Calgary's Green Line: Shorter and more expensive, once again
CBC
The latest iteration of Calgary's Green Line LRT project might be considerably shorter — and more expensive — than the original vision, but Mayor Jyoti Gondek says she is still confident there will be more to the plan than what was announced this week.
On Tuesday, council voted to cut six stations from Phase 1 of the Green Line megaproject while increasing its budget to over $6.2 billion.
The proposed new line will run from Eau Claire to Lynnwood/Millican instead of Eau Claire to Shepard, making it much shorter than anticipated.
But Gondek says getting this expensive first section completed is key to the ultimate buildout.
"The Blue Line got built in phases, the Red Line got built in phases, the Green Line will not be any different. We have now kicked off the initial phase and we continue to pursue funding that we know we could have access to," she said.
That money would come from the federal public transit fund, and Gondek says she is working with the province to put an application together.
"I remain very optimistic that we will continue to find funds to build the whole line."
Gondek's optimism was echoed by Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra, who told CBC News that, while the new plan approved this week is "flirting with just below minimum viable size," it won't stay the same size for long.
"It will work and we will also get more money over the next six years. It will not remain this size for long, if at all," said the Ward 9 councillor.
Tuesday's council decision was not the first time the Green Line project has seen its costs go up and its reach diminished.
The original idea grew out of plans for a dedicated busway to the southeast part of the city. As new LRT lines were being debated, instead of pitting the southeast against the north, then-mayor Naheed Nenshi proposed a single LRT — the Green Line — which would run from the north-central end of town to the southeast.
The question was how to pay for it?
In 2015, on the eve of a federal election, the Stephen Harper government — facing criticism for doing so little for Calgary — became very interested in Calgary and the Green Line.
Suddenly there was Alberta's chief cabinet minister, Jason Kenney, doing a news conference with Nenshi about the Green Line with a $1.5-billion cheque in his pocket.