Over at the Georgia Straight Politics blog, Charlie Smith takes Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie to task on his recent concern that property-tax payers could face higher costs because TransLink will run out of money in a few years. As Smith points out, Brodie was a strong supporter of the Canada Line project despite studies showing higher than projected costs in most megaprojects.
When Brodie was on the TransLink board and voting consistently for the Canada Line, directors claimed that the estimated cost was $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion.
Back then, Cambie Street merchants were under the impression that it would be a bored-tunnel project, which wouldn’t cause disruptions to their livelihoods.
Only later in the process did TransLink fess up that the cost was closer to $2 billion, and only then with a cut-and-cover tunnel that wreaked havoc on Cambie Street businesses.
Read Smith’s full post here.
