Calgary council votes to move forward with province’s Green Line LRT alignment
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Posted Jan 28, 2025 6:53 pm.
Last Updated Jan 28, 2025 11:43 pm.
Calgary city council has approved all of the recommendations from city administration on moving forward with the province’s Green Line LRT alignment.
The recommendations to the multi-billion dollar transit project include starting construction on a line that extends from 160 Avenue in southeast Calgary north to the new Calgary event centre — with future plans to extend the line through downtown along 10 Avenue and 2 Street SW.
It means shovels could be in the ground on the southeast segment of the line this year while the functional plan for the downtown stretch begins.
Councillors debated and discussed the transit line in public on Tuesday after getting more confidential reports behind closed doors for several hours earlier in the day.
The province put in place a deadline for the city to make a decision on an elevated downtown alignment that they believe will make the line cheaper. The UCP government contracted AECOM in July to come up with the alternate route through downtown.
City administration ultimately recommended a north-south elevated track along 2 Street SW through downtown and will now conduct a full study on the proposed elevated alignment.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek voted against several of the the proposed recommendations with Couns. Raj Dhaliwal, Jennifer Wyness, Courtney Walcott and Jasmine Mian voting against all of them.
Coun. Mian said Tuesday she will not be running for re-election in 2025 and cited the Green Line as “the last straw” in her decision.
“This is the decision you are making today council and I respect it, but I cannot be apart of it,” Mian said.
Four organizations representing real estate and business communities in Calgary’s downtown and Beltline wrote a letter to Premier Danielle Smith and Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen in opposition of the proposed elevated alignment through the downtown core.
The groups say a list of concerns previously raised haven’t been addressed, and there are still significant risks and financial impacts to businesses in the area.
![Green Line downtown Calgary](https://calgary.citynews.ca/wp-content/blogs.dir/sites/8/2024/12/18/greenline002-1-1024x550.jpg)
Other parts of the approved recommendations from the city include the Green Line connecting with the existing CTrain Red and Blue Lines, the new event centre at a proposed Grand Central Station and allowing for a future connection between the north and south legs of the line.
Genera Manager Michael Thompson says part of the approved recommendations would see work begin on the southeast portion of the line this year and construction on the downtown segment starting in 2027.
The city previously said they have identified about $1.3 billion in additional costs and risk that would have to be covered by the city, along with any more cost overruns.
“The province has dumped all of this risk and responsibility onto the city, onto Calgary’s taxpayers,” says Gondek. “To be very clear, the provincial government who only bears responsibility for only 27 per cent of the cost of this project is pushing down on us as a municipal government for all of the risk and responsibility.”
Former Calgary mayor and provincial NDP leader Naheed Nenshi released a statement shortly after the council vote and says the decision marks a sad day for the city.
Nenshi claims the province ignored years of study and expert opinions to score some political points. He says the plan approved by council will have next to no ridership and calls it a “transit line from a parking lot to an arena.”
Posting on X following council’s decision, Dreeshen says the new alignment saves a billion dollars in tunneling costs and will serve 60 per cent more commuters.
“Today, we have the best value for money alignment to finally connect SE Calgary commuters to downtown,” reads his statement.
According to city administration, the city would still have to present its business case to the province, with the province submitting the final case to the federal government.