A guide to Calgary's LRT debates
The current controversy around the Green Line LRT in Calgary is nothing new – LRT planning in Calgary has always been controversial. In fact, the discussion taking place today re: underground vs at grade is exactly what happened back in the late ‘70s when the idea of LRT was first introduced to Calgary.
Yes, the original planners and City Council back in the early ‘80s looked at building an LRT line from downtown to Southcentre Mall with the tracks being underground along 8th Ave. But they quickly determined it would be too expensive and decided to go with at-grade LRT tracks in the downtown so the entire line to the suburbs could be built. And while some of the current generation of planners and politicians think this was a poor decision, it resulted an LRT system that became the model for many cities across North America.
Today, Calgary’s LRT system has one of the highest ridership in North America but not without its ongoing controversies.
Should the City continued the LRT underground through the entire downtown when it was first built. The idea was discussed but it was determined the costs were too high. However, space for an underground station under the Municipal Building was created as future LRT plans included an underground LRT in the downtown. Fast forward 40 years and the idea of tunnelling underground for a new LRT route linking the north and southeast communities with downtown resulted in huge debate that eventually lead to the Province taking over the project from the City. The City wanted to go underground the Province at grade or elevated.
Today, we struggle to make the same compromise, because adding more LRT into the downtown at-grade is difficult given downtown’s 7th Ave Transit Corridor is at capacity with respect to train movements. An elevated LRT also doesn’t work because of all the +15 bridges. And a downtown tunnel is prohibitively expensive.
Let’s move on other controversies….
NW Controversy
The early LRT plan had the NW leg of the LRT being built second (after the south leg), but because of protest from Sunnyside residents who thought it would be too noisy and separate them from the 10th Street NW shops, it was delayed, and the NE leg of the LRT got built first without any controversy.
Also, the NW leg of the LRT was supposed to go through the middle of the University of Calgary to Shaganappi Trail at Market Mall and then to Crowchild, but the UofC didn’t want the LRT on campus, so the route got changed to go along Crowchild with a station at the eastern edge of campus – not ideal but city building is never ideal.
Also remember the original NW Leg only went to the University (four stations) as that is all the budget would allow for (like the current Green Line plan), with extensions added as ridership justified and funding became available. Even as a shorter leg, the NW leg was successful as it linked SAIT, Alberta University of the Arts and University of Calgary to the NE and South LRT lines, making it very popular with 1,000s of post-secondary students and staff using it every weekday (this is not the case with the shortened proposed SE LRT line). It also served the Jubilee Theatre and McMahon Stadium.
The NW leg of the LRT through Sunnyside was delayed due to the protest of neighbours. Now it is one of the reasons people want to live there.
When the NW LRT leaves the City Centre it travel up the middle of Crowchild Trail which means communities on both sides of the station have equal walks to the station. However, it also means long walks for residents - often in harsh exposed outdoor conditions in the winter.
West LRT
While less controversial, the West LRT took 30 years to get built, opening in December 2012. There were concerns about the at-grade tracks along 17th Ave NW near the 45th Street Station so it continued underground after the Westbrook Station, but as open-cut, rather than a tunnel to save costs.
Calgary’s first underground station at Westbrook Station was supposed to be the catalyst for a mixed-use urban village, much like Bridges in Bridgeland, but now 10+ year later nothing has happened.
Note: The promise of LRT as a catalyst for development is rarely realized immediately. It has taken 30+ years for many of the original NW LRT stations e.g. Sunnyside Station and Dalhousie to attract residential development next to them.
The Westbrook Station sit in the middle of an empty field that was suppose to be developed as an urban village. The City built a branch library, sold the land to a developer but noting happened, It is ideally located next to mall with a Safeway and Walmart. The urban living housing market in Calgary has been strong for a decade with several new urban villages at various stages of development - Bridges, East Village, University District.
MAX BRT
In the late ’10s the City of Calgary unveiled four crosstown BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) routes, to complement the downtown-centric LRT system. The SW BRT route was opposed by the Eagle Ridge community it eventually got built.
However, the current ridership has been disappointing. It was predicted that by 2024 the Yellow Line would have 12,500 riders/day, but in the first quarter of 2023 the number was around 2,110. The prediction for the Orange line was 7,000/day, but it is at 5,520/day, the Teal line was estimated at 3,100/day and is at 2,030 and the Purple line 8,800/day but is only 1,530 (These are the latest numbers supplied by the City of Calgary in September 2024).
Predicting what the ridership will be for the new Green Line is anybody’s guess given the ever-changing world we live in. And without significant ridership there will be a huge deficit in the Green Line’s operating cost.
The BRT Max Yellow line was controversial along 14th Street SW where residents protested it wasn’t needed and would result in longer commutes for drivers. Photo credit: Global News Calgary
Green Line LRT
The Green Line was originally planned as a BRT with dedicated lanes from North Pointe to SETON, but when the federal government offered $1.5B for LRT in July 2015, the city jumped at the money. Calgary’s City Council quickly promised if the province matched the federal contribution, Calgary could build the Green Line as an LRT vs BRT for approximately $4.5B.
Unfortunately, the politicians didn’t do the math to determine if the cost of converting from BRT to LRT was feasible at $4.5B. It wasn’t - from the beginning.
The project got delayed as the real costs of the project were calculated, as well as inflation became a factor as did COVID. With each delay the costs went up, a new review was needed and the route got shorter and shorter to fit the money available.
Eventually the route got so short many - including the UPC provincial government thought - it made no sense to build as planned given the limited ridership it would generate. The last proposal was to build just 7 stations from Eau Claire in downtown to Shepard.
While others thought the Green Line must be built not matter what the costs or how short it would be.
There is another underlying Green Line controversy as the North Leg would generate more ridership than the Southeast Leg and should have been given priority based on potential ridership data.
The North Leg also has the potential of linking to the airport and to Airdrie’s 100,000+ population. Why wasn’t it built first?
But like the West leg, the North LRT will probably have to wait for 30 years to get built after this fiasco - I hope not.
Need To Think Beyond The Green Line
Calgary is currently struggling to integrate five or six different transit opportunities, each with their own issues.
The Green Line really is two separate projects - the Southeast Leg and the North Central Leg and needs to be planned and developed as such.
What is really needed is a review of the entire Downtown Transit infrastructure and what is needed to accommodate transit growth for the next 50+ years. Calgary needs a Downtown Transit Infrastructure Plan integrating LRT, BRT and various types of buses.
It should also look at the need for a downtown central station and where would be the best location. Should it be near the BMO Centre and Scotia Place arena… or should it be along the CPR Tracks, perhaps under the Calgary Tower where the VIA Rail station still exists… or some other location, maybe under the Municipal Building or the new Olympic Plaza.
The Downtown Plan and Central Station must also incorporate a regional rail system (Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks and High River) which could also include a future high-speed train from Edmonton to Calgary and Banff and include the Airport Connector.
We need to think bigger not smaller!
Creating an elevate LRT route in the downtown will be difficult with the +15 bridges on almost every block. The 7th Avenue transit at-grade corridor is at capacity and already moves at a snails pace through the downtown.
Last Word
Calgary isn’t alone in its struggle to build transit infrastructure. Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver are all struggling with controversial LRT projects. In today’s world, every major infrastructure project is controversial and underfunded.
And it is important to remember, city building is a continuous series of compromises and controversies.