TORONTO - A new regulation is expected to become law by June to limit the time spent on environmental assessments for new transit projects.
The six-month limit is designed to prevent people from using lengthy assessments to fight new streetcars or subways in their neighbourhoods.
The Toronto Star reports the new regulation, approved Wednesday, will apply to all projects receiving provincial funding.
Under existing rules, environmental assessments on transit projects take, on average, two years but some take longer.
A Toronto subway extension assessment took three years and Waterloo started a rapid transit assessment in 2004 that isn't expected to be completed until this fall.
Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday that the time limit will `make a real difference' in terms of getting new transit projects approved.
