{"id":12745,"date":"2023-02-06T04:52:01","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T12:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/great-canadian-engineers-oliver-bowen-oversaw-construction-of-calgarys-ctrain\/"},"modified":"2023-02-06T04:52:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T12:52:03","slug":"great-canadian-engineers-oliver-bowen-oversaw-construction-of-calgarys-ctrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/great-canadian-engineers-oliver-bowen-oversaw-construction-of-calgarys-ctrain\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Canadian engineers: Oliver Bowen oversaw construction of Calgary\u2019s CTrain"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In the history of the City of Calgary, there are few people who can claim to have been among its most influential builders.<\/p>\n

Civil engineer Oliver Bowen has such a claim. In the 1970s and \u201980s Bowen oversaw the design and build of Calgary\u2019s CTrain, one of the largest infrastructure projects in the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Plans for the CTrain\u2019s construction were approved in 1977<\/a> and it opened four years later in 1981.<\/p>\n

Today, the CTrain transports 50 million people per year<\/a>. Many Calgarians don\u2019t know this vital transportation network can be traced back to one of its Black citizens.<\/p>\n

SUPPLIED BY NICOLE DODD \u2014 Oliver Bowen\u2019s legacy as the designer and project lead for Calgary\u2019s CTrain serves as an important reminder that Canada was built by a diverse population, says AB Anti-racism EDU founder Nicole Dodd.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOliver was credited for his pioneering work at a time when LRT technology was virtually unknown in North America,\u201d said a spokesperson for the city.<\/p>\n

In the 2000s, the city created the Oliver Bowen LRT Maintenance Facility in honour of his lasting legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe later went on to become the city\u2019s director of transportation, a position he held from 1984 until his retirement in 1998.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowen passed away in 2000 at the age of 57.<\/p>\n

He was born in Amber Valley, north of Edmonton, one of the first Black settlements in Alberta, after his parents fled racial persecution in Oklahoma, said Nicole Dodd, a founding member of the advocacy group AB Anti-racism EDU.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was basically a self-contained community. Black Albertans settled in that area partially out of exclusion and partially out of wanting to have a community that was 100 per cent their own,\u201d Dodd said.<\/p>\n

Bowen went to the University of Alberta in the 1960s and climbed the ranks through the City of Calgary\u2019s engineering leadership roles.<\/p>\n

His work on the CTrain began in mid-\u201870s. Dodd said living in a town like Amber Valley, where everyone from the grocery clerk to the mayor was Black, may have contributed to his stalwart work ethic and fearlessness in the face of the overwhelmingly white city staff he became a part of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a definite benefit to that kind of community because all the leadership looks like you and that can only help you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we always say, \u2018You can\u2019t be what you can\u2019t see.\u2019 Even if they didn\u2019t necessarily have the qualifications, they were engaging with that type of work because of course Amber Valley would have had roads, would have needed infrastructure as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodd said her mother told her what it was like to be Black in Calgary in the 1980s, a decade after Bowen made a name for himself as one of its chief engineers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would take the train \u2013 the train that Oliver Bowen made \u2013 into downtown and there would literally be nobody that looks like you,\u201d Dodd said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look back into Bowen\u2019s time, he would have for sure stood out especially in his role with the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodd said there were negative and positive outcomes of the lack of representation, such as standing out as the city\u2019s only Black engineer but also attracting unwanted racist attention.<\/p>\n

She said Bowen\u2019s ability to commit himself to his position was integral in proving to city administrator\u2019s that Black Canadians could and would handle the top jobs.<\/p>\n

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\"Bowen\u2019s
SUPPLIED BY NICOLE DODD \u2014 Bowen\u2019s legacy not only lives on through the vital CTrain system but as the namesake for the Oliver Bowen LRT Maintenance Facility, which the City of Calgary named after him in 2009. \u201cOliver was credited for his pioneering work at a time when LRT technology was virtually unknown in North America,\u201d says a City of Calgary spokesperson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had to not only represent himself but everyone that was coming up behind him that looked like him. So, there\u2019s a strong sense of pressure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a very high performer, because in order for him to ensure he\u2019s not the last Black city engineer that Calgary hires he needed to do an above average job. He needed to do an excellent job.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he did. Bowen took on the design and build of CTrain, a $144 million infrastructure investment that defines Calgary to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cBowen was able to finish the project early and under budget, which was considered completely unexpected and incredible at the time, and it still is by today\u2019s standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodd is an advocate for comprehensive anti-racism and Black history education in Alberta\u2019s curriculum, something she said the province has yet to embrace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s still an ongoing conversation and a challenge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Having grown up in Calgary, Dodd said she was shocked Bowen\u2019s contributions to the city were never taught in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve taken the CTrain more times than I can even count. How was I not aware of the fact that a Black man designed that entire system?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is that by the time my daughter is my age she\u2019s not surprised by those things. A Black engineer is not a surprise to her, a Black person being behind something crucial and important for a large city like Calgary is not a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodd said teaching people, especially youth, about the contributions made to Canada through diversity is essential.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt demonstrates that Canada has been built by people of all backgrounds and that Canadian cities, historically and moving forward, are places of significant diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow the author on Twitter @JOC_Evan.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n