Abstract
This article examines the Canada Line rapid rail transit project in Vancouver, British Columbia, a decade after its completion and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games for which it was accelerated. The case resides at the intersection of two project classes with well-documented patterns of underperformance: transit mega-projects and sporting mega-events. Beyond connecting a number of Vancouver 2010 venues, the Canada Line is notable for its use of a public-private partnership procurement (PPP) model, as well as the significant real estate development seen nearby. In particular, the article focuses on outcomes classified under three headings: procurement model, community impact, and land use impact. Prior to providing avenues for future research, this article finds that while the PPP model avoided substantial cost overrun risks, the lucrative operational concession was where the growth coalition pushing the project was able to make it sufficiently attractive for private partners, while externalizing cost on third-parties.
Highlights
Mega-events such as the Olympics are perhaps viewed popularly as sporting endeavors, in financial terms they may be better thought of as infrastructure programs that can shape regional development and impact fiscal health in the longer term. accompanying related infrastructure costs can frequently exceed the official cost of a mega-event several times over
Documents were collected from government, media, industry, legal, and academic sources using a snowball technique from a combination of search engine terms, government websites, and databases until over 30 search term combinations pertaining to the Canada Line and the three headings of inquiry were exhausted
From the government’s perspective, a primary factor in limiting cost reflected at the bid stage was the shift in tunneling method. This somewhat reduced the private partner’s overrun risk and allowed the public to lock in a cheaper bid, while externalizing the cost on Cambie Street retailers who would not necessarily benefit from increased property values associated with the finished product
Summary
Mega-events such as the Olympics are perhaps viewed popularly as sporting endeavors, in financial terms they may be better thought of as infrastructure programs that can shape regional development and impact fiscal health in the longer term. Accompanying related infrastructure costs can frequently exceed the official cost of a mega-event several times over (see Agha et al, 2012; Baade & Matheson, 2016). Even within a larger suite of infrastructure mega-projects that the literature has documented as substantially underperforming projections on cost, completion, and operation, the Olympics may top the podium. One frequent element of Olympics-related mega-infrastructure is rapid rail transit lines. Despite being clearly contemplated as part of the Olympics, rail infrastructure projects are viewed by the IOC as “indirect capital costs” and often left out of reported Games expenditures (Flyvbjerg et al, 2016)
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