Expanding from a New Model: Line 204 Phase III — 2029

One of the sudden and surprising flashpoints in the debate over Calgary’s future as an urbane and sustainable metropolis has been the fate of the Calgary Farmers’ Market on the site of the former Canadian Forces Currie Barracks. Although it is the stated aim of the 200-acre site’s owner, the Crown-administered Canada Lands Company, and of city planners alike to transform the location into “a richer mix of land uses, housing types, and servicing innovations to achieve a more complete community” (Canada Lands Company, 2008:2), a report from The Calgary Herald’s Sean Myers would suggest that in spite of the Calgary Farmers’ Market operating for as few as three days a week, any contemplation of permitting it to decamp from the Currie Barracks upon the October 2009 expiry of its lease "would be a crime," in the words of at least one regular customer interviewed for Myers’ story, on the grounds that "this place is a destination" for Calgary residents and visitors alike (2008:B2). Yet the Calgary Farmers’ Market is but one of several commercial and residential targets along the southern flank of Calgary’s core — along with such locations as the Deerfoot Meadows retail complex and Mount Royal College, as cases in point — that simultaneously are poorly served by previous plans for mass transit in the city and are prime targets for site-specific intensification as Calgary evolves into a more vibrant and viable urban form, and it will be one of the destinations that stands to benefit greatly from a substantial but strategic capital investment in a light rail connector route that brings all of these key destinations into the orbit of an increasingly robust city-wide mass transit network.

Starting from the Phase II terminus at Ogden Station, Phase III would continue underground east by southeast, running for a portion of the route directly beneath Jack Setters Park, for about 1,600 metres before bridging the Bow River and settling into a surface right of way at Heritage Meadows Way SE, proceeding a total of 1,300 metres further to arrive at Deerfoot Meadows Station, where Heritage Meadows Way intersects 11 Street SE. From there, the line would continue across Heritage Drive SE to Heritage Gate and enter an abandoned railway corridor before rising to meet 58 Avenue SE, arriving after a total of 1,800 metres to the intersection with Burbank Road SE at Burns Industrial Station, and then proceeding a further 800 metres along 58 Avenue SE to arrive at Manchester Station, where 58 Avenue intersects Third Street SE. At a westward distance of 300 metres from that location, the line would enter a portal and curve south by southwest below grade for 900 metres before arriving at a metro interchange with Chinook Station on Line 201; from there, the line would curve west and continue underground for 1,200 metres to Mayfair Station, beneath the intersection of Elbow Drive and Malibou Road SW, and then proceed a total of 2,400 metres on a line following the Glenmore Causeway and descending to a route paralleling the western shore of the Glenmore Reservoir to arrive under the intersection of 54 Avenue and 19 Street SW at Glenmore Park Station. The line would continue north by northwest from there for 1,600 to arrive at Garrison Circle Station, beneath the roundabout at Garrison Boulevard and Flanders Avenue SW, before crossing underneath Crowchild Trail SW for 700 metres to Currie Station, at the junction of Caen Avenue and Quesnay Wood Drive SW, and proceeding a further 900 metres to reach its Phase III terminus at College Station, underneath the existing Calgary Transit terminal at the west gate to the Mount Royal College complex.

The total capital investment required for the Glenmore phase of Line 204 comes to $2,250-million, a figure that could be carried over thirty years in instalments of $113-million from 2030 onward, or financed through an MSI-equivalent funding mechanism from 2026 to 2029 in four instalments of $563-million. The details of the necessary capital investment are identified as follows:

Glenmore Metro Track and Way of 8.00 km
@ $155-million per km: $1,240-million

plus six metro stations (Chinook, Mayfair, Glenmore Park, Garrison Circle, Currie, College)
@ $92-million each: $ 552-million

Glenmore Surface Track and Way of 4.00 km
@ $25-million per km: $ 100-million

plus three surface stations (Deerfoot Meadows, Burns Industrial, Manchester)
@ $10-million each: $ 30-million

30 Street Yard: $ 200-million

Rolling Stock of 32 LRVs (Avanto)
@ $4-million each: $ 128-million

The capital investment in Phase III of Line 204 is warranted for a number of reasons related to mass transit enhancement and community building. In the first instance, this third phase of Line 204 would thoroughly address and build upon the aspirations of the "CFB West Master Plan", which anticipates "improved service, in the form of longer hours and more frequent service to Parade Square, Mount Royal College and other activity areas", the Calgary Farmers' Market among them, in conjunction with enhanced connections to Chinook Station and the downtown core and with effective transit circulation within the Currie Barracks lands (City of Calgary, 2000:163). Furthermore, this phase affords a valuable and useful mass transit alternative with city-wide light rail connectivity for a Deerfoot Meadows retail and commercial complex that identifies an employee, customer, and visitor throughput of 120,000people per day (Ivanhoe Cambridge, 2008). In addition, this alignment is compatible with the objectives of the City of Calgary's "Glenmore Trail Land Use Study", wherein the underground component of Line 204 adjacent to Glenmore Trail would permit the retention of the northern right of way along that artery from Macleod Trail to 14 Street SW as park space and residential development (City of Calgary, 2006b:29). Perhaps most crucially, the College Station terminus ties Mount Royal College's 8,346 full-time students, 2,063 employees, and 58,332 part-time, extension, and Mount Royal Conservatory students (Mount Royal College, 2008) into Calgary's transportation network more effectively and more reliably than the current transportation system allows. All of these factors point to a southern arc for Line 204 that pays its way by drawing more passengers into a more robust system that moves more people, more effectively, through more key locations in Calgary — with the added benefit of drawing a nexus for sustainable agriculture more tightly into the embrace of more mobile and more willing Calgarians.

Works Cited

Canada Lands Company CLC Limited (2008). “Information Sheet: Currie Barracks, Calgary, Alberta”. URL as of 22 Jul 2008 http://www.clc.ca/en/pr/factsheets/curriebarracks.pdf

City of Calgary (2000). “CFB West Master Plan”. URL as of 26 Mar 2008 http://www.calgary.ca/docgallery/bu/planning/pdf/cfb_west/cfb_west_one.pdf

City of Calgary (2006b). “Glenmore Trail Land Use Study”. URL as of 26 Mar 2008 http://www.calgary.ca/docgallery/bu/planning/pdf/glenmore_land_use_study.pdf

Ivanhoe Cambridge (2008). “Deerfoot Meadows: Corporate — Power Centre”. URL as of 22 Jul 2008 http://www.deerfootmeadows.com/Corporate/Site1/

Mount Royal College (2008). “Fast Facts: About MRC — Mount Royal College”. URL as of 22 Jul 2008 http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/aboutmrc/fastfacts.shtml

Myers, Sean (2008). “Supporters rally behind market: Site developer 'listening' to boosters”. The Calgary Herald, 22 July 2008, p. B2. URL as of 22 Jul 2008 http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=5d3c3d9d-8951-4269-b943-7286442e494e