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More thoughts on the Airport Tunnel
- Friday, September 3rd, 2010
- 11 Comments
UPDATE 09/09: New Podcast on Airport Tunnel just released with more details and background from Naheed. Listen Now >
There has been a lot of misinformation on the airport tunnel issue lately. We dealt with this way back in July when we released Better Idea #4: Calgarians will have quick, convenient access to their airport.
However, a lot of folks, and one candidate in particular, have been muddying the waters, and it’s important to get the real facts on the table.
We sent the following statement to the media today, and are sharing it with everyone here:
“For several weeks now, Ald. Bob Hawkesworth has staked his campaign on one issue – opposition to the airport tunnel, the same tunnel he voted for repeatedly, most recently last September.
But in his press briefing, released today, he has gone too far. Every paragraph contains at least one significant misstatement or factual error.
First, the cost of the project. No one except Ald. Hawkesworth has ever suggested that the tunnel itself will actually cost $500 million. Estimates for the tunnel have ranged from $40 million to $198 million, with roughly $175 million being the consensus estimate at City Hall. It’s worth noting that a report presented to Ald. Hawkesworth in July said that the cost to not build the tunnel is $350 million, which the City has already budgeted. So the incremental cost of the tunnel is $150 million not the $500 million he claims.
Council has already set aside $50 million for the project, and there is $123 million of unallocated provincial money to come over the course of the next seven years. Borrowing against this cash flow would put taxpayers on the hook for about $2.5 million per year for seven years, not the $500 million he claims.
Further, the Airport Trail Advisory Committee, with whom Ald. Hawkesworth has never met, is not a “small northeast hotel-industry lobby group” but a group of many community associations plus business owners and other stakeholders.
I am deeply disappointed that Ald. Hawkesworth would practice this kind of divisive us-and-them politics. He has learned his lesson well from Mayor Bronconnier’s Council – winning matters more than doing the right thing.”
And here are some Frequently Asked Questions:
Do we need the tunnel?
Yes. It’s been part of the City’s plan since 1995, and was re-affirmed in our long-term plan last September. But Council never set aside the money for it. If we don’t build it now, it will cost $1.2 billion or more to build it in the future – and that’s assuming we even could bore under a live runway!
Without the tunnel, commute times to the airport would double for northeast workers and businesses, and there would be no access to the east side of the city for a distance equivalent to that between City Hall and Heritage Drive. There would be only one functional entrance to the airport, off of an already-clogged Deerfoot Trail.
How many people are impacted?
YYC is one of the busiest airports in Canada, serving over 12 million passengers per year. It’s also one of the largest employment centres in the city, with some 15 to 18,000 people working on the airport lands.
Assuming that a conservative one-third of the workers are commuting from the east side of the airport, not having a tunnel means an additional 36,000 km driven on Calgary roads – every single day.
Principia Communications estimates, using even more conservative projections, that not having the tunnel will cost individual Calgarians $4 million per year forever, and will result in an additional 880 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
How much will it cost?
Not $500 million. The $500 million cost has been thrown around by many, but it is a number not grounded in any fact. City administration reports that the cost of not building the tunnel is $350 million in additional road upgrades throughout NE Calgary, so even if $500 million is realistic, the actual additional cost of the tunnel is $150 million.
$150 million is less in today’s dollars than the cost of major interchanges like Glenmore/Elbow and likely less than the ultimate cost of the Glenmore/37th interchange. How come we don’t have endless debates about how most people in Calgary live north of Glenmore?
Can’t existing roads handle the traffic?
No. They can’t. Try driving north on Deerfoot after 4:00pm. Any day of the week. You can’t. Any additional traffic would be crippling.
And the current roads to the east are insufficient. 36th Street northeast is a narrow strip of asphalt with no lane markings and no shoulders – and there is no plan to upgrade it. Metis Trail, when completed, will still only be two lanes in portions.
Doesn’t this only help people in the northeast?
This is a city, not four cities. Each quadrant matters and deserves the best Calgary has to offer.
Also, it’s not true. Deerfoot Trail is used by all Calgarians. Airport Trail, when built properly, will be a major east/west corridor for commerce and transportation for the Northwest and the Northeast, as well as making Stoney Trail much more useful.
The tunnel, despite the name, isn’t just for the airport, but it will serve the enormous planned industrial and residential areas in the northeast, with many tens of thousands of residents and workers.
But we don’t have the money, do we?
City Council has set aside $50 million already. Aldermen Stevenson, Jones, and Chabot found an additional unallocated $123 million from the province, meaning that the actual cost of the tunnel is now fully funded. This will cost between $15 and $20 million in interest, but that’s far less than the $1.2 billion or more it will cost us if we wait.
What about the businesses in the area?
The airport area is a vital, buzzing centre of activity, with many restaurants, hotels, and stores. Most of these businesses are new, and were built precisely because the city promised this tunnel. Without the tunnel, many will fail.
This is just about cars. Isn’t improving transit a better solution?
We need the tunnel for effective transit to the airport. It’s almost impossible to serve the airport from the east without it. Others would tell an airport worker who lives in Martindale and can see her office from her deck that she needs to go downtown and then take an “express” bus all the way up Centre Street to get to work. She’ll just drive, thanks.
The tunnel will facilitate an immediate express bus from the NE LRT line, provide for future LRT, and link the NE and proposed North-Centre LRT lines by fast transit.
