City of Calgary responsible for Green Line cost overruns and legal risk, province says

After reviving the proposed Green Line LRT project and pitching its own design, Alberta's transportation minister is adamant the transit line is still the responsibility of the city, which would be on the hook for any possible construction cost overruns and lawsuits.

Devin Dreeshen made the comments in an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, while city councillors continued to debate the merits of the redesigned project.

This latest iteration of the Green Line will feature no tunneling through Calgary's downtown, which was a major point of criticism from the province in the project's last alignment.

The revised plan has the LRT running through the core along 10th Avenue on elevated tracks, and then curving north to Seventh Avenue, allowing riders to connect with the Blue Line and Red Line in the downtown core.

"It's on the city to be able to manage it and to operate it," said Dreeshen, pointing to how the provincial government wants the realignment to help justify its $1.7 billion contribution as a funding partner.

"If there were any cost overruns on this or the extension of the Blue Line to the airport, that would be on the city," said Dreeshan. 

There are various concerns about how an elevated line downtown could affect the property value of neighbouring office buildings and the viability of existing stores, which has led to discussion about potential lawsuits.

The city would assume any legal risk, Dreeshen said.

The City of Calgary says the Alberta government's revised Green Line LRT alignment would cost $7.5 billion — and not the $6.2 billion figure both the city's previously approved plan and the new provincial plan suggest.

"That's something we obviously are going to dive into," said Dreeshen. "As of right now, we don't know what's in it."

Infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, hired by the province in September, was put in charge of designing the new alignment, which stretches just over 17 kilometres and has 12 stations instead of the previous plan's seven. 

A redacted copy of the AECOM report was released Wednesday afternoon.

Despite the province's involvement in revamping the project, Dreeshen said it's up to city hall to decide the Green Line's fate.

"If Calgary council votes no to the Green Line, then it would be this Calgary council that voted no on the Green Line," he said.