- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
Cyric
Active Member
They certainly aren't pushing the pace on this one.
Kōsō
Active Member
Kōsō
Active Member
They have been pouring main floor columns all week. You can see the ones to the West are complete already.
adamyyc
Active Member
I know there is some debate about why anyone would want to live in proximity to the rail line, but apart from that, this seems like a pretty nice location. Long-term unobstructed views of the skyline, on the Elbow River Pathway, quick walk to Inglewood, close enough to East Village (and the Superstore) and downtown to walk, in between 2 green line stops (which may also be a negative since the green line will be even closer than the existing rail line).
Scoots
New Member
Agreed. With a number of towers being built alongside the rail line downtown, I think we're clearly seeing that there is now a market for these locations if there are sufficient amenities and benefits within close proximity. This property clearly fits that description - the river location and view is quite desirable.
Patrick.1980
Active Member
Judging by the update from today, nope they aren’t. Lol.
I’m getting a suspicion there is one construction crew doing all of the low rise builds in the city.
Kōsō
Active Member
The crew size is about 10-12 each day, so I can see why it is taking as long as it is.
Calgcouver
Active Member
Its been reasonably tough to find trades lately, especially for multi family. Lots of the trades that have previously only done single family and it feels like you have to train them to do multi projects. We’re seeing a bigger shift towards multi family and it’ll take a while for trades to catch up I think, with the biggest issue being competent framers
BKha
Active Member
That makes sense. Literally every small multi family development is moving by at snail’s pace.
DiscoStu
Active Member
I work in the McGill Block, which is basically on the opposite side of the train tracks from this project and honestly...the train is a non-issue. I tend to keep the windows closed, but that's because of the noise (and dust) from the traffic speeding by on 9th ave, not the train. While I don't think anyone would choose to live beside a train track, I think it's one of those things that disappears into the background after a while.
whatchyyc
Active Member
Living next to the track for 10 years I can attest to that. After CP gets its act together and stops using downtown as a yard (pipe dream?) it'll be better, the worst noise comes from the trains braking and picking up slack
Always_Biking
Senior Member
Back in the day I used to work right beside the train tracks, and can also a test that you get used to it, and it’s not a huge problem. The only sound that really bothered me was when the cars were backing up and banging into each other. Didn’t happen that often but I noticed the times it did happen.
CBBarnett
Senior Member
I agree, being near the tracks isn't much of an issue from a nuisance perspective and can easily be mitigated and typically you'd get used to it.
This comment doesn't apply to this development alone, but that recent train crash chemical spill in the US got me thinking about it again - in the long-term, is there any legitimate strategy is to reduce the risk of derailment in the city centre?
As far as I know, Calgary's the largest city in Canada with a heavy freight rail main line straight through the centre, next largest is probably Winnipeg? Both Montreal and Vancouver have port facilities and access lines nearby, but I don't think they often see much speed or volatile loads coming directly through the urban core - most of the most dangerous stuff goes to specific terminals spread elsewhere in their region.
We have discussed on this forum previously about geographical constraints to moving the CP corridor itself - there really isn't any good options for moving heavy trains into and out of the Bow Valley other than the existing right-of-way. Would be a wild, multi-billion kind of megaproject that doesn't seem particularly realistic anytime soon.
But time goes on. If growth continues, Calgary will be 2 million people, maybe 3 million one day. A few hundred thousand people might eventual live right in the core very close to the corridor. The CP corridor isn't likely to get less busy anytime soon either. That's a lot of growing risk in the event of a derailment, even if it's not very likely. Seems like a black swan type of risk event - the risk never seems high enough to do anything about it compared to the cost, however if something rare did happen the results could be very dangerous and extremely costly.
Would be curious to hear from people who have more insight into this than me. I really don't know how risky it is, nor what types of chemicals and train loads are present in the Bow Valley CP corridor, nor how we should/could really even think or approach mitigating this risk.