Toronto is moving ahead with the construction of its Waterfront East LRT line, connecting downtown to new neighbourhoods in the Port Lands, after sealing a funding agreement with other levels of government.
A three-party deal unveiled Monday will see Toronto, Queen’s Park and the federal government pitch $1 billion each for construction of the new project, which will be led by the city.
“For two years, the City of Toronto, together with Waterfront Toronto, has been designing this line,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said.
“They and we welcome this agreement: $1 billion each from the federal, provincial and the city governments. This investment will unlock the entire new neighbourhood, parks, communities, small businesses and large ones.”
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The planned route will run south from Union Station to the waterfront, before heading east along Queen’s Key and then out along Cherry Street into new developments on Villiers Island.
It will also be designed at that point to meet existing streetcar routes on Cherry Street by the Distillery District.
With Toronto leading the work to build the route, neither the federal nor provincial governments will cover cost overruns.
“We will not be covering the cost overruns on that,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said.
“It will be a three-party agreement: the City of Toronto, the province of Ontario and the Canadian federal government. (We) will work with the mayor and her team.”
The City of Toronto estimates the Waterfront East LRT will serve more than 150,000 people and will see 50,000 daily trips once it opens.
The Toronto Region Board of Trade recently said eastern waterfront and Port Lands area of the city are projected to house at least 130,000 new residents and 50,000 more jobs by 2040.
The route will run for 3.8 km in a new dedicated right-of-way, sharing track with the Harbourfront streetcar — which runs west — in and out of Union Station beneath Bay Street.
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