input.
The Green Line’s route in the Beltline will undergo a similar evaluation process. The Green Line team will evaluate underground, street-level or elevated guideway options on 10 Avenue, 11 Avenue or 12 Avenue S. Public input will be an important component of this evaluation and information about opportunities to participate are now available online.
The Green Line will be 40 kilometers (25 miles) long and will nearly double the size of the current network. End-to-end, the line will connect the Northern Hills communities and Seton to downtown and is estimated to serve 41 million passengers annually.
