The City of Calgary and provincial government have announced an agreement to move a section of the Green Line project forward.
The provincial government and the city released an update on the LRT megaproject on Thursday, with a joint statement from Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Devin Dreeshen, Alberta’s minister of transportation and economic corridors.
Gondek and Dreeshen’s statement announced the two orders of government have agreed to advance work on the Green Line from Fourth Street S.E. in Victoria Park to Shepard in the city’s southeast.
The province added that in its meetings with the city, it reaffirmed its previously committed funding of $1.53 billion will remain available to support continuing the project.
“Through these discussions, we have agreed to advance the work from Fourth Street S.E. to Shepard,” Gondek and Dreeshen’s statement said.
“This decision not only works to preserve more than 700 jobs but also builds on the shared investments we have made towards the Green Line.”
The province’s announcement comes after weeks of talks between the city and province about the Green Line’s future.
City council voted to wind down the public transit project last month, a move that would incur costs totalling $2.1 billion, including $850 million to gradually halt all work.
The decision was voted on by council, weeks after the province withdrew its share of funding from the project.
The province previously announced it had contracted infrastructure consulting firm AECOM to design a new downtown alignment for the Green Line by the end of the year.
On Thursday, the province confirmed that AECOM is still developing this plan, with the alignment planned to be either at-grade or elevated, and to connect the Red and Blue LRT lines, the new Event Centre and to southeast Calgary neighbourhoods.
Gondek and Dreeshen’s statement added that the city is meeting regularly with AECOM and the province to inform its efforts.
Wind-down to continue while new design moves ahead
Gondek said on Thursday that design work for the Green Line can progress now and that it will save 700 jobs, but it doesn’t mean construction will begin this fall.
“We are looking at whether the design work can meet with what’s anticipated out of the alignment that’s being considered through AECOM, so the work that’s progressing is the design work,” Gondek said.
The mayor added that the Green Line team’s wind-down will continue, as that previous Green Line project is over and was terminated in September. She said what was announced on Thursday is a new project. She said it’s unclear at the moment what the wind-down costs will be.
The federal government will need to still weigh in on approving a new Green Line design.
Alberta NDP leader and former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi criticized the province on Thursday for moving quickly between affirming, cancelling and reinstating contracts related to the project.
“Yet again, the premier and her minister careen from crisis to crisis, this time trying to solve a catastrophe of their own making,” Nenshi said in a statement Thursday. “They lit over $2 billion on fire, and now are desperately backing down, trying to save the Green Line that they killed. Albertans deserve better than this pinball government.”
The NDP leader also called for a complete public accounting of the costs associated with the government’s handling of the project. Nenshi added that work is still needed to figure out how to get the Green Line downtown and eventually to north Calgary communities.
The Calgary Construction Association welcomed the new development, saying the agreement represents a significant commitment to maintaining momentum on the Green Line.
“The Green Line LRT is essential not only for connecting hundreds of thousands of Calgarians, but also for driving job creation and economic growth in our city,” said Bill Black, president and CEO of the association.
Barclay Parade closes
The city is also moving forward with permanently closing Barclay Parade S.W., a street in downtown’s Eau Claire district. Barclay Parade runs between Eau Claire Market and the nearby River Run condominiums, two buildings that have been slated for demolition to make way for the Green Line.
The Green Line team identified the demolition plan for Eau Claire Market and the River Run condos as an urgent decision the city must make, given potential safety and security concerns. A date to demolish the two buildings, which have sat empty for months, has not yet been set.
More to come …