The progress of Calgary’s controversial LRT green line took up the majority of the time of city council’s executive committee on Tuesday, while a survey shows opposition to the elevated portion of the line from downtown businesses and associations.
The committee heard the committed cost of the line up to the end of December 2025 is $2,019,116,514; the cost to date has reached $1,664,463,241, and; the cost year to date is $278,321,003.
The funding for the estimated $7.5 billion total cost of the line comes from all three levels of government, the City of Calgary, the Alberta Government and the Federal Government.
In a presentation, city administration said three major construction projects are currently active, including the Ogden Road realignment, the Blackfoot Tr. light rail transit bridge and the 78 Ave. SE light rail transit bridge.
The section of the green line drawing the most controversy is downtown, where an elevated track is currently planned over 10 Ave. from Stampede Park west to 2 St. SW and north into the downtown core to hook up with the Red and Blue lines. The Alberta Government, with the threat of withholding funding, mandated the elevated track, overriding the original plan to take the track underground.
Administration's presentation included potential risks that could derail the elevated track, including broad public support may not be achievable, particularly from interest holders adjacent to the alignment.
Additionally, final costs haven’t been tabulated, and “design refinements required to address safety, urban integration, and adjacent development may increase capital, operating, and lifecycle costs,” said administration, adding, “the ability to refine the design to address technical issues, stakeholder concerns, and emerging themes may require trade-offs between cost, constructability, and public acceptance, which will need to be carefully balanced to maintain support.”
The city has just completed a survey of Calgarians' opinions of the downtown segment, but results have yet to be compiled.
However, the results of a private survey, recently made public, show there is growing opposition to the elevated track.
The survey was conducted in December and January by the Calgary Downtown Association and commercial property management groups BOMA and NAIOP Calgary, as well as the Calgary Construction Association and commercial tenants on 2 St.
Andrew Doudican, director of urban strategy and special projects for the Calgary Downtown Association, told Postmedia the survey findings are in line with the opinions of its more than 2,500 members.
“It’s nice to have that on paper. It’s better for an organization like us, or BOMA or NAIOP, to be able to show the data, to show that people are broadly against this alignment,” said Doudican. “For us, it’s a useful tool to kind of communicate properly with the city and the province.”
In addition to the survey results, owners of stores and restaurants that could be under the track have made known their concerns about construction noise, shadowing, parking and traffic flow.
The survey found 98% of business-related respondents are in favour of the Green Line, but 93% oppose the elevated track.
Just under 90% said they prefer a different alignment, and 80% said the elevated alignment would be negative for their business, with just under 50% indicating they would give consideration to selling if the elevated track goes ahead.
Eighty-seven per cent of business operators along 2nd Street said they support an underground alignment.
More than half of property owners said they expect an elevated track would result in reduced occupancy rates or sales levels.
At the announcement of a new downtown non-market housing project last week, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas, told reporters he had heard a lot about the Green Line during campaigning for October’s election.
“I heard significant concerns from local residents as well as the business community in terms of the impact of that elevated section,” said Farkas. “So, I think once that work is done, we’ll have a better understanding in terms of whether this is, in fact, the best way to go.”