Calgary city council votes to wind down long-sought, long-troubled Green Line LRT project
CTV
Calgary city council has voted to end work on the first phase of its long-sought $6.2-billion Green Line light rail transit project at a cost of at least $2.1 billion.
Calgary city council has voted to end work on the first phase of its long-sought $6.2-billion Green Line light rail transit project at a cost of at least $2.1 billion.
At a Tuesday meeting, city officials told councillors that includes more than $1.3 billion that has already been spent on land acquisition, utility work and new rail vehicles, and at least another $850 million to deal with the costs and risks of winding down the project.
Councillors in favour of halting the line as currently planned said they couldn't keep it alive without provincial funding.
Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen penned a letter to Mayor Jyoti Gondek in early September saying the province would pull its $1.53 billion in funding from the $6.2-billion project if the city didn't rejig the line's route and extend it farther south.
David Duckworth, the city's chief administrative officer, said Tuesday that pausing work to wait months for other alignment proposals is "untenable" at this stage in the process, and the city can't afford to take on the risks.
He said Dreeshen's announcement earlier this month left the city no other option but to bring work to a halt.
More than 1,000 staff and contractors would be off the job by the end of the year, although some construction work would need to stretch into 2025.
