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The Beltline Neighbourhoods Association is urging the city to delay the process for the southeast leg of the Green Line LRT project and keep its construction schedule in line with the downtown portion.

In a transportation committee meeting last week, the Green Line project team acknowledged they had arrived at a “key pivot point” and that they were no longer interested in a “really deep” four-kilometre underground tunnel traversing the downtown.

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Project staff said they now also planned to split the first stage of the project into two contracts. Construction firms would be able to bid separately on the first 16-kilometre stretch from 4th Street S.E. to 126th Avenue S.E. in Shepard, and the more technically challenging four-kilometre centre city area from 16th Avenue N. to 4th Street S.E.

The first phase of the project — a $4.65-billion, 20-kilometre line — spans 14 stations from 16th Avenue N. in Crescent Heights to 126th Avenue S.E. in Shepard.

Construction of that portion of the line had previously been scheduled to begin in 2020, with the goal of completing it by 2026. Now, the city says construction won’t begin until 2021 on the southern leg of the route, and work on the core might not begin until 2022.

Procurement work for the downtown portion of the project has also been delayed until further engagement with downtown businesses and the public can be completed.

But Peter Oliver, president of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association, said it would be a mistake for the southeast leg to proceed before its downtown counterpart.

“There’s no reason to speed ahead with the southeast. It’s not going to impact the Phase One completion date,” Oliver said.

“What we are concerned about is tying our hands and going straight to construction on the southeast line when we don’t know what the final design is now, or the final alignment is now, for the downtown and the Beltline.”