More money for less: Green Line LRT approval reaction remains mixed

Calgary city council has approved a revised Green Line LRT that is shorter and will cost much more.

"We've had enough delays. We've had enough hand-wringing," said Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

"Not getting this project means turning our back on connecting Calgarians."

For $6.248 billion, the line will run from Eau Claire to Lynnwood/Millican, five stops short of the original route to Shepard in the southeast.

"Look, I think it's fair to say that it was broadly $1 billion more, and $1 billion of funding that we don't have," said Green Line board chair Don Fairbairn.

The train will not run to Ogden, South Hill, Quarry Park, Douglas Glen or Shepard in its first phase.

The storage and maintenance facility, previously planned to be built in Shepard, will be built in Highfield instead.

Advocacy groups say it's a start.

"Whether it's a city, whether it's the feds that we come up together with a new plan to move this forward," said Sabrina Grover LRT on the Green vice-president.

"And I think that the most important thing is that people support it, so I can't imagine why government wouldn't want to be at that table."

Grover says dissenting voices to the project are loud but represent a minority of the population.

"To those people, I would say, they're not the ones thinking about young families, about economic growth in the city and about the young people that live in the city that want to see Calgary move forward," Grover said.

Alberta's minister of transportation and economic corridors is pleased council is moving forward.

"I do feel bad that the current council is living through (Naheed) Nenshi's nightmare on Green Line and the homework wasn't done 10-plus years ago," said Devin Dreeshen.

"It was just a really bad hand that this current administration had to try to deal with it."

Dreeshen says the province has already committed $1.5 billion to the project but will not pay for any of the cost overruns.

Dreeshen says he looks forward to working with council as each step of the project continues.

Gondek says she can understand the frustration of southeast residents who thought they would have an LRT stop near their home but urges patience.

"I believe that as we start moving forward on this project, they'll be able to understand that it's real and it's providing a tremendous benefit to Calgarians," she said.