Green Line future hangs in balance

Five councillors urge colleagues to approve current design on June 15

Whether the Green Line should cross the Bow River could be the biggest bone of contention as city council heads toward a final decision on the LRT expansion later this month.

The city is now just days away from what one councillor called a “generational” decision on the future of Calgary’s public transit system, with a vote set for June 15.

Council’s Green Line committee finished a two-day meeting on Tuesday after dozens of Calgarians weighed in at a Monday public hearing.

At least five council members urged their colleagues to approve the current design for the $4.9-billion project, which has more than $3 billion in promised funding from the provincial and federal governments.

The Green Line is the largest infrastructure project ever attempted in Calgary, with plans for 46 kilometres of track connecting 160th Ave. N through downtown to Seton in the deep southeast.

The city is currently looking at building just the first stage of the project from 16th Ave. N to Shepard, but it’s the most complex and expensive piece of the LRT expansion.

The path through Calgary ’s core involves a new bridge over the Bow River, an integrated station with planned redevelopment in Eau Claire, and a tunnel under downtown and the Beltline.

Coun. Druh Farrell, Evan Woolley, Gian-carlo Carra, Shane Keating and Mayor Naheed Nenshi all said they’re on board with the plans as they stand.

Keating has been championing more LRT throughout his three terms on council, and he said he hoped to see the first piece of the Green Line help Calgary build more transit in the decades to come.

“COVID-19 is going to have an impact … but to follow the discussion that we’ve heard, we should cancel the BMO (Centre) because we don’t know whether we can have large conventions in the future. We should cancel the event centre because we don’t know whether we can ever have large games in the future,” he said. “What I see is actually the beginning of construction, and we’re going to see construction on transit for 20 or 30 years on all the lines: red, blue and green.”

Farrell said she had concerns in January about how the latest vision for the Green Line would affect communities she represents like Eau Claire and Crescent Heights, but she’s satisfied with the work that has gone into the updated alignment this year.

“We’ve been working on this for almost a decade,” she said. “If this council kills this generational decision, we’ll have to live with it — probably for the rest of our lives.”

Coun. Gian-carlo Carra called the Green Line approval “the biggest decision of our careers” and said he “begs” his colleagues to support the plans.

But another group of councillors is advocating to build the south portion of the Green Line first and end the LRT at a downtown stop. They want to see the city take a closer look at getting across the river while investing in more bus rapid transit in the north.

Coun. Jeff Davison, Ward Sutherland, Jyoti Gondek and Diane Colley-urquhart are all named on the proposed amendment that council will discuss in less than two weeks. Coun. Peter Demong has also expressed support for the idea. He said in an interview Tuesday he’s concerned about making sure there’s government funding to keep building the Green Line beyond the first stage.

Green Line manager Michael Thompson said disconnecting the north and south parts of the Green Line from each other could change future costs. If there’s a connection from downtown to 16th Avenue N., building the LRT from there up to 96th Ave. N could cost $1.5 billion. Leaving the line in downtown for now and later going across the river on the Centre Street Bridge all the way to 96th Ave. N is estimated to cost $2.25 billion.

A city consultant also presented a report that said shortening the Green Line from its current recommendation could mean losing 20 per cent of expected ridership, even if there are some cost savings.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi dismissed the suggestion to stop the Green Line in downtown as “a terrible idea.”

“Anyone who says, ‘Don’t go over the river now; we’ll go to the north later’ is actually saying, ‘We’ll never get the LRT in the north.’ And I don’t think that’s right,” he said.

Councillors Joe Magliocca and Jeromy Farkas both said they wouldn’t be supporting the Green Line as it’s currently recommended. Magliocca said he would continue his opposition to the project because there are too many uncertainties and he wants to “protect taxpayers.” Farkas also raised questions about the Green Line’s future operating costs and whether they would change if council opted for a different Green Line path.

Thompson told councillors that the Green Line would see a net annual operating cost of $40 million.

“Down the road, another council will have to come up with much more money, may more billions, in order to make this work,” Farkas said.

We’ve been working on this for almost a decade.