Executive committee endorses at-grade Green Line to 10th Avenue in Beltline

Calgary's executive committee voted Tuesday to build the Green Line's downtown section at street level along 10th Avenue, ending a decade of design debate over how to connect the southeast LRT to the core.

The vote was 12-1 in favor of the at-grade option, which terminates between 1st and 2nd Street S.W. in the Beltline. Ward 2 Councillor Jennifer Wyness voted against; Councillors Landon Johnston and Harrison Clark were absent. The decision requires ratification at a regular council meeting later this month.

The endorsed alignment is the only option that stays within the current funding envelope. The two rejected alternatives—an elevated track along 10th Avenue and 2nd Street S.W., or an elevated alignment hooking right to 1st Street S.E.—would have required $1 billion and $500 million in additional costs respectively. Both elevated options presented higher projected daily ridership than the at-grade choice, which is expected to carry 41,000 passengers daily.

Businesses and property owners along the affected streets had voiced concerns about the impacts of elevated track. The at-grade option connects passengers to the Plus-15 network and 1st Street S.W. underpass, with a surface-level station at Olympic Way and 10th Avenue.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas said the surface-grade option presents the most "optionality" to eventually extend the line through downtown and north of the Bow River. "There will always be a reason we can come up with to delay, but there is not going to be another time where it's cheaper to build," Farkas said at the executive committee meeting. "We've debated the Green Line for long enough — now it's time to build."

Wendy Tynan, the city's director of the Green Line project, told reporters the decision marks a major milestone after years of competing proposals. "We've been discussing and debating what is going to be the alignment for phase one for over a decade, so to actually have a decision that we can communicate to Calgarians — that we are building from Shepard in the southeast to a station with a fantastic pedestrian interface into the Plus-15 network at 10th Avenue and 2nd Street — is huge."

Phase 1 of the Green Line runs from Shepard in the southeast to 10th Avenue and 2nd Street, with funding commitments from the City of Calgary, Province of Alberta, and Government of Canada. Construction of the southeast portion is already underway and expected to open in 2031.