Sealing the airport deal is vital to Calgary

I write a monthly column in the Calgary Sun. Here's an excerpt from my May story:

Late on Friday, city council authorized one last offer to the Calgary Airport Authority to build the airport tunnel.

By Tuesday, we will know whether or not we will be able to get this vital piece of infrastructure built.

And it is vital. Since the closure of Barlow Tr. last month, we have confirmed that the current level of infrastructure can barely keep pace.

Things will be better when Metis Tr. is completed later this year, but an uninterrupted Airport Tr. is the long-term solution.

The tunnel is also the only real way to get LRT access to the airport. It will be built with an LRT right-of-way, allowing for an eventual link to the northeast line.

Any other option would cost far more than the tunnel project and result in a longer trip.

Finally, and most important, it’s cheaper to build the tunnel than not to build it.

The cost of the upgraded road infrastructure that we would have to build on Metis Tr., Country Hills Blvd. and Barlow Tr. in the absence of Airport Tr. dwarfs the cost of the tunnel.

So, if this piece of infrastructure is so important, how have we ended up in this ridiculous last-minute situation?

Certainly, city council played a role here. Although the tunnel has been on the books since the 1990s, council consistently failed to set aside the money for it.

A city bureaucrat, acting without council’s authorization, told the Airport it would never be built.

When council had the funds, they frittered away hundreds of millions of dollars on non-time-sensitive projects, such as an extension to the northeast LRT that was not needed for a decade, and one to the northwest LRT that was not needed at all.

The Airport Authority was not blameless.

They crafted their expansion plan based upon their own needs, but largely failed to consider the needs of the whole city — congestion on Deerfoot Tr. makes people late for flights, but it also inconveniences every commuter, not just airport-bound ones.

But that’s all history. What’s important in where we are now. The city has done its part.

In a short few months, we’ve got the facts on the costs, we’ve found the money, we’ve crafted a construction plan and we’ve moved forward on getting this done.

City staff have worked incredibly hard on impossible deadlines to get this done and do the right thing for Calgarians.

Where we are stuck now is that the Authority is worried building the road will lead to too much traffic in front of their terminal.

The city’s detailed simulations of traffic do not show this to be the case. However, the Authority has not accepted our invitation to view the data and insists if the tunnel were built, then two new interchanges, not related to the tunnel, be built at the same time.

The city believes these interchanges will not be needed for at least 10 years.

While I reject their analysis, I appreciate the Authority’s offer to put some money on the table to get the interchanges built sooner than they otherwise would be....

You can read the full article at the Calgary Sun.

- Mayor Naheed Nenshi