The two regions of Calgary whose needs for light rail transit service will remain most pressing with the buildout of Lines 201 and 202 will be the northern and southeastern sectors of the city. Both of these areas share several points in common, among them a mixture of residential and industrial development, a fusion of old Calgary and new suburbia, and a transportation network that with the rapid growth of the city’s population has become increasingly congested and constrained. The key point on which the northern and southeastern sectors differ is the interest that has been shown thus far in serving their respective residents and employees with effective light rail solutions.
Perhaps the most telling example of Calgary Transit’s left hand not knowing what its right hand is doing is the difference in vision for a city of 1.25-million between mass transit service proposals for the northern and southeastern sectors of the city. Light rail transit is identified as a necessity from Inglewood to the far reaches of southeast Seton in a 2005 Calgary Transit report on the basis of a service population of 184,000, employment of 107,000 (Calgary Transit, 2005:3), and the active implementation of transit-orientated development, particularly “at stations located north of Glenmore Trail” en route to the downtown core, as a means of enhancing daily ridership by 22 percent over what could be achieved merely through building the southeast leg of C-Train Line 203 (2005:4). Even the substantial capital investment necessary for the Eau Claire Metro (Clifton ND Lea et alia, 2006:6) is not enough to deter the long-range planning for the southeast leg of the C-Train system.
In that context, it might strike observers as odd that Calgary Transit’s “North Central Calgary Transit Corridor Review” (2006c), filed a mere 13 months later, makes no mention whatsoever of transit-orientated development. These observers might also find it peculiar that the authors of the report make plain their opinion of the 119,000 residents (2006c:9) and 36,700 employees (2006c:11) located within one mile of Centre Street North between Beddington Trail and the Bow River — accounting for 48 percent of the residential base and 64 percent of the employment base in the projected North Calgary service area at the 1.25-million population horizon (2006c:8) — in their argument that because the outlying northern reaches of the city are expected to generate 3,900 of a possible 7,000 peak hour passengers per hour (2006c:17), and because “a central, north/south route suitable for LRT service is not readily available” (2006c:24), the north-central leg of the C-Train might as well be built along the Nose Creek Valley in spite of “limited opportunities to provide access to the line” (2006c:26). Such simple building blocks for building cities as metro construction, streetscaping, transit-orientated development, and the creation of a vital and pedestrian-friendly retail and residential environment along Centre Street all fall by the wayside in a putative vision that most observers would have great difficulty actually discerning, due in no small measure to a poverty of institutional imagination in which the inner neighbourhoods of Centre Street, petrified in amber, make their own way in isolation from the rest of Calgary “by the existing combination of [bus rapid transit], mainline, and express bus services” (2006c:26).
It is in the spirit of correcting this disparity in civic vision that a new solution for building the second phase of Line 203 becomes obvious. On one level, this new second phase is all about building on what has previously come to fruition, most apparently in terms of the southeast extension of the line from Douglasdale to Seton, but most importantly in terms of using the Phase I terminus at Eau Claire as a gateway to northbound service. When one investigates the strategy more closely, however, the Centre Street Metro that is the linchpin of northbound Line 203 is more than a tool for investing in the value proposition of the line — it is a tool for investing in the value proposition of Centre Street itself as a magnet for people, business, industry, and sustainable development in close and accessible proximity to Calgary’s core.
The most complex element of the Centre Street Metro would be its initial 900-metre extension from the completed Eau Claire Station, from which a tunnel would proceed underneath the Bow River, Prince’s Island, and Memorial Drive, rising slightly through a portal beneath the intersection of Crescent Road and Centre A Street NW before curving underneath Centre Street at an approximate 25-metre depth to arrive at Crescent Heights Station, at the intersection with Eighth Avenue NW. From that point, the Centre Street Metro would rise slightly, continuing another 900 metres to arrive at Transcanada Station, 15 metres deep at the junction of Centre Street and 17 Avenue NW. At a further distance of 1,000 metres would come Tuxedo Park Station, ten metres deep at the intersection of Centre Street and 28 Avenue NW. The initial phase of the Centre Street Metro would end 1,200 metres northward at Highland Park Station, where Centre Street meets 40 Avenue NW.
Conversely, almost all of the southeast extension of Line 203 from Douglasdale Station would be accommodated on existing surface rights of way (Calgary Transit, 2005:2). The first segment of this extension would proceed for 3,400 metres in surface corridors paralleling 114 Avenue SE and 40 Street SE to arrive at Shepard Station, near the intersection of 126 Avenue and 48 Street SE. From there, the extension would enter a surface corridor adjacent to 52 Street SE, travelling 1,400 metres to Prestwick Station, where 52 Street meets Prestwick Gate SE, and a further 1,200 metres to McKenzie Towne Station, where McKenzie Towne Link SE. The southeast extension would proceed an additional 2,700 metres along 52 Street, crossing Highway 22X through a grade-separated portal before arriving at Auburn Bay Station, approximately at the intersection of 52 Street and 178 Avenue SE. After continuing 1,800 metres along 52 Street SE, this phase of the southeast extension of Line 203 would turn east through an underground portal to surface and arrive a further 200 metres along at Hospital Station, at the intersection of 45 Street and Front Street SE, before curving southward once more to end after 800 metres at Seton Station.
