Calgary city council shortens Phase 1 of Green Line LRT with new $6.2B cost

The first shape of Calgary’s Green Line LRT will beryllium six stations shorter than primitively planned arsenic officials respond to important increases successful nan full cost, now pegged astatine $6.2 billion.

The caller statement will now tally betwixt Eau Claire and Lynwood/Milican, alternatively of nan primitively scoped 18-kilometre statement from Eau Claire to Shepard.

The changes mean 5 stations are being removed from nan scope successful nan southeast including Ogden, South Hill, Quarry Park, Douglas Glen and Shepard, and building of an underground position astatine Centre Street successful nan Beltline will besides beryllium deferred.

The passageway information underneath nan downtown halfway will besides beryllium shortened arsenic assembly voted successful favour of building nan position astatine Fourth Street S.E. supra ground.

Under nan caller alignment, a retention facility, primitively planned to beryllium built astatine nan Shepard station, will now beryllium constructed astatine nan Highfield station.

“This is simply a responsible measurement of moving guardant pinch this captious and historical finance successful metropolis infrastructure,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek said during a property convention Tuesday night. “It’s captious because transit is nan awesome equalizer successful immoderate city.”

The original alignment for nan first shape of nan Green Line was budgeted astatine $5.5 billion, but task officials noted it would’ve costs much than $7 cardinal unless mitigating steps were taken.

Council voted successful favour of expanding nan City of Calgary’s information of backing for nan Green Line by $705 million, to bring nan revised full for nan first shape to $6.2 billion.

Both nan national and provincial governments, nan different backing partners, are not expanding their backing commitments to screen overruns.

City officials noted nan costs will travel from respective sources including $208 cardinal from metropolis reserves, projected maturation successful nan city’s taxation base, and 75 per cent of early operational savings complete nan people of construction.

“That would get america further than not moving connected this task astatine all,” Gondek told reporters.

Project officials noted nan revised scope includes a revised projected ridership of 32,000 regular users, down from nan 55,000 regular users primitively anticipated for nan original segment.

“We admit that immoderate Calgarians will beryllium disappointed that they will person to hold longer for nan caller LRT work to scope their community,” said Green Line Board chair Don Fairbairn. “But starting building will laic a instauration for Calgary’s sustained maturation and guarantee nan semipermanent benefits of housing, connectivity and ridership tin beryllium maximized.”

Cost overruns person been a interest for immoderate critics of nan project, who called for a region and a caller scope to not see nan downtown passageway and alternatively push nan statement further southbound to Seton.

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“This is simply a short stub of a statement that isn’t going to service citizens,” said Steve Allan pinch Rethink The Green Line Committee.

Ultimately, metropolis assembly voted 10-5 successful favour of nan changes pinch counsellors Sonya Sharp, Dan McLean, Jennifer Wyness, Sean Chu and Andre Chabot voting against.

“We are paying acold much for acold little of nan system,” Sharp said successful her debate. “If you were mostly successful favour of building transit, you would not person been starting pinch nan astir expensive, riskiest portion and hardly adding ridership.”

However, immoderate councillors said building nan “core” of nan Green Line first would let for early extensions some southbound and north.

“The reality is, if we don’t do this now pinch nan money that we person committed, we will ne'er link nan northbound pinch nan south,” said Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra during nan debate.

The determination comes aft metropolis assembly spent astir nan full time down closed doors debating nan recommendations for nan line.

According to nan city, nan changes will require caller agreements pinch some nan national and provincial governments earlier building tin commencement later this year.

In a missive to Mayor Gondek dated Monday, nan Government of Alberta said its committedness of $1.5 cardinal wouldn’t beryllium impacted provided nan revised alignment connects pinch nan existing Red and Blue lines successful nan downtown core, and integrates pinch nan provincial obstruction maestro scheme and projected “Grand Central Station” adjacent nan caller arena.

In a abstracted letter, national Housing and Infrastructure curate Sean Fraser said nan national authorities would request a revised business lawsuit by Aug. 15 to corroborate its backing for nan line.

“Let’s not forget, we still person to get to nan northbound and each nan measurement to nan south,” Gondek said. “We proceed to activity pinch different orders of authorities to make judge we tin get nan backing successful place, successful a phased measurement to complete each of it.”