$100M already spent on Green Line LRT mega-project

The City of Calgary has already spent more than $100 million on the proposed Green Line LRT project.

"Approximately a third of that is related to land acquisition expenses and the balance are on things such as the engineering and pre-design work on the north, the central and the southeast legs," said Mac Logan, the general manager of transportation for the city.

The alignment of what will be Calgary's next LRT line hasn't been finalized, but the city and the federal government have each set aside $1.5 billion for the mega-project — the largest in Calgary's history.

Provincial funding

There is not yet word from the province on its contribution and the city is looking at the possibility of building the line in chunks, rather than immediately stretching it from the far north to the deep southeast.\

Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the costs are to be expected at this stage of the project.

"We're starting to assemble the land, which is a non-trivial thing for such an incredibly large project. And we continue to move forward, we're serious about it," he said.

Alignment

There are still major decisions to be made on the project, including whether or not the line will run underneath the Beltline.

Recently, a possible change in the alignment of the tracks through Ramsay in the city's southeast angered the community.

Those alignment questions are expected to be settled later this year.

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