The total capital investment required for the Phase II extension of Line 203 comes to $1,642-million, a figure that could be carried over thirty years in instalments of $82-million from 2022 onward, or financed through an MSI-equivalent funding mechanism from 2018 to 2021 in four instalments of $411-million. The details of the necessary capital investment are identified as follows:
Centre Street Metro Track and Way of 4.80 km
@ $155-million per km: $744-million
plus four metro stations (Crescent Heights, Transcanada, Tuxedo Park, Highland Park)
@ $92-million each: $368-million
Southeast Surface Track and Way of 11.20 km
@ $25-million per km: $280-million
plus 0.40 km underpass
@ $155-million per km: $ 62-million
plus six surface stations (Shepard, Prestwick, McKenzie Towne, Auburn Bay, Hospital, Seton)
@ $10-million each: $ 60-million
Rolling Stock of 32 LRVs (Avanto)
@ $4-million each: $128-million
The completion of this second phase of Line 203 would allow for the immediate capture of 31,700 passengers per day between McKnight Boulevard and the Bow River, representing the 76 percent of the total daily ridership in 2005 of 41,500 (Calgary Transit, 2006c:15) that as of 2005 resided within one mile of Centre Street North between Beddington Trail and the Bow River (2006c:9), as well as for the immediate increase in capture to 46,200 passengers per day along the whole of the southeast leg of Line 203 (Calgary Transit, 2005:5). Transit-orientated development along the southeast leg of Line 203 would generate an additional 10,000 daily passengers (2005:5), with a further 10,000 daily passengers being feasible in conjunction with redevelopment on Centre Street as well.
Works Cited
Calgary Transit (2005). “Southeast LRT: Future Population, Employment and Ridership”. URL as of 20 Mar 2008 http://publicaccess.calgary.ca/lldm01/livelink.exe?func=ccpa.general&msgID=QKTTqrsqqA&msgAction=download&vernum=1
Calgary Transit (2006c). “North Central Calgary Transit Corridor Review”. URL as of 25 Mar 2008 http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/north_central_calgary_transit_corridor_review.pdf
Clifton ND Lea et alia (2006). “Southeast LRT Functional Planning Study, Phase III: Glenmore Trail to Elbow River”. URL as of 26 Mar 2008 http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/SE_LRT_Final_Report.pdf
Perhaps the most telling example of Calgary Transit’s left hand not knowing what its right hand is doing is the difference in vision for a city of 1.25-million between mass transit service proposals for the northern and southeastern sectors of the city. Light rail transit is identified as a necessity from Inglewood to the far reaches of southeast Seton in a 2005 Calgary Transit report on the basis of a service population of 184,000, employment of 107,000 (Calgary Transit, 2005:3), and the active implementation of transit-orientated development, particularly “at stations located north of Glenmore Trail” en route to the downtown core, as a means of enhancing daily ridership by 22 percent over what could be achieved merely through building the southeast leg of C-Train Line 203 (2005:4). Even the substantial capital investment necessary for the Eau Claire Metro (Clifton ND Lea et alia, 2006:6) is not enough to deter the long-range planning for the southeast leg of the C-Train system.
In that context, it might strike observers as odd that Calgary Transit’s “North Central Calgary Transit Corridor Review” (2006c), filed a mere 13 months later, makes no mention whatsoever of transit-orientated development. These observers might also find it peculiar that the authors of the report make plain their opinion of the 119,000 residents (2006c:9) and 36,700 employees (2006c:11) located within one mile of Centre Street North between Beddington Trail and the Bow River — accounting for 48 percent of the residential base and 64 percent of the employment base in the projected North Calgary service area at the 1.25-million population horizon (2006c:8) — in their argument that because the outlying northern reaches of the city are expected to generate 3,900 of a possible 7,000 peak hour passengers per hour (2006c:17), and because “a central, north/south route suitable for LRT service is not readily available” (2006c:24), the north-central leg of the C-Train might as well be built along the Nose Creek Valley in spite of “limited opportunities to provide access to the line” (2006c:26). Such simple building blocks for building cities as metro construction, streetscaping, transit-orientated development, and the creation of a vital and pedestrian-friendly retail and residential environment along Centre Street all fall by the wayside in a putative vision that most observers would have great difficulty actually discerning, due in no small measure to a poverty of institutional imagination in which the inner neighbourhoods of Centre Street, petrified in amber, make their own way in isolation from the rest of Calgary “by the existing combination of [bus rapid transit], mainline, and express bus services” (2006c:26).
It is in the spirit of correcting this disparity in civic vision that a new solution for building the second phase of Line 203 becomes obvious. On one level, this new second phase is all about building on what has previously come to fruition, most apparently in terms of the southeast extension of the line from Douglasdale to Seton, but most importantly in terms of using the Phase I terminus at Eau Claire as a gateway to northbound service. When one investigates the strategy more closely, however, the Centre Street Metro that is the linchpin of northbound Line 203 is more than a tool for investing in the value proposition of the line — it is a tool for investing in the value proposition of Centre Street itself as a magnet for people, business, industry, and sustainable development in close and accessible proximity to Calgary’s core.
