Winding down of Green Line LRT project ‘unfortunate’: transportation minister [Video]

Alberta’s transportation minister says the City of Calgary’s decision to wind down the Green Line LRT project is “unfortunate” — but he isn’t completely closing the door on the transit initiative.

City council voted 10-5 to stop the project on Tuesday. There were several attempts to save the $6.2 billion project and instead put it on pause, but in the end council members decided to bring it to a close.

That will happen at a cost of at least $2.1 billion.

“It is unfortunate that some members of city council would prefer to see the Green Line cancelled entirely rather than find a far more cost-effective and longer above-ground alignment that will actually reach hundreds of thousands of Calgarians in the southeast of the city,” Dreeshen said in a statement Wednesday.

The province pulled its funding while it reviews the alignment of the LRT line.

A final report on the line is expected in …