{"id":728987,"date":"2026-06-11T04:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T04:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/728987\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T04:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T04:06:12","slug":"calgarys-mayor-floats-temporary-pause-on-downtown-green-line-to-extend-further-south-calgary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/728987\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary\u2019s mayor floats temporary pause on downtown Green Line to extend further south – Calgary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The solution to getting the Green Line through Calgary\u2019s downtown core could be stopping short of it altogether, according to Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas<\/a>, who is flirting with the idea of extending the line further south first.<\/p>\n

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Farkas told reporters Wednesday the move could give officials more time to figure out an alignment through the city\u2019s downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, personally, I\u2019d be looking at perhaps parking some of the more contentious portions of the downtown route, potentially stopping a little bit shorter in the downtown, giving us more time to solve for that portion of the alignment, and taking some of the cost savings and pushing even further south into suburban Calgary,\u201d Farkas told reporters.<\/p>\n

It comes as project officials study an elevated alignment proposed by the provincial government as a condition for its $1.5 billion share of funding for the LRT line.<\/p>\n

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That route would see a track run above 10 Avenue S in the Beltline and turn north over the CPKC Rail tracks to 2 Street S.W., stopping above 7 Avenue S.W.<\/p>\n

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In response to concerns from businesses and residents in the downtown core over the proposed alignment, city councillors will debate whether to officially explore alternate routes through the core after endorsing a move to do so<\/a> at a committee meeting Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen indicated the province is \u201copen to discussing refinements\u201d to the project\u2019s alignment througb the downtown core, but maintained \u201ca tunnel is not on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

A tunnel under the core was previously planned for the Green Line\u2019s downtown alignment, but the province withdrew its funding as the line only went as far south as Lynwood\/Millican with five fewer stops due to cost concerns.<\/p>\n

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Farkas suggested buses could be used as an alternate to connect Green Line riders from the Event Centre Station to the MAX Green bus line on Centre Street, instead of running a train through the downtown, until the city could partner with the federal government on a tunnel.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnother option is to potentially build within the current envelope as far south as we can, and perhaps have the city and the feds only partner on the phase two, which could potentially be a downtown underground option,\u201d Farkas said.<\/p>\n

Construction on the southeast leg of the $6.2 billion project is already underway with the current terminus set to be built in Shepard.<\/p>\n

According to David Cooper, principal at Leading Mobility, building the Green Line further south to Seton is feasible due to a protected right-of-way for the line.<\/p>\n

However, Cooper said council will need to make a decision on the downtown leg, which he noted as been \u201cextensively studied.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know an at-grade option isn\u2019t plausible because the trains are too long for the blocks, and we know the province isn\u2019t interested in a tunnel,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s only a finite amount of options available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some on council are concerned this latest twist in the Green Line saga could impact further extensions of the line to the north.<\/p>\n

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Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule said residents he represents in north-central Calgary are in a \u201cpurgatory of transit,\u201d with no hope of the Green Line reaching their neighbourhoods in their lifetimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpitballing now when we\u2019ve studied this alignment to death just feels irresponsible,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cWe have an alignment, we just need to follow it.\u201d<\/p>\n

During an update to city councillors Tuesday, Green Line officials said $244 million has been spent on studying and preparing for a tunnel under the downtown core.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The solution to getting the Green Line through Calgary\u2019s downtown core could be stopping short of it altogether,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,71388,177137,48,24156,262769],"class_list":["post-728987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-calgary-city-council","tag-calgary-city-hall","tag-canada","tag-city-of-calgary","tag-green-line-downtown-calgary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}