Construction continues in southeast Calgary — even if Green Line is being wound down

Even though city council has voted to wind down the Green Line LRT project, work is continuing at a southeast construction site along the now-dead alignment. 

Workers remain on the job at the 78th Avenue underpass site in Ogden.

The $50-million project began in July 2023 and it's well underway.

It features a new bridge being constructed to carry the CPKC line over an extension of 78th Avenue S.E. Both are now taking shape.

It's an early works project for the LRT line. But it's also required because CPKC wants to close a nearby level rail crossing at 69th Street and this will allow access to the railway's Ogden shops area.

The head of the Green Line, Darshpreet Bhatti, said construction will continue even if planning, design work and procurement on the LRT line has been halted.

"We need to make sure that that work is brought to completion safely, for our colleagues who are working on the project but as well as the public," he said.

The city plans to have the Green Line team formally disbanded by the end of 2024.

However, the 78th Avenue project is currently not slated to be done until the summer of 2025.

Bhatti said a plan is being developed to hand the project over to the City of Calgary for it to complete the work.

"We will look at a transition plan that can be offered to the city by the end of this year," he said.

The underpass is not the only project where work has continued since the province halted its funding for the Green Line.

A building in Ramsay was demolished since the work was already in progress. Underground utility work in downtown Calgary is also being completed.

The province announced in a letter to Mayor Jyoti Gondek on Sept. 3 that it was withdrawing support for the council-approved alignment.

The initial phase of the Green Line was shortened by council on July 30 to a 10-kilometre line with seven stations as a cost-saving measure.

The provincial minister of transportation, Devin Dreeshen, said the city could reduce costs by doing away with a downtown LRT tunnel, which would allow the Green Line to be extended further into the southeast quadrant.

He has given a $2.5-million, sole-source contract to AECOM to come up with a new alignment plan by December.

Dreeshen said it will then be up to the City of Calgary to decide whether it will work with the province on the project or if plans for a new LRT line can be shelved for a future date.