Go Elevated or try for Underground?

  • Work with the province and go with the Elevated option

    Votes: 8 72.7%

  • Try another approach and go for Underground option

    Votes: 2 18.2%

  • Cancel it altogether

    Votes: 1 9.1%
  • Total voters
    11
They're delaying a transit line, and therefore thousands of jobs, so that they can try and scrape a few more votes in 2023 by claiming they're the ones who saved it once their obstruction finally ends? Pathetic morons.
 
UrbanWarrior said:
They're delaying a transit line, and therefore thousands of jobs, so that they can try and scrape a few more votes in 2023 by claiming they're the ones who saved it once their obstruction finally ends? Pathetic morons.
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The best part is they're worried about the project going overbudget, so they're delaying it more and burning more cash while delaying portions of the project that aren't a problem anyways.
 
I bet the behind the scenes looked like most of the talk on here: a general consternation over cost, then a walk through of why, then a 'oh fuck we promised we could do this better by having a second/third/fourth look and we can't'.

Now the UCP is in a political corner. Without changes to the project they look really stupid. With changes that offend their constituency (the 'old wise men' committee) they look stupid.
 
They already look stupid to anyone with half a brain. That's mostly just because, empirically speaking, they are stupid.
 
My theory is that Jason Kenny and the other smooth-brains in the UCP are pushing it as close to the next election as possible so they can use the jobs that they "created" to try to leverage what ever votes they can.
 
I think what bothers me the most is that this summer is going to be the most crucial time in the post pandemic recovery to be injecting stimulus. Summer 2023 it seems like a huge missed opportunity. I mean the timing couldn't be better. Creating thousands on jobs just as the pandemic starts to recede is a no brainer.

The worst part is that it's being delayed for clearly political reasons. The UCP's political games are literally going to slow the recovery significantly and is very unlikely to save them money or votes.
 
It might be politicized as of late, but ultimately the Green Line's problems comes from it going over-budget so much and predate the UCP government. If the Green Line was anywhere close to the original 40 km plan (even Beddington-Shepard) and where construction had already started by 2020 or earlier, it probably would be treated like the Valley Line in Edmonton.
 
I’ll chime in on this one. I think what’s really bothersome about this project is the whole back and forth and redesign process. How many times this project went back to the drawing board? Like...10+? I’ve been watching closely between the Green Line and the Valley Line in Edmonton. To be honest, I am utterly stunned how painful the Calgary project has been evolving over the years. Edmonton may have a cheaper line to construct starting this year, but there hasn’t been much on the redesign side. Their project is flying compare to ours. It’s painful. I am just about to lose all hope that the one for Calgary will ever take off at all.
 
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Edmonton is building the line with all the compromises Calgary rejected which caused most of the cost escalations. Heck, they even had a geotech problem, when they realized they hadn't mapped all the coal mines they wanted to tunnel near!
 
Although the project has been dogged by so many "re-assessments", it has been (mostly) shovel ready since the UCP took office. It's a bit disingenuous to say it's entirely the city's fault or the province's fault. I do have to say a major misleading point of this project has been that the entire 40km was to be built in the original budget. I don't believe we were ever supposed to be under the impression that the entirety of the line would be built in one go, and this was likely a huge messaging mistake by the city. Finalizing the route non-withstanding. None of our other lines were built like that, and neither is Edmonton's Valley Line. And ya... How the hell are we supposed to get a tunnel under the river AND 40km within that same budget??? I really just want this thing built, and I think that the first phase was good enough to get that ball rolling, even if it "wasn't perfect". The city has spent an immense amount of time and resource smoothing out the details for this project, and placating to (imo too many) peoples concerns, with some actually really good compromises. Incredibly disappointing news that it's being delayed from starting construction, and yes it is absolutely the provincial government's fault in this circumstance.
 
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