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 Alberta Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen.
Gondek and Dreeshen’s statement announced that the two orders of government have agreed to advance work on the Green Line from 4th Street S.E. 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 4th 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 megaproject last month, a move that would incur costs totalling $2.1 billion, including $850 million to gradually halt work on it.
The decision was voted on by council, weeks after the province withdrew its share of funding from the project.
The province previously announced that 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.
More to come …