Councillors look to advance construction of LRT on Green Line
Posted May 25, 2015 7:52 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Three city councillors are hoping to press fast forward on a Green Line LRT.
Shane Keating, Sean Chu, and Jim Stevenson are bringing forward a motion Monday asking councillors to scrap a plan to start the project in 2017 with just buses.
Instead, they are hoping new federal funds will allow CTrain tracks to be laid down right away.
A new transit fund laid out in the budget, ahead of the federal election, promises $250-million to cities in 2017, $500-million in 2018 and $1-billion in the years following.
Council would have to look at how much funding Calgary would get and what the process would be to apply for it.
Councillor Gian-Carlo Carra tells City News, it’s definitely something worth looking into.
“I’ve consistently said if the next million Calgarians drive as much as the current million do we’re all doomed. We’re all in the same boat, we have to start providing the opportunity for the next million Calgarians to live more of a transit-oriented, and less of a car-focussed, lifestyle,” he said.
Carra says it’s going to be a balancing act, but the downturn is always the right time to build things: it can help to stimulate the economy and takes advantage of low construction costs.