The most complex element of the Centre Street Metro would be its initial 900-metre extension from the completed Eau Claire Station, from which a tunnel would proceed underneath the Bow River, Prince’s Island, and Memorial Drive, rising slightly through a portal beneath the intersection of Crescent Road and Centre A Street NW before curving underneath Centre Street at an approximate 25-metre depth to arrive at Crescent Heights Station, at the intersection with Eighth Avenue NW. From that point, the Centre Street Metro would rise slightly, continuing another 900 metres to arrive at Transcanada Station, 15 metres deep at the junction of Centre Street and 17 Avenue NW. At a further distance of 1,000 metres would come Tuxedo Park Station, ten metres deep at the intersection of Centre Street and 28 Avenue NW. The initial phase of the Centre Street Metro would end 1,200 metres northward at Highland Park Station, where Centre Street meets 40 Avenue NW.
Conversely, almost all of the southeast extension of Line 203 from Douglasdale Station would be accommodated on existing surface rights of way (Calgary Transit, 2005:2). The first segment of this extension would proceed for 3,400 metres in surface corridors paralleling 114 Avenue SE and 40 Street SE to arrive at Shepard Station, near the intersection of 126 Avenue and 48 Street SE. From there, the extension would enter a surface corridor adjacent to 52 Street SE, travelling 1,400 metres to Prestwick Station, where 52 Street meets Prestwick Gate SE, and a further 1,200 metres to McKenzie Towne Station, where McKenzie Towne Link SE. The southeast extension would proceed an additional 2,700 metres along 52 Street, crossing Highway 22X through a grade-separated portal before arriving at Auburn Bay Station, approximately at the intersection of 52 Street and 178 Avenue SE. After continuing 1,800 metres along 52 Street SE, this phase of the southeast extension of Line 203 would turn east through an underground portal to surface and arrive a further 200 metres along at Hospital Station, at the intersection of 45 Street and Front Street SE, before curving southward once more to end after 800 metres at Seton Station.
The total capital investment required for the Phase II extension of Line 203 comes to $1,642-million, a figure that could be carried over thirty years in instalments of $82-million from 2022 onward, or financed through an MSI-equivalent funding mechanism from 2018 to 2021 in four instalments of $411-million. The details of the necessary capital investment are identified as follows:
Centre Street Metro Track and Way of 4.80 km
@ $155-million per km: $744-million
plus four metro stations (Crescent Heights, Transcanada, Tuxedo Park, Highland Park)
@ $92-million each: $368-million
Southeast Surface Track and Way of 11.20 km
@ $25-million per km: $280-million
plus 0.40 km underpass
@ $155-million per km: $ 62-million
plus six surface stations (Shepard, Prestwick, McKenzie Towne, Auburn Bay, Hospital, Seton)
@ $10-million each: $ 60-million
Rolling Stock of 32 LRVs (Avanto)
@ $4-million each: $128-million
The completion of this second phase of Line 203 would allow for the immediate capture of 31,700 passengers per day between McKnight Boulevard and the Bow River, representing the 76 percent of the total daily ridership in 2005 of 41,500 (Calgary Transit, 2006c:15) that as of 2005 resided within one mile of Centre Street North between Beddington Trail and the Bow River (2006c:9), as well as for the immediate increase in capture to 46,200 passengers per day along the whole of the southeast leg of Line 203 (Calgary Transit, 2005:5). Transit-orientated development along the southeast leg of Line 203 would generate an additional 10,000 daily passengers (2005:5), with a further 10,000 daily passengers being feasible in conjunction with redevelopment on Centre Street as well.
Works Cited
Calgary Transit (2005). “Southeast LRT: Future Population, Employment and Ridership”. URL as of 20 Mar 2008 http://publicaccess.calgary.ca/lldm01/livelink.exe?func=ccpa.general&msgID=QKTTqrsqqA&msgAction=download&vernum=1
Calgary Transit (2006c). “North Central Calgary Transit Corridor Review”. URL as of 25 Mar 2008 http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/north_central_calgary_transit_corridor_review.pdf
Clifton ND Lea et alia (2006). “Southeast LRT Functional Planning Study, Phase III: Glenmore Trail to Elbow River”. URL as of 26 Mar 2008 http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/SE_LRT_Final_Report.pdf
1 comment:
I like the idea of a Centre St Metro better than a nose hill creek LRT, even tho Centre st is currently not a very dense area. IT is, however, a central area, and can be densified in the future.
I think building the SE LRT only to Douglasdale in the first phase is extremely pointless, since the line's main function is to bring people from the far Southeast to downtown and back, and that would be very inefficient with the line travelling through industrial area to reach the main residential area, only to stop with one station right on the fringe of the residential development as opposed to its core. I think it should go to Mckenzie Towne immediately, or at worst Shepard Centre.
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