September 03, 2010 at 11:33 pm, Bob Hawkesworth's big issue. UPDATED - Hall Monitor said:
[...] Nenshi, a northeast resident, blogged: [...]
September 04, 2010 at 7:36 am, Gary said:
I wonder why Ald Hawkesworth says we can't afford it then suddenly the money is found for it. It just seems odd to me.
I was against the issue until i found out it was needed and thus I think it should be done. The runway is going to get built regardless.
But I would also like to see provisions for an LRT so if it's not built now it can be built later.
September 04, 2010 at 1:55 pm, Marcus Riedner said:
Well, I know most Calgarian's live north of Glenmore, but by the same token don't most Calgarian's live south of the airport? Doesn't this represent the same sort of quadrant segregation you shortly after that statement say is bad for Calgary?
That being said: do we need the tunnel, yes.
Will it cost $500M, $1.2B, or $150M?
I lean towards that magic number you stated above: $178M. Over budget for a $150M project by about 15%, which is fairly standard policy for any major construction project like this. $500M seems absolutely absurd for a 700 meter underground highway project. They did a cut and cover in the heart of downtown Vancouver for the Canada line, along the entire length of Granville street for around $500M.
I think your numbers are good here Mr. Nenshi, they make logical and fiscal sense.
September 04, 2010 at 8:58 pm, clarity needed said:
What is needed in this discussion is clarity and unfortunately Mr. Nenshi’s case boils down to, we are to believe his understanding of the “facts” over Mr. Hawkesworth.
Much of the rationale (maybe the only) for this tunnel has been the possibility of connecting to the Metis Trail LRT. Makes sense, right? Well today YYC ran a half page color ad in the herald. It depicts what it describes funny enough as a “people mover” coming from the presumably north central LRT on the immediate west side of Deerfoot Trail. A line that follows the CP line essentially.
If, and this is a big if, if at some point a viable rail connection is made between Edmonton and Calgary would it not make more sense to have the airport LRT connection coming from the west side, thereby connecting into what could be a much more major rail transportation hub as opposed to the 36th St/Metis Trail line?
Granted the north central LRT line is much farther off in the future, a connection from the Metis Trail LRT may come quicker, but in the long term would it not make more sense to have it from the north central LRT line? Just asking.
Alternatively, I guess you could have both…
September 05, 2010 at 4:34 am, Chad said:
Excellent piece. More well-reasoned and well-expressed policy from Naheed. Please get elected.
September 05, 2010 at 5:36 am, Lee Davis said:
While I agree that an airport tunnel is possibly needed what I find hard to fathom is not one canidate has made any mention to the Crowchild Tr Kensington Rd problem.
On wednesday Sept 01 at 3:30 PM I had the priveledge of sitting in a slow moving northbound parking lot that started at 33 St SW. It took a unbelievable 42 minutes to get to the light at Kensington Rd. I watched as the light went green allowing a pathetic 20 – 25 cars through before they were stopped due to traffic that procceded all the way to 24 Ave NW. The light lasted for 2 minutes but no one else made the light.
While I appreciate that this is a NW commuter problem , over an hour spent in traffic brfore rush hour even started is disgusting. Note: there wasn't an accident or stalled car, just poor design and terrible traffic signal management. To date not one canidate has made mention of this problem and as several thousand Calgarians were stuck on this miserable excuse for a roadway and go through this every day an Airport Tunnel starts to look a bit unneccesary. I would like to know if you have any plans to look into this situation or if the Airport Tunnel is the only roads project important enough to mention.
September 05, 2010 at 7:55 am, Michael Hartford said:
Re: Clarity Needed
At this point we are looking at 10-20 years before the North Central line is possibly built. The airport needs the C-Train yesterday not in 2+ decades. The plan is for the LRT to connect straight across from the NE line to the North Central and likely NW most likely along Airport-Stoney but this is quite distant. Likely-hood of a viable connection via high-speed transit from Calgary to Edmonton in the next 50 years is unlikely though it is a personal goal of mine.
Re: Lee Davis
The vast majority of the route you described runs through Ward 6 and is a recognized issue with plans to continue expansion of the circle route through that area. It is best to talk to the candidates of that Ward (5 last time I checked but may be severely outdated) or keep after the Mayoral candidates to get them talking about it. If you still get no action call me after the election and we will see what we can work out.
September 08, 2010 at 1:40 pm, Support the Airport Tunnel – Sign the Petition at BuildTheTunnel.ca - Naheed Nenshi for Mayor of Calgary said:
[...] Calgarians can sign a petition supporting construction of the tunnel. I have already articulated why we need to build the tunnel now and a plan on how to build it. The tunnel is critical to avoiding traffic chaos, improving transit [...]
September 09, 2010 at 2:00 am, Jeff Halvorsen said:
I have been looking through your platform and I like what I hear, except for the airport tunnel – I am just not sold. Sorry Naheed, other than this, I would love to vote for you.
September 09, 2010 at 2:00 am, Jeff Halvorsen said:
I have been looking through your platform and I like what I hear, except for the airport tunnel – I am just not sold. Sorry Naheed, other than this, I would love to vote for you.
September 17, 2010 at 7:58 pm, Sami Khan said:
Good numbers and sound reasoning… however, still not sold. It sounds good for airport workers, and that's about it. How about other options to reduce the wear on Calgary's road for workers at the airport?… There are other public transport options outside of building a tunnel… For instance the Route 57 bus which already runs down there. The BART in SF was a major failure, we don't need the city wasting money on frivolous projects that benefit a few employees of a specific business.