Alberta says it will restore Green Line funding with above-ground alignment

Despite pulling funding for the project last week, the province says it’s committed to helping Calgary build the Green Line LRT, but only if it’s above ground.

In a statement to CityNews, Premier Danielle Smith’s Press Secretary, Savannah Johannsen, said the premier and Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, Devin Dreeshen, met with Mayor Jyoti Gondek on Monday to discuss the project.

“[Smith and Dreeshen] met with Mayor Gondek yesterday regarding the Green Line and reaffirmed that she remains committed to the project and a new above ground alignment that will benefit more Calgarians,” Johannsen said, in part.

On Sept. 4, Dreeshen sent a letter to Gondek indicating he had “serious concerns” with updates to the project made at the end of July, calling it a “multi-billion dollar boondoggle.”

For this reason, Dreeshan said the province would no longer be able to provide the $1.53 billion it had previously committed.

Smith was asked about the province pulling the funding during an unrelated news conference on Thursday, saying the project could bankrupt a city and needs to be rethought.

“It’s the incredible shrinking project, every time a new announcement came out it got smaller and smaller, and it did not meet its original commitment,” she said.

Calgary Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot says further study of the realignment doesn’t make sense.

“We’ve already put in a whole bunch of money,” said Chabot, on Now You Know With Rob Snow. “There’s a lot of good money that’s already been spent on some of the proposed alignment, and it would be a waste to not take advantage of.”

Council approved scaled down Green Line earlier this year

On July 30, after hours of closed-door conversations, Calgary City Council said another $705 million was being invested in the Green Line while simultaneously cutting down the overall projected budget.

City Chief Financial Officer Carla Male said at the time the projected financing costs were reduced from $640 million to $451 million, bringing the total capital budget for the Green Line to $6.248 billion.

One of the changes approved by council at the time was building the core of the project from Eau Claire in downtown Calgary to Lynwood/Millican in the southeast. The line would connect with Calgary Transit’s Red and Blue lines in downtown Calgary and would include a new maintenance and storage facility at Highfield.

Previous plans had the first phase of the project going all the way south to Shepherd with five more stations in southeast. The board has said the other stations could still be built when more funding is approved.

The recommendations also included deferring building a Centre Street Station in the Beltline and moving a station at 4 Street SE to above ground.

City votes to ‘wind-down’ project

Last week, council voted to start the process of winding down the project, as it can no longer afford to proceed without the province’s financial support.

It has asked administration for recommendations on how to move forward, including potentially transferring risk and cost to the province.

The next discussion on the matter is set for Sept. 17.