The Green Line is a key priority for the future of Calgary and Ward 12 and while we are starting with the core we must immediately look towards completion.

Read on to learn more...

As Calgary continues to grow and evolve, the Green Line represents a vital commitment to our city's future. Our city is projected to reach 2.5 million by 2076 which makes investing in public transit a necessity if we want to protect our high quality of life, economic vitality, and environmental sustainability.

Calgary and Ward 12 support the Green Line, we recognize its role in improving mobility, supporting underserved communities, and driving economic development. Ultimately, we need to start somewhere and by initiating construction from Eau Claire to Lynnwood/Millican, we lay the groundwork for future expansions, ensuring better connectivity and long-term value for our city.

While I know many in Southeast Calgary are actively mourning the loss of Lynnwood/Millican to Shepard (I am one of them) I want you to know that work is already underway to ensure that construction continues to Shepard and beyond.

Further investment in Green Line will require support from all our partners as Calgary is carrying more than its fair share of the risk. I look forward to a future when this is a reality. The value proposition of this project grows with every new addition but the phases to come cannot face the same level of risk as this first one.

The Green Line is a cornerstone of Calgary's strategic planning, integral to our RouteAhead 30-year Strategic Plan for Transit, the Municipal Development Plan, and much more. It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support our goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, and ensure Calgary remains one of the most livable cities in the world.

By supporting the Green Line, core to completion, we make a bold statement: Calgary is committed to a sustainable, connected, and prosperous future for all its residents.

Project details and updates can be found at www.calgary.ca/greenline 

FAQ

How much has been spent so far? What happened to all the money?

Monthly board report and financial legend / Find past Green Line Board Meetings

Due to a decade of delays, including a cancelled procurement, the owners' costs and also the design and engineering are higher than other comparable projects. Since the Green Line Board was established and the Green Line Team CEO was hired (both in 2021) those costs have progressed at the normal rate for comparable major infrastructure projects. 

The rest of the spending to date has mostly gone to preparation for general construction to begin in the form of land acquisition, utility relocations, and procurement of the rail cars.

What caused this to occur?

Delays, inflation, market factors and opposition...

Since the original procurement in 2021, the external pressures have fundamentally changed. Inflationary pressures from COVID (supply chain, labour, risk tolerance) have impacted all large infrastructure projects. When you combine this with a highly competitive market due to high levels of major transit infrastructure spending in the US and East of us in Canada, the project faced significant headwinds.

The Green Line Board's first recommendation which they called "Best Value" was the full Eau Claire to Shepard scope. The City was ready with their portion of financing to move ahead with "Best Value" but due to our funding partners' decisions The Green Line Board ended up recommending "Building the Core" to match the available funding.

What did you do to try and prevent this and advocate for Ward 12?

From 2021 to late 2023, all communication from The Green Line Team/Board was that while cost pressures likely meant that Eau Claire to 16th Ave North was not going to fit within the available funding, that Eau Clarie to Shepard was safe and any cost overruns minimal. 

Feb 29th of this year was the first Board Report to signal that costing was at risk:

Even at this point, the message to Council was that this would all be manageable as the Green Line Team was in constant communication with our funding partners and no alarm bells were being raised. All major infrastructure projects were facing similar challenges.

Everything changed on May 8th when we received a letter from Minister Dreeshan which has had The Green Line Board and Team working overtime ever since. 

My role since that day has been advocating with our funding partners, alongside all of Council, to protect the "Best Value" scope for Phase One and in that, we were not successful. Unfortunately, the Province has been unwilling to budge and due to recent changes like Bill 20 neither was the Federal government.

I brought very specific Ward advocacy to the July 30th Regular Meeting of Council and it is outlined below.

What now?

The Green Line will begin general construction this Fall and it was important to me to immediately fight for the phase out to Shepard. Ward 12 has waited far too long for this project and I am committed to ensuring that construction on the Green Line simply carries into future phases. Core to Completion. Green Line as a North/South transit spine is so important for our City.

To ensure that this happened I brought the following amendments:

When will Ward 12 see the Greenline?

In the best-case scenario, should we be able to gain the extra $1 billion in funding commitments to take the Green Line from Millican to Shepard. The Green Line could potentially be working its way into Ward 12 shortly after the estimated six-year build-out of the new Phase One.

Why wasn’t this project started years ago, what took so long?

The project actually did start years ago and had construction starting in the SE. Below is a picture of the alignment that went out to procurement. If this had been allowed to go ahead, we would have been further along and received FAR more for each dollar. Unfortunately, our funding partners decided the project needed review. The review ended up changing very little. Click here for the full timeline. 

The forces that aligned to put the project in the place that it is in today are not unique to Calgary.

My concern now and moving into the future is the risk profile that this project represents as it is built out. Calgary is carrying more risk on this project than our partners and that is not for lack of asking. Transit is vital for our collective future and the other levels of government need to step up as they are far better placed to manage the associated risks.

This fact led me to move the following Motion Arising:

Calgary is carrying 45% of the funding load for this project and that makes it an outlier even in Alberta. There are projects in other provinces where the funding and delivery risk is covered entirely by higher levels of government. I am grateful that the UCP are currently exploring passenger rail but they need to understand that municipal LRT is vital to the entire regional network. 

Please don't hesitate to reach out with further questions or concerns related to this project. The journey of this project is long and complex, and I would gladly discuss it with those that are interested. Email [email protected] to pose those questions or ask for a phone call.

Evan Spencer

Cllr. Ward 12