Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is proposing a new strategy for the Green Line LRT, including a downtown tunnel and temporary bus bridges [1, 2].
The proposal aims to resolve delays by reducing the city's reliance on Alberta provincial government funding and approvals [3, 4]. By altering the project's current path, the mayor believes the city can speed up the delivery of transit services to the far north and south ends of the city [3].
One primary option involves the construction of an underground tunnel through the downtown core [2]. This shift is intended to provide more flexibility for future extensions and to bypass certain provincial bottlenecks [2, 4]. However, the level of provincial involvement remains a point of contention. Mayor Farkas said he has plans to bypass the Alberta government to build the tunnel [1], while the province's transportation minister said Alberta is still involved in refining the alignment [5].
Another alternative discussed is the implementation of a temporary bus bridge [3]. This would allow the city to pause work on the downtown segment to prioritize extending the line further south [6]. Such a move would potentially allow construction to begin in outlying areas while the city and province finalize the downtown route.
City council members have expressed a desire for more research into alternative routes for the downtown alignment [4]. Despite this, Farkas said a new path forward could be on the table now [1].
"For us to get construction as quickly as possible in the far north and the far south, we have to have some flexibility in ..." Farkas said [3].
“Mayor Jeromy Farkas is proposing a new strategy for the Green Line LRT, including a downtown tunnel and temporary bus bridges.”
This shift in strategy represents a tension between municipal autonomy and provincial oversight. By proposing a 'bus bridge' and independent tunneling, Calgary is attempting to decouple the immediate needs of suburban commuters from the complex political and financial negotiations required for downtown infrastructure. If successful, this could create a blueprint for other Canadian cities to advance large-scale transit projects despite provincial funding disputes.
