TransLink today revealed its spending priorities for its $7.3 billion Phase 2 investment plan.
It now has a price tag for the two big-ticket items: the Millennium Line Broadway extension and a new light rail transit (LRT) system for Surrey.
Those two projects will consume more than half of the $7.3 billion in capital spending for its Phase 2 transit plan.
At a briefing April 30, TransLink officials revealed the Broadway extension will cost $2.83 billion. The Surrey LRT system will cost an estimated $1.65 billion.
Big-ticket spending priorities include:
• Millennium Line extension, which includes six new SkyTrain stations along Broadway ($2.83 billion);
• Surrey-Newton-Guildford LRT Line along 104 Avenue, City Parkway and King George Boulevard ($1.65 billion)
• 203 new SkyTrain cars for Expo and Millennium Lines, and station upgrades ($1.3 billion);
• Increased service for rush hour, evenings, and weekends, for Expo and Millennium lines in 2019, and Canada Line in 2020 ($495 million);
• 151 new buses, including new B-Lines for Richmond and Surrey ($530 million);
• an 8% increase in bus service on 75 different bus routes $360 million);
• two new B-Lines for Richmond and Surrey; and
• a 7% increase in HandyDART service.
The Surrey Board to Trade welcomed the announcement of the Surrey LRT line as a tope priority.
“The Phase 2 investment plan for the 10-year vision to fund vital major transportation projects in Metro Vancouver will ensure that Surrey, finally, will get the needed transportation investments that the city so desperately needs,” said Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman.
