Opinion: Delivering on the Green Line vision means thoughtful investment and creativity

To many, the aboveground plan for the Green Line’s downtown segment seems like a road to nowhere, implemented for the sake of building another train line rather than grappling with Calgary’s genuine transportation problems.

Calgary is a young city in desperate need of a hidden “spinal cord” connecting its communities.

As of Aug. 1, 2024, the province was expected to contribute $1.53 billion to the project. What followed was two years of upheaval — $1.4 billion in provincial funding was pulled in September 2024, six stations have been removed and sections have been rerouted above ground, at ground level, or eliminated.

The City took ownership of the River Run town houses in Eau Claire for demolition in 2024, yet the proposed route will now end at 2nd Street S.W., rendering much of that disruption unnecessary. Through it all, the province has pushed for a “Grand Central Station” near the new BMO Centre, built to host major summits, forums and conferences — and investors.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas says it is time to “fish or get off the pier.” But pushing forward a project with diminished projected ridership looks less like leadership than checking an electoral box. Why is a tunnel through downtown treated as impossible? I want this project completed as much as the next person, but rather than rushing it, why not demand something better — something worth investing in?

Calgary is on the cusp of something new, something different from what we have known. As a working professional and taxpayer to the city, I am patient enough to see a project done thoughtfully and correctly.

Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen called the 2024 Green Line a “multibillion-dollar boondoggle” that would serve very few Calgarians. Yet, he supports a train line that does not stop in the residential Beltline, where, according to the 2021 municipal census, 48 per cent of residents commute using something other than personal motor vehicles. Instead, it will stop in the more commercial zone of Victoria Park.

Walk along 15th Avenue S.W. toward 11th Street and another picture of the city emerges — children with soccer balls and scooters, neighbours sharing a 5 p.m. sidewalk patio beer, bike commuters and busy corner groceries. Calling infrastructure that improves accessibility for and to this community a boondoggle seems far-fetched.

Dreeshen comes from a multi-generational farm family in Innisfail. Rural perspectives deserve representation, but does that lived experience warrant authority over the design of an urban transportation system in Calgary’s inner city?

The Green Line should be treated as a city-building project. A chance for sustainable job creation. It should open doors for young civil, geological, electrical and mechanical engineers to gain on-site experience under capable project management. It should employ forward-thinking graduates of architecture and urban planning alongside sociologists and psychologists contributing to a new generation of human-scale urban research and design.

Social scientists should add community-level research insights into usability, safety and accessibility. Artists should ensure Calgary’s civic culture is reflected in every tile of every station. This is an opportunity to employ capable, underemployed young professionals to help build the city they will inherit.

Let’s think beyond another shuttle for sports fans and office workers. The Green Line could become the connection Calgary has been missing, linking breweries nestled around the Ramsay Mills-Estates area with the small-scale grocers in Connaught, creating pathways for a common urban culture to flourish.

Let’s look past the political noise, pricey demands and endless options. Young and old, let’s get creative and put in the work to demand and build a train line that works as hard for us as we do for each other.

And let’s do it together.

Sophie Keenan is a high school librarian in Calgary with an MA in political science.