Construction on a new light rail transit line along Finch Avenue West will begin in 2016 and be completed in five years, according to the Ontario minister of transportation.
The project was initially announced in 2009 when the province committed to footing the LRT's $1.2-billion bill.
At a news conference Monday, Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca said the project will start sometime next spring.
The line will run from Finch West subway station at Keele Street to Humber College, located just west of Highway 27. The 11-kilometre line will include 18 stops.
"The people of our province want us to put progress ahead of politics and deliver results instead of more rhetoric and that is exactly what we are doing," Del Duca said.
Toronto Mayor John Tory said the Finch LRT will provide "badly needed transit" to Toronto residents.
"It's about connecting people with jobs and connecting jobs with people. That's what the transit line will do," Tory said at the conference.
Though the transit line will run along the surface of Finch Avenue, Tory said it would not take up a lane of traffic or hamper commercial trucks that frequent the route.
Del Duca said the project is expected to be completed in 2021. The projected ridership is expected to be 2,250 passengers per hour.
An environmental assessment was completed in 2010, and a separate assessment for the maintenance and storage facility will be completed before construction begins.
The $1.2 billion investment is part of an $8.4 billion commitment by the Ontario government to expand transit in Toronto.
The rest of the budget is being divided between the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, the Sheppard East LRT and a replacement of the current Scarborough RT.
