GREEN LINE GETS GO-AHEAD
Province gives approval as PM visits
After months of delay and accusations of UCP government foot-dragging, the province on Wednesday approved the massive Green Line LRT project.
Embracing the revised business plan the city submitted will unlock $1.53 billion in provincial funding for the LRT expansion — the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in Calgary. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also signalled the federal green light is ahead, clearing the last hurdles for the train to get moving.
The public transit line has been mired in uncertainty for months. Council officially approved the train's final path from 16th Avenue N. to Shepard last June, but a provincial review of the $5.5-billion project wore on so long that the city had to pause the process of hiring a firm to build the first piece of the Green Line, delaying the start of construction by at least a year.
The province publicly rolled out the approval just a few minutes before Mayor Naheed Nenshi was scheduled to make an announcement with Trudeau during his tour through Calgary Wednesday.
Alberta Transportation Minister Ric Mciver called the Green Line “a massive investment in the future of Calgary” that the provincial government is happy to make.
“I'm grateful for the hard work done by the technical experts at the province and the city to make the Green Line a functional project that connects to the rest of the LRT network.”
Trudeau met with Premier Jason Kenney Wednesday morning, but no provincial representatives attended the event with the mayor and prime minister.
The former Conservative federal government first announced in 2015 that they would put $1.5 billion toward the Green Line. Six years later, Trudeau touted the investment as a boon for jobs and the environment.
Nenshi said the provincial approval came as a surprise, but he was nonetheless happy to see it.
“It really is a big deal. We could dwell on the politics of it, and I'd love to dwell on the politics of it,” he said. “But the fact is this is not just the largest public-works project in Calgary's history, it's three times larger than the second largest.”
The province sent the Green Line business case to Ottawa on June 24. A spokesperson for the transportation minister said officials notified the city's Green Line board shortly after that “provincial approval was imminent.”
NDP Leader Rachel Notley called the timing of the province's announcement a cynical ploy to undermine the federal government's move.
“While I note the province rushed out a press release five minutes before this press conference, their cloak-and-dagger approach to this project leaves me worried that they will continue to try and obstruct it,” she said.
“I call on Jason Kenney to declare that the games are over and the Green Line will go ahead.”
Despite the lengthy provincial review, the council-approved path for the Green Line hasn't changed. It's still planned to run at-grade from Shepard to Ramsay, tunnel beneath the Beltline and downtown, and emerge above ground at Eau Claire to travel on a bridge over the Bow River and along Centre Street to 16th Avenue N.
Last year, council also approved a process that would have broken those three segments into three contracts, letting work begin on the south leg as soon as possible and separating out the complex and costly jobs of digging under Calgary's core and crossing the Bow River.
At one point last year, Mciver criticized plans to begin construction south of the Elbow River as a recipe for a “train to nowhere.”
And last month, despite acknowledging the process would now take longer, the city agreed to pursue a larger contract that includes both the south leg and the path through downtown, up to Eau Claire.
“In the end, nothing changed,” Nenshi said. “(The province) agreed with the technical assessment; they agreed with the alignment. The only thing that changed is we went to two procurements rather than three. We could have done that so long ago.”
Kenney disputed that, saying in an interview that “substantial changes” to the scope of the project were made after the province's due diligence.
“We would be irresponsible if we had not taken a bit of time to consult with technical experts in refining the project to limit risk and to protect the taxpayer. That was the exact right thing to do,” he said.
Coun. Shane Keating arrived at Wednesday's event sporting a celebratory pair of green shoes, a green tie and pocket square.
“We've had so many starts and stops. I think this is the final start, and it won't stop. So, happy is a good word.”
Keating explained he'd given up on seeing a Green Line announcement before the end of his final term on council this fall, and Wednesday's announcement was welcome. But he blames provincial delays for not making progress faster.
“We should have had a sod turning today, and we don't,” he said. “All we've done is delay the construction of the Green Line, I would guess, for 18 to 24 months.”
Jeff Binks, president of advocacy group LRT on the Green, said the approval is bittersweet for him, too.
“I really wish we had done this a year ago,” he said.
But he added he's confident this is, at last, the final step.
“I think we have worked all the variables. We're completely out of different options and wild cards. So I do think, yes, everybody, every level of government, every politician from every stripe is on board with this plan.”
The Green Line is ultimately planned to run from the far reaches of 160 Avenue N. to Seton in the deep southeast, but funding for extensions beyond the first stage isn't yet in place.
Enabling works like moving utilities to prepare for Green Line construction will begin in downtown and the Beltline later this year.