Green Line LRT Overview
What is the Green Line?
The Green Line will be vital piece of Calgary’s transit network, connecting the far South East of the City to the Centre North.
The Green Line is made up of two legs: the Centre North leg will run from the future community of Keystone to downtown, along Centre Street, and will then connect with the South East leg that extends into the community of Seton and the South Health Campus.
Construction is planned to start in 2017, and will be completed in 2024. It will be Calgary’s largest infrastructure project to date, with a total price of $4.6 billion.
What this means for Ward 4
Ward 4 is going to be heavily impacted by the Green Line. Centre Street was chosen for the Centre North alignment. The City already has plans to redevelop Centre Street in 2017, and will now proceed, but will rebuild sections to accommodate the future LRT.
Some parts of the Green Line will be underground, likely 16th Ave and McKnight Blvd, the rest will be over land. It will cause traffic headaches with construction, but will be a positive thing for our Ward.
When the Green Line is completed, how Ward 4 residents use transit will also change. New bus routes will be designed in order to bring residents to LRT stations instead of the downtown core. Centre Street is the most heavily used transit corridor in Calgary, and this will help more residents move quicker.
The Green Line will take vehicles of the road, increase the ability to use public transit for nearly 300,000 Calgarians, and will completely change Ward 4. This is good news for our Ward, and Calgary!
Facts about the Green Line
In the Fall of 2013 Calgary City Council dedicated $520 million over ten years to the Green Line project. The Federal Government in the Summer of 2015 contributed over $1.53 billion for the Green Line.
The completion of the Green Line is estimated to add an additional 50,000 transit trips per day.
It is estimated that the completed Green Line would reduce city wide congestion by 10-15% and reduce total vehicle kilometers traveled by 35-40%.
The Green Line will service eight employment hubs:
- Keystone Hills - 3,500 jobs
- Aurora - 6,700 jobs
- Country Hills - 2,900 jobs
- Glenmore/Barlow - 4,900 jobs
- Quarry Park - 8,300 jobs
- Douglasglen - 2,000 jobs
- South Trail Crossing - 6,000 jobs
- Seton - 5,200 jobs
Total city population today is 1.19 million, increasing to 1.89 million by 2043.
290,000 Calgarians are estimated to live along the Green Line corridor, expecting to increase to 465,000 by 2043.
Once completed the Green Line will add 40 kms of LRT track to the existing 53 kms of track - nearly doubling the size of Calgary’s LRT network.
Update on the Green Line
Next week, Council will vote on whether to extend the $52 million over 10 years - originally voted for the Green Line - to be extended to 30 years. This will give the $1.53 Billion needed from the City for the project. I will be voting in favour of this motion, as this does not mean any new tax increases for you, and builds a huge infrastructure project that will greatly benefit Ward 4 and Calgary. This is a win-win.
Town Halls
In the coming months, I will be hosting Town Halls across Ward 4 on the Green Line. I will have the LRT on the Green, City Officials, and community groups. I ask that you attend, and give your feedback on where you think the LRT stations should go, your thoughts on how we can integrate new stations into a community, and learn about future changes to transit. Your feedback is critical.
Drilling in Ward 4 - heads up!
The City will be conducting geotechnical field investigation work (drilling) from December 2015 to February 2016 along Centre Street North and in the downtown core, including Prince’s Island Park. This investigative work is being done for the Green Line project, and will help inform the technical requirements for the project.
The field investigation will involve drilling into the ground at specific locations along the future Green Line route to obtain subsurface information and extract soil samples. The different drill rigs will produce various noise levels and possible minor vibrations.
The boreholes will be drilled on City of Calgary property and City road right-of-way, not on private property. Drilling is not expected to exceed eight hours per borehole. The City will take measures to ensure impacts to surrounding park space and wildlife are minimized as much as possible, and natural areas are returned to their original state.