Committee recommends Green Line tunnel under Bow River, downtown

After several hours of consideration, a city committee recommended Wednesdaytunneling the futureGreen Line LRT under the Bow River and downtown core.

Theyalso agreed to take another look at tunnelingunder12thAvenue S.W., an option that was earlier taken off the table.

"I'm thrilled," saidCoun.DruhFarrell,noting she feltanelevated line would be "devastating" for Prince's Island,Eau Claire and Chinatown and "would have had a very detrimental impact on the communities adjacent."

"Cities across the world are taking elevated trainsout and putting them underground, or putting them at surface," she said.

"So it's a really important decision. And what I've been saying is 'let's not destroy the very destination that we're building this line for."

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The committee's decision still has to be ratified by city council.

Coun. EvanWoolleytold the Homestretchtunneling will be a "much more expensive" option, but an important one.

"When we look at the billions and billions of dollars of taxes that are derived from not only the downtown but the Beltline as well, and the billions of dollars of investment we want to see moving forward, many of the key stakeholders, from the neighbourhoods association to the Stampede to the landowners in the area, they're very keen for us to continue looking at that option," he said.

The committee was looking at five possible choices, going with "Option D,"which involves a tunnel that would runall the way from 24thAvenue N., beneath the Bow River and downtown, emerging in the Beltlinejust southof the CP Rail line.

At $1.95 billion, it's the most expensive of the five options others range from $1.5 to $1.8 billionbut it'salso seen as the least disruptive and best long-term choice.

All those price tagsare "Class 3" estimates, meaning they are believed to be accurate in a range of -30 per cent to +50 per cent.

Other options for crossing the Bow Riverincluded running the LRT line down the existing Centre Street Bridge andbuilding a new bridge that would run over Prince's Island Park into Eau Claire.

To get through downtown, other options alsoincluded a shorter tunnel beginning atEau Claire and an elevated LRT line that would run from Eau Claire down 2nd Street S.W., over top of +15 walkways along the way.

A consultant's report suggested the elevated platform would hurt property values along Second Street and cost the city an estimated $680 million in lost property taxes over 30 years.

Rosanne Hill Blaisdell with Harvard Developments, which owns Eau Claire Market and is planning a $1-billion, mixed-use redevelopment of the area, said the company strongly supports the full-tunnel option for the Green Line through downtown.

"An alignment above or even at grade would defame the pristine Prince's Island Park, Calgary's downtown jewel along the Bow River," she told the committee.

Running the LRT above ground would also "prohibit" 46,500 square feet of residential development Harvard is planning for Second Street S.W. , she said, and severely impact the viability of residential towers planned for the north end of the site.

With files from the Homestretch