Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
Is there an alternate link that isn't the Calgary Sun (or any other Sun Media outlet) or Rick Bell that corroborates the >$500M figure? I have absolutely no faith whatsoever in the reliability of those sources.
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Rick Bell's column is really about the lowest that even he has gone. He's reporting on the city's report going to council on the total cost of the Airport Trail corridor in the future. The report lists the costs involved in building the rest of Airport Trail, and the future interchanges (that are WAY in the future). I think Rick Bell just added every single number on the report together and is reporting it as the "Real cost of the tunnel".
Of course, Airport Trail has several sections that are complete, or were already under construction before the tunnel was approved. Airport Trail/96th Ave was going to be built between 36th Street and Stoney Trail in the future anyway, tunnel or no tunnel. Same with an interchange at Metis/Airport Trail. The other required interchanges on Airport Trail east of the tunnel would just be required elsewhere if there was no tunnel (i.e. Metis/64th Ave). The cost of buying land to build the roads was going to be the same tunnel or no tunnel as well.
I think Bell was even including the $42 million spent on the Harvest Hills Blvd to Deerfoot portion in his number. Of course, that was under construction before the tunnel was even approved - and well, it's on the other side of Deerfoot.
The report Bell is talking about doesn't mention any extra costs for the tunnel itself. It DOES MENTION that phases two and three (Interchanges west of the tunnel) will cost the city LESS than what was publically thought before - roughly $77 million instead of $120+ million. (Due to mistaking the total budget for those phases for the city only portion before).
What Bell is doing is the same as saying that the total cost of the GE5 interchange should include the cost for the future Glenmore/Ogden and Glenmore/52nd Street interchanges. Or, that the 7th Ave LRT station refurbishment cost should include the $120M cost of the NW extension to Tuscany.