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The city’s transportation boss revealed Thursday the 46-kilometre Green Line LRT will be split into phases and the first segment — slated to open in 2026 — will stretch 20 kilometres and exceed the initial $4.5-billion estimate for the entire line.

City administration will recommend to council Monday that the 28-station transit project’s first stage of construction begin in 2020 and extend over 14 stations from 16th Avenue in Crescent Heights, under the Bow River, through the downtown core, to the deep south, ending at 126th Avenue S.E. in Shepard where a maintenance facility will be located.

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Stage 1 is expected to span 14 stations and cost $4.65 billion.

“It’s a great start for a project that will help us shape our city,” said Mac Logan, the city’s general manager of transportation.

End-to-end, the Green Line will one day stretch from North Pointe to Seton, though Logan said Thursday there’s no defined timeline or funding for future stages, including several stations north of 16th Avenue that will connect the communities of Highland Park, Tuxedo Park, Huntington Hills and Beddington Heights.