Want to run Green Line trains on 7th Avenue? Sorry, there’s no room

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Much of the recent controversy over Calgary’s troubled Green Line LRT project stems from the plan to tunnel through the city centre.

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While many of us — including myself — have developed a new reluctance to send trains underground due to the cost involved, there is no question Calgary will have to look at some kind of downtown transit tunnel in the not-too-distant future.

One only has to witness the sea of humanity using transit of late.

Back in the middle of August, at the height of the afternoon rush on a Tuesday, I was walking westward on the sidewalk on 7th Avenue gawking at the Red and Blue Line trains passing by.

At City Hall station, it was obvious trains were packed.

Behind that one was a parade of other trains, each waiting at a traffic light for the track ahead to clear so they could proceed to the next stop.

For transit riders, running CTrains on the street means a slower commute because trains have to deal with traffic lights, a backlog of LRT traffic along the line, and the potential of unwanted intrusions from private vehicles and pedestrians.

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For the transit system itself, those same issues put a ceiling on capacity — as demonstrated by the long lineup of trains I saw waiting their turn to move forward on 7th Avenue.

The current downtown CTrain line is clearly maxed out and this can be fixed only by creating capacity with a tunnel under Stephen Avenue, as envisioned long ago, to separate the Red and Blue lines. This would also provide much-needed redundancy because currently, if anything goes wrong on 7th Avenue, the whole system is affected.

Such a project is even farther from reality than the Green Line and yet, in a letter penned on Sept. 3 by Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshan to Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, the province said it intended to seek new advice on having the Green Line “integrate the red and blue lines along 7th Ave.”

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The same letter expressed disapproval for the Green Line’s downtown tunnel, with the province announcing it would no longer fund the project in its latest, truncated form.

It’s not been made clear what is meant by “integrating” the Green Line with existing light rail but if people are envisioning more trains on 7th Avenue … that’s not going to happen.

Even now, the trains are running slightly less often during rush hours this fall compared to summer, with Calgary Transit saying on its website the adjustment was “to improve schedule adherence.” In other words, they had been running more trains than the system could sometimes accommodate, leading to delays.

Although the province will be taking another look at how the Green Line will run through downtown, I can offer easy, free advice right now: it can’t run on 7th Avenue or at ground level, anywhere.

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The north-south city blocks are too short for stations, and the whatever road and rail congestion exists currently would be exacerbated by even more light rail operating at grade.

If we are not interested in tunnelling for the Green Line, we are only left with an elevated rail solution.

Crossing over the Bow River and traversing the CPKC tracks south of downtown will demand bridges in this case, so why not keep it above ground after reaching the city centre?

If any Plus 15s or Plus 30s are in the way, they can be rebuilt or integrated into new stations.

As for noise, one of the main reasons this option was dismissed earlier, there are technological solutions to dampen unwanted sounds. Even now, you’ll find buildings built — and being built — right up against the Blue Line’s elevated guideway in Sunalta, for example.

Calgary’s Green Line has been studied over and over again. The data exists to explain what options exist and why certain decisions were made. If governments are intent on building this transit line, there is no need to waste time and money on more studies.

Just get it done.

rleong@postmedia.com

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