The City of Calgary has completed a utility relocation tied to the in-limbo Green Line rapid-transit project.

The two-year effort involved the relocation of underground third-party shallow utilities, including fibre-optic cable, electricity and gas lines, between downtown and Victoria Park. The work was performed by third-party utility companies, including ENMAX, TELUS, Bell, Zayo, Calgary District Heating, Rogers/Shaw and ATCO Gas.

The city said “potential utility conflicts” had to be removed before Green Line-related tunnelling and station construction could begin.

But, now, it remains to be seen whether the work was necessary. The Alberta government opposes tunnels for the Green Line in the downtown area and has indicated that some stations already approved by the city may not get built.

Calgary city council voted in September to wind down the long-sought $6.2-billion Green Line project after the provincial government pulled its $1.5-billion share of the project. Meanwhile, several announced and contemplated commercial real estate projects have been caught in the political crossfire Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi.

The projects include a new station and other proposed projects tied to the former Eau Claire Market site downtown.

The province has accused the city of turning the Green Line into a financial “boondoggle.” City council was told that the wind-down will cost $850 million on top of $1.3 billion already spent on setup costs that include land acquisition, bringing total expenses to $2.1 billion.

The province has hired AECOM to devise a new route that may not include areas associated with the utility relocation.

According to the city, the relocation occurred across downtown along the Phase 1 Green Line alignment, from Eau Claire south along 2nd Street S.E. to 11th Avenue S.E. and then east along 11 Avenue into Victoria Park.

Premier Danielle Smith and Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen have accused Nenshi of botching the Green Line’s planning while he was Calgary’s mayor. Nenshi has responded by contending that Dreeshen turned the project into a political football and put jobs at risk.

AECOM is slated to come up with a revised route by December. While the city has called on the province to take over the Green Line project, Smith has balked at that idea.

Meanwhile, construction companies are growing tired of waiting for results.

“If the silence goes on too long, industry will begin to move on,” Bill Black, president of the Calgary Construction Association, told CityNews.

October is the “worst time” to put a major revenue-generating project like the Green Line on hold indefinitely because many construction companies are planning their 2025 budgets. As a result, firms may look to do other, guaranteed projects instead, according to Black.

“If [the province and city are] determined to wait until December, then we’re going to be waiting a lot longer before there’s a Green Line in the ground,” he told CityNews.

Photo: City of Calgary

Rendering: Harvard Developments