The Centre City segment of Green Line includes downtown and the Bow River crossing. In October, 2016, City Council approved a fully tunneled LRT route in Calgary’s downtown core. The approval was made “in principle”.

The fully tunneled route would see the Green Line LRT run underground north of the CP tracks on 9 Avenue S, under 2 Street S.W., and under the Bow River. The line would resurface north of 16 Avenue N along Centre Street N.

End-to-end, the line will be 46km long and connect the future north community of Keystone Hills and the south community of Seton to downtown. Green Line is estimated to make 90,000 to 140,000 trips each day.

Underground alignment approved, in principle

On October 4, 2016, City Council approved a fully tunneled LRT route in Calgary’s downtown core. The approval was made “in principle”, contingent on the overall funding for the Green Line program.

The fully tunneled route would see the Green Line LRT run underground from the CP tracks in the Beltline, under 2 Street S.W., and under the Bow River. The line would resurface north of 16 Avenue N along Centre Street N.

For more information about this decision and other Green Line updates, visit our blog or Calgary.ca/GreenLine

Green Line events are currently being developed for 2017.
Please continue to check back for updates.

How did we get here?

Our challenge was to find the best way to cross the Bow River and connect the Green Line with the Centre City and neighbouring communities along Centre Street North.

The Green Line team looked at a number of alternatives for crossing the river and integrating the Green Line into downtown. After extensive analysis, we narrowed it down to five potential options, and took these forward to communities along the route for discussion.

In October, 2016, the team took the recommendation of a tunnel through downtown and under the Bow River, coming to street-level past 16 Avenue N.

Click here to see the various options that were considered and evaluated.

The Centre City options were evaluated using a set of technical, financial, economic and community-focused criteria. Each option was evaluated and compared to understand the relative benefits, opportunities, challenges and trade-offs. Each criteria was weighed equally to maintain an unbiased evaluation process.

Based on this analysis, the highest ranked option was Option D – Underground in the Centre City to Centre Street & 20 Avenue North.

The chart below summarizes the outcome of the evaluation process. Check marks identify which option(s) was the highest ranked in each criteria.

Final results will be taken to City Council in late 2016, and a full report of the results will be made accessible to the public.