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Building for the Future Green Line LRT and Calgary Event Centre play key roles in transforming Calgary
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
Green Line LRT 9 Avenue N. rendering.
Event Centre, LRT will play key roles in transforming Calgary
By Jim Timlick
Between the struggles faced by the oil and gas sector and the challenges posed by the COVID19 pandemic, 2020 could ultimately go down as one of the most difficult years ever in the history of Calgary.
While neither situation is likely to be resolved in the short term, there is a growing sense of optimism building about the city’s future. Perhaps one of the most tangible bits of evidence of that growing optimism is the fact that the city is about to embark on two of the most ambitious building projects in its 146year history.
Preliminary work recently began on the Green Line light rail transit (LRT) project, which at a projected cost of $4.9 billion makes it the largest infrastructure project in Calgary’s history. Later this year, construction is expected to begin on a new $550 million, stateoftheart Event Centre to replace the aging Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Green Line LRT is being funded by the three levels of government and is expected to create 12,000 direct new jobs and another 8,000 spinoff jobs as part of the first phase of construction. The cost of the Event Centre is being split by the City of Calgary and the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. (CSEC) and is likewise expected to create thousands of new employment opportunities.
GREEN LIGHT FOR GREEN LINE
The first phase of the Green Line LRT will run 20 kilometres and will connect 16th Avenue in north Calgary with 126th Avenue in the south end of the city. It will complement the existing Red Line and Blue Line LRT lines already in place. Preliminary work has already begun on relocating some utilities and landfills as well as separating the Green Line from a nearby CN Rail spur line. Construction is currently expected to begin later this year pending the conclusion of discussions with the province on due diligence.
Michael Thompson, Green Line general manager for the City of Calgary, says the
project will have a transformative effect on both Calgarians and their city. A study conducted by the City of Calgary suggests the Green Line will save Calgarians about 10,000 hours a day in travel time and allow some twocar families to ditch their second vehicle. More importantly, Thompson says it will serve as a catalyst for redevelopment in downtown Calgary where office vacancy rates have soared in recent years.
“Transit is one of those things that attracts that sort of next generation of workers. They’re really looking for vibrant spaces with great access to public transit,” he says. “If we want to think about how we make Calgary competitive in the future economy, we have to start thinking about how we make it easier for that next generation of worker to move around using transit.”
One of the more unique aspects of the Green Line project is that it will use a DesignBuildandFinance model, which involves awarding a single contract for design, construction, and partial financing.
“It will really put the designer and the contractor working together on the same team,” says Thompson. “We think whenever you have good designers and contractors working close together there’s a really good synergy there. It allows the teams to come up with innovative solutions and it gives them the flexibility to really drive better value for the citizens of Calgary.”
Unlike the city’s two existing LRT lines, the Green Line will use new “low floor” trains that will allow users to more easily embark or disembark from the vehicle.
“The existing trains have served us well and they continue to serve us well, but it’s really 1960s technology,” says Thompson. “These cars
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Green Line LRT 16 Avenue rendering.
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As with any project of this scale, the Green Line will have to deal with a number of construction challenges. One of those challenges will be the geology and higher water tables in the city’s urban downtown core. Calgary will also be competing for skilled construction workers with other cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Seattle who are undertaking their own transit projects.
“We’re definitely not the only project out there so we need to make sure we have a competitive project that’s attractive to companies to bid on,” says Thompson.
Some questions have been raised as to why Calgary is going ahead with the Green Line project at a time when public transit use is down as a result of the pandemic. Thompson says that the expectation is that transit ridership numbers will rebound once most people have been immunized and are working in an office environment again.
As recently as 2017, the Event Centre appeared to be dead in the water when the parties involved couldn’t work out a deal. An Event Centre assessment committee was struck later that year following the civic election and a new deal was worked out that will see the city and CSEC split the cost of the new $550million facility that will serve as a new home to the NHL Flames, WHL Hitmen, and NLL Roughnecks, as well as host concerts and other events.
Jeff Davison, a Calgary city councillor who chaired the Event Centre committee, says that while the Saddledome remains one of the city’s most iconic structures, it’s nearing the end of its lifespan.
Construction of the Event Centre is scheduled to begin later this year and is expected to complete in 2024. It will be located north of Stampede Park on a twoblock piece of property the city acquired in a land swap with the Calgary Stampede. The Saddledome will be demolished once work on the new facility is complete.
It is expected to be a major catalyst for investment and redevelopment in Calgary’s Riv
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ers District, including a number of highrise residential developments. In addition, Davison says the city’s projections show the facility will generate approximately $400 million in revenue for the city over the term of the 35year deal with CSEC, including a share of the naming rights and ticket revenues. About $75 million of that amount will be invested in Leader in Signamateur sports and local organizations. Last June, the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), a wholly owned subsidiary Solutions Since 1966 of the City of Calgary, announced the firms that had been selected to lead the design and construction of the Event Centre. The majority of those firms are based in Calgary including codesigner Dialog and CANA Construction Management.
“Absolutely, it was by design,” says Davison. “From the getgo, this had to be a project by Calgarians for Calgarians. Part of our goal right now is putting hardworking Calgarians back to work. That was incredibly important to the idea of what we were building even prepandemic.”
The city has held several online public consultations about the project and Davison says the response has been phenomenal. While it will be sometime before the final design for the new facility is unveiled, Davison says one of the recurring messages from members of the public is that the facility needs to be integrated into the neighbouring community.
“I imagine it will have a unique Calgary look. I don’t know what that will be yet, but the idea is that it’s got to be part of the community. You shouldn’t be walking down the road and all of a sudden there’s this giant spaceship in the middle of the road,” he says, adding that one of the biggest design challenges with the 19,000seat facility will be incorporating it into a tight parcel of land and still offer streetfacing retail space.
Davison says he believes the Event Centre will not only change the landscape of the city, but also the way Calgary views itself.
“When things start coming out of the ground and we start seeing what’s possible and what we’ve accomplished as Calgarians, that’s a really positive thing. Looking at all the things we’ve been through, the economic decline, the crash in oil, the pandemic, Calgarians have to remember we’re a resilient city and there’s probably no more important time in our history to remember that.” n
