Premier Kathleen Wynne has announced that her government will commit to funding a trio of major transit projects in Toronto, including the long-discussed relief subway line.
Wynne made the announcement at GO Transit’s Willowbrook maintenance facility on Thursday morning as she formally signed a memorandum of understanding with Mayor John Tory for the construction of SmartTrack.
She said that her government will help pay for the construction of the relief subway line, the Waterfront LRT and the Yonge North Subway Extension as part of a previously announced bilateral agreement with the federal government.
That March 14 agreement will result in about $9 billion in transit funding flowing to the city over the next decade, about $4.8 billion of which would come from Ottawa.
Though Wynne did not say how much money would be assigned to each project, she said that is her belief that the $9 billion will “cover” the provincial and federal share of all three projects.
Speaking with reporters after the announcement, Tory said that the money means that projects like the relief line will finally “move ahead” after being “discussed for decades.”
“It is real, it is happening and it is happening because you have three governments in alignment who are saying it must happen in order to relieve the terrible congestion and give people the option of not driving around a car in this city,” he said. “As far as I am concerned, if we announced this once a week it wouldn’t be too often.”
Relief line carries $6.8 billion cost
TTC staff have long identified the relief subway line as the city’s biggest transit priority due to the overcrowding that exists along the Yonge subway line.
The line, estimated to cost about $6.8 billion, would travel along Queen Street and Eastern Avenue before turning north at Carlaw Avenue and connecting with Line 2 on Danforth Avenue.
The idea behind the line is that by providing an alternative route from downtown to the east end, crowding would be reduced at interchange stations such as Bloor-Yonge and St. George.
Though the project may still be a few years away from the start of construction, work has already begun on the design and the necessary environmental assessments.
Staff have also held several public consultations about the project over the last week.
“There was a public meeting I attended just last weekend to discuss the specific routes of the relief line. It is going to move ahead,” Tory promised on Thursday.
Though Wynne has committed to funding the relief line, the Waterfront LRT and the Yonge North Subway Extension, it is not immediately clear whether PC Leader Doug Ford or NDP Leader Andrea Horwath would follow through on that commitment if elected on June 7.
Tory, however, said that he is not concerned about a change in government impacting the delivery of the promised money.
"I think the transit needs of this city and the fact that it relates very much to the traffic congestion which we have makes it so obvious that we have to build the transit now that wasn’t built in decades past by all government and all parties for that matter,” he said.
