What’s ahead for the Green Line project now?
City expecting $3 billion from province and Ottawa but a variety of issues linger
Coun. Shane Keating watched from his basement as nearly a decade of work on Calgary’s Green Line reached its finale.
With most of council still participating remotely because of the COVID -19 pandemic, the Ward 12 councillor closed the debate Tuesday from a seat in front of his stone fireplace. One by one, nearly all of his colleagues voted yes to the LRT project he’s been championing for years.
The first stage of the project is now officially a go, from 16th Avenue N. to Shepard in the southeast.
Keating wore green to mark the occasion — just like he did in 2017 when council approved the Green Line’s alignment the first time — but otherwise, his celebration was subdued. After the evening vote, which Mayor Naheed Nenshi called “the biggest day for the city,” Keating listened to the rest of the meeting, caught the 11 p.m. news and went to sleep.
He said Wednesday the results are still sinking in.
“There’s a little bit of euphoria because of the way it is, but at the same time, you know it’s just the beginning of the whole scenario,” he said.
“You don’t really know until years down the line what that event actually meant in your lifetime.”
He said he hopes people who were skeptical eventually see the effect the completed project makes on Calgary. Construction of the new LRT line is expected to start next year and wrap up around 2026, with more stations eventually planned to run south to Seton and north to 160th Avenue N.
LRT on the Green president Jeff Binks said after advocating for the project for about seven years, the vote is a relief.
“The decision finally means that shovels can go into the ground, and that’s what we’ve been waiting for for years,” he said.
“We’ve been surprised before, so hopefully there aren’t many more surprises down the road.”
But there’s still work to come for the Green Line before it gets moving.
The city is expecting about $3 billion in total from the provincial and federal governments for the Green Line, but there are lingering issues to sort out.
On Wednesday, Alberta Transportation Minister Ric Mciver publicly released a letter addressed to Nenshi noting that the Green Line has “undergone several significant changes in scope and cost since it was first announced,” and the province hasn’t yet analyzed the latest update to the LRT line in detail.
City officials updated details of the Green Line’s path through the core twice this year, and the final plans were confirmed in May. They included an at-grade train along Centre Street, an additional station at 9th Avenue N., a bridge over the Bow River and a shallower tunnel under downtown and the Beltline.
Mciver’s letter says the province must ensure the $1.53 billion it has committed to the Green Line is “used responsibly,” and the government will take time to analyze the benefits and risks of the current alignment “before obligations are incurred by the province, to ensure that taxpayers are protected.”
Nenshi said in a statement “this is the next step in the process” and he welcomes the review.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, he said the province has also expressed willingness to revisit another issue: the 90-day cancellation clause.
Last year, the United Conservative government passed legislation that lets it terminate Green Line funding “without cause” with only 90 days’ notice.
That could hurt Calgary’s ability to hire contractors to build the Green Line, and Nenshi said he’s made that clear.
“To me, we are really in a position where it would be very, very, very difficult for other orders of government to pull back on that promise they made to Calgarians,” he said.
“I think it would be politically, practically and, frankly, morally untenable for them to pull the funding at this point.”
Part of the Green Line recommendations council passed Tuesday include “securing written assurances” from the province “resolving the issues” related to the 90-day clause. Council will hear from city officials if that doesn’t happen by the end of the year.
The city will also gather more public feedback in the year ahead on the Bow River bridge and improvements to Centre Street that accompany plans for an at-grade train through Crescent Heights.
There isn’t yet a final decision on what kind of bridge will be built over the Bow and who will design it, and plans also need to be solidified to mitigate the effect of Green Line construction on residents and businesses.
Council is set to hear about those plans by next summer.