'This is how world-class cities are built': Construction of Green Line back on track
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Smith, in her speech, said the first phase of the Green Line will improve transit access in the southeast, providing tens of thousands of Calgarians an alternative method of transportation to reach the core and connect to the rest of the city's transit network.
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'That will take cars off the streets and less traffic means less gridlock and stress for everyone,' she said.
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The first phase sets the Green Line up to eventually extend as far south as Seton, Smith added.
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'This means more opportunity to spur future development based around LRT and more jobs and growth.'
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Technically, the Green Line has been under construction before, including property demolitions along the southeast segment of the alignment and belowground utility relocations in the Beltline and downtown.
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But Thursday marked the first time work has been underway since September 2024, when the Alberta government withdrew its $1.5-billion funding commitment over differences in how the project should be handled. While the city favoured a belowground tunnel through the core, the province preferred an aboveground solution that avoided potential cost overruns resulting from tunnelling.
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The about-face from the province led to city council voting to wind down work on the project in mid-September, even though more than $1 billion had already been spent and cancelling the project would likely cost an additional $850 million in contract and legal costs.
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Council heard from the independent Green Line board (which disbanded shortly afterward) that the Green Line would not be feasible without provincial support.
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Though the Green Line appeared to have been killed, the province commissioned engineering firm AECOM to come up with the alternative downtown alignment, which the firm presented in December. The province argued avoiding tunnelling would shave $1 billion off the budget, allowing the first leg of the Green Line to extend further south than the truncated alignment the city had approved last July.
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With the province and city back at the table, city council, begrudgingly, approved the revised plan in January, after months of tense back-and-forth rhetoric between Gondek and Dreeshen.
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The federal government approved the revised business plan in March, allowing construction on the southeast segment to advance.
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Asked Thursday how the project will avoid future turmoil, Dreeshen said a new governance committee including provincial and city officials will meet regularly to check in on the Green Line's progress and make sure the LRT proceeds on time and on budget.
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'There's more collaboration now than there's ever been,' he said. 'So that's a major way of how we can make sure that there isn't any surprises in the construction.'
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