politics
Finch LRT Reannounced, Sheppard LRT Postponed
The Sheppard LRT has been pushed back way into the future, and could be operational 20 years after its original announcement.
Photo by Paul Sherwood from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
John Tory and Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca gathered this morning at Humber College North Campus for a reannouncement of the Finch LRT, a project that was first announced in March 2007. The 11-kilometre, 18-stop project will begin construction in 2016, and open in 2021. The estimated cost of the transit line has increased from $1 billion to $1.2 billion.
Del Duca also announced that the Sheppard LRT, which was also announced in March 2007 and was originally proposed to be operational by 2013, won’t see construction begin until after the Finch LRT is operational, which pushes it outside of 2021.
Just last month, John Tory’s spokesperson Amanda Galbraith indicated the Sheppard LRT will proceed as planned and funded by the provincial government, and made no mention of shifting timelines. Indeed, Globe reporter Oliver Moore tweeted this morning that just last week Metrolinx officials told him the Sheppard LRT would be in service just a year after the Finch LRT.
But the Sheppard LRT has seen big pushback from local politicians, including Scarborough Liberal MPPs and local city councillors. Meanwhile, the Liberal government is struggling to meet their promise of a balanced budget by 2017, and pushing spending out of that timeframe may help them accomplish that goal.