Want to de-risk the Green Line? Build it now

Doubt is creating delays and costing money, Willem Klumpenhouwer says.

I often think of the money we could have saved if we had built the Green Line LRT project when we originally said we would; if governments of all stripes hadn't used it as a political football or wrung their hands at every stage.

Chances are we would already be riding the train instead of seeing opening day pushed farther away.

When we think of the cost of transit projects, we think of tracks and tunnels, construction workers and engineers, train cars and stations. But there is another, more insidious cost to megaprojects: doubt.

Doubt creates delays and raises uncertainty. Both mean higher project risk. Higher project risk means higher cost, as contractors have to factor it into their pricing, and financing gets more complicated. Simply put, this repeated skepticism of a popular, visionary and well-thought-out transit project is costing our city money.

Transit infrastructure costs in North America are rising, even above inflation. Every year we don't build the Green Line it will get more expensive, and financing of the project gets more complex.

The Green Line is popular. It has survived two elections: both Jeromy Farkas (2021) and Bill Smith (2017) were skeptics, and both lost their bid for mayor. It has remained one of the top priorities of Calgarians throughout the city over the years.

It's also good transit planning: The project brings frequent service to the transit-starved southeast and much-needed capacity to Calgary's busiest transit corridor on Centre Street N. New and existing riders alike will benefit, not to mention moving more people without clogging our roads. And just like the Red and Blue lines, direct connections across our city help us connect more people to more destinations with a single-seat ride.

It's also been thoroughly consulted on. I've lost count of the number of public hearings, design charettes, open houses, community meetings and council debates we've had. We have planned and replanned it for almost 10 years, and enough is enough.

This isn't an arena deal being pushed through behind closed doors, benefiting few. Transit has a major return on investment; estimates show that for every $1 spent on transit, society gets $7 to $10 in benefits. We've had debates and votes out in the open. We have regular meetings on cost.

On the other hand, not building the Green Line would be a civic and political disaster, not to mention the money from provincial and federal governments left on the table. In a climate and housing crisis, core transit lines help keep transportation costs low, promote transit-oriented communities and reduce emissions.

The Green Line is a longterm vision for a connected, equitable and sustainable Calgary. It's a project that will serve Calgarians for many decades to come.

Don't let a small, unelected group of naysayers keep driving up its cost.