VANCOUVER – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Premier John Horgan have announced more than $3 billion in federal and provincial funding for two major Metro Vancouver rapid transit lines.
The Broadway Subway project will add 5.7 kilometres and six stations to the existing SkyTrain line from VCC-Clark Station to Arbutus Street along the Broadway corridor, one of Vancouver’s busiest thoroughfares.
The Surrey-Newton-Guildford Light Rail Transit project will be the first light rail transit system in B.C. and will create 11 new stations along 10.5 kilometres of street-level track.
“Bringing light rail to Surrey will transform the city, connect communities and make getting around the Lower Mainland faster and easier. The Broadway Subway will also go a long way in reducing commute times and transit overcrowding, and making Vancouver’s SkyTrain even more convenient and accessible. Our government will continue to listen to communities, and make historic investments in the infrastructure they need, today and tomorrow,” Trudeau said in a statement.
“Rapid transit is key to helping people get where they need to go quickly, so we can meet the needs of a growing region. Cutting traffic and getting people and goods moving faster will unlock economic growth, while making our communities more affordable, accessible and clean,” Horgan added.
The federal government will contribute $1.37 billion to the two projects, with Phase 2 of the Broadway project getting $888.4 million from the federal government, $1.82 billion from B.C. and $99.8 million from the City of Vancouver in the form of an in-kind land contribution.
For the Surrey-Newton-Guildford line, which has an estimated cost of $1.65 billion, Phase 2 will be funded by $483.8 million from the government of Canada and $1.12 billion from Translink.
The province will use a design-build-finance model for the Broadway project, while Translink will use a design-build-vehicle supply-finance-operate-maintain rehabilitate model to build the project and operate it for its first seven years.
The Broadway project will go into procurement in the fall and construction is anticipated between 2020 and 2025.
Federal and provincial funding for the two projects stems from a new funding agreement signed by the federal and B.C governments in early 2018 under the Investing in Canada infrastructure plan, which will see approximately $3.9 billion in federal dollars invested in B.C. infrastructure over the next 10 years.
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