Calgary’s Green Line LRT will be in the spotlight Tuesday, even as it’s discussed behind closed doors at city council’s last meeting for the next month.
The city’s most expensive infrastructure project is already tacked with a significant price tag and many predict it has grown significantly.
Cost over-runs have been a huge concerns for the $5.5 billion Green Line, designed to connect more of the city together through transit.
Back in May, Ward 9 Councillor Gian Carlo Carra called the project essential.
“The best dollars we can spend in terms of moving Albertans and reducing carbon impact is building out Calgary’s CTrain system, that’s a need-to-have in terms of actual impact, a nice to have, in addition to that, would be regional rail,” he said.
The province has said it wouldn’t fund any additional costs for the project. Premier Danielle Smith said this spring the decision shouldn’t come as a surprise, having raised the alarm on the cost needed to create a tunnel in Eau Claire.
“The alternative: an elevated line from the Event Centre to City Hall hub would avoid the costly tunnels, it would only cost $200 million which would save about $1.8 billion. So, if I know that, they know that, their administration knows that, and yet they decided to go ahead anyway,” she said.
WATCH: Alberta won’t fund additional costs for Calgary’s Green Line project
The first phase is 18 kilometres and, as of June, more than $1.2 billion has already been spent on the project, including the demolition of buildings along the routes, and the design work.
Most of council’s agenda items involving the project have been classified as confidential, but there is a chance some details could be discussed publicly Tuesday, as council mulls over a borrowing bylaw amendment.
Councillors have said there needs to be some difficult conversations about the project, along with the possibility of some other projects getting the axe if the city can’t make it work.
“At this point in time, we are getting some great information from the Green Line board as well as the Green Line team. There is a check-in point regularly to make sure that council is aware of what’s happening and I think that is what we deserve to see as a council and that is what the public is asking for as well,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek said at the time.
Tuesday’s council meeting gets underway at 9:30 a.m.