Quote:
Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug
I don't think it is fair to lump the entire $5B cost into the analysis, but even still, I would suggest it would be much easier from a transportation and infrastructure perspective to keep it in the vicinity of Stampede Park. The plan on the Bow/Crowchild redo would involve several bridges, off-ramps and NIMBY issues, so it will be next to impossible, even before adding an arena (and football stadium, if that is part of the plan).
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The thing is, the Bow/Crow nightmare needs to be rebuilt whether there is an arena or not. I have it on good authority that the engineer who designed it was wearing a straitjacket at the time, doped to the gills on Thorazine, and drawing the plans with a crayon held between his toes. It was a ludicrously bad design at the time, and could barely handle the traffic that went through it when Calgary was a city of 400,000.
Adding an arena to the plan would not significantly complicate the job of rebuilding that interchange. However, if they rebuild the interchange without deliberately leaving room for an arena (or other major development), they will permanently lose the opportunity to do anything useful with the West Village site.