Quote:
Originally Posted by iggy_oi
I thought the city had to change plans and put the downtown portion above ground so that the NW line would be ready on time. If that was the case it’d be hard to call that a positive impact.
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No, the above-ground line downtown was already open before the Olympics were awarded.
The first leg of the C-Train (from Anderson to 8 St W) opened in May 1981. Calgary was awarded the Olympics in September 1981.
My understanding is that they went with a surface route downtown to save money and allow them to build a longer overall route. With a downtown subway, the line likely wouldn't have gone further south than Chinook to start. Going further south pushed the C-Train into the more residential parts of the city and made it more convenient for people to use transit to commute downtown.