Part of it very well could be. Here's a bit more of a comprehensive article that was published in the Herald:
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news...lrt-but-also-whether-its-worth-the-costs
What both articles seem to gloss over is the fact that this study will examine how to phase construction of the Green Line LRT (if funding becomes available) and not just the SE portion. My guess is the first phase will include LRT from Quarry Park to somewhere north of Downtown to demonstrate that the project is more than just a SE LRT and to keep a large number of the northern Councillors onboard. Further phases will most likely involve incremental expansion of the line first to the north and then to the southeast.
Essentially this is the City's reaction to the fact they think the Federal Government and Provincial Government are more likely to dig deep for funding a prestige LRT project than they are a transitway project. Once the plan is presented in December, the City can go to the other orders of government and say "We want to build this.... you need to help by giving us X number of dollars" vs "We would like funding for our LRT and depending on how many dollars you give us will determine just what we do with it" as is the case now.
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