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City crews will be in the field conducting investigations this month on extending the Blue Line LRT to 88 Avenue N.E., a required step in a potential rail connection to the Calgary International Airport.
According to an update from the city, crews will be assessing ground conditions and groundwater levels as well as surveying site details along 88 Avenue N.E.
That work is expected to include drilling and the city said those who live and work in the area may notice “periodic equipment noise” during daytime hours as well as equipment staged in the area.
The investigations will help “inform the design of the extension” one kilometre north from Saddletowne Station to 88 Avenue, the city said in an update.
It comes after the city conducted an initial round of field investigations in late 2024, which focused on the the south end of Saddletowne Circle N.E. north to Airport Trail, and covered both sides of 60th Street N.E. and Saddletowne Circle.
According to the city, that work was to study noise impacts and determine utility locations, as well as planned infrastructure like noise walls, retaining walls, foundations, buildings, roadways, and train tracks.
Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal said one of his key priorities since being elected in 2021 was to extend the Blue Line to northern communities.
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“It makes business sense because there’s so much ridership right now in northern communities like Redstone, Cornerstone, Cityscape, Skyview, they deserve LRT sooner than later,” he told Global News.
An extension of the Blue Line LRT in the city’s northeast to 88 Avenue has been listed as a priority project by Calgary Transit, with an estimated project cost of $160 million.
In 2024, the province allocated $43.3 million over three years for the construction of the expanded Blue Line, with city council also earmarking $24.6 million to help with design and field studies.
“The missing piece of the puzzle right now is federal government,” Dhaliwal said. “So we are waiting for the federal government to step up, and hopefully they will.”
Dhaliwal said he hopes to meet with federal infrastructure minister Gregor Robertson in the coming weeks to discuss potential funding to get “shovels in the ground” on the project.
According to the city, a station at 88 Avenue N.E. is required to facilitate a future connection to the airport through a transfer station.
The City of Calgary studied an airport rail connection back in 2023 after the Government of Alberta allocated $3 million to find an optimal route for a rail line that connects downtown with the airport.
According to a briefing on the study, that optimal route is an east-west rail connection to the airport, an extended Blue Line LRT and the future northern leg of the Green Line, while also connecting with the province’s proposed regional and high-speed rail lines in the Deerfoot Trail corridor.
The findings of that study were forwarded to the provincial government to be included in its upcoming Passenger Rail Master Plan.
“The beauty of the Blue Line is it’s already there,” Dhaliwal said. “We just put a new connector on the next block so we can extend it.”
According to the city, investigation work on the Blue Line LRT extension will continue through late May.
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