[agl]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

In Calgary, the "trench" is maybe half the site, if that. I think it would have had little impact on the project.

I don't know about RVL $25 million estimate (2016 dollars), but I honestly think that it might be cheaper, or at least comparable to Calgary's cover, per capita, for the most part (with the station cover being a little more expansive).

What is important to remember is that that part of LeBreton Flats is already in a literal hole. Regardless of if they cover the tracks or not, RVL will be building a parking garage between Scott and the Confederation Line to serve the entire south side of the district (much like Lansdowne). So one of the walls, a full wall as opposed to Calgary's ramp, doesn't count within the cost of the new tunnel (or adds a moderate amount since this wall will support half the live weight of cars above the tunnel as opposed to Calgary's live weight of pedestrians using the future ramp).

Another consideration with this new street is the overall engineering requirements are reduced compared to Calgary, where the new library's structure had to be even stronger to support the 6 storey building. In this case, we're looking a the scope of the entire project, comparing the structure to support a road vs a building. In Ottawa, it's the walls and the roof, in Calgary, it was constructing an entire building over space they couldn't use for support.

That makes sense for one wall if they were already planning a parking garage to butt up right next to the rail line. I'm still thinking $25 million - which is what the DCDLS rep told me Rendez-vous was budgeting, I never confirmed that was accurate - is fairly low-ball amount for such a project these days.