The Metro Vancouver mayors will announce on Friday they have struck a deal on how to cover 20 per cent of the costs for the proposed Broadway subway line and Surrey LRT, as well as additional bus services for Phase Two of the mayors’ transit plan.
The provincial government will be on hand, but they are not expected to announce any additional funding.
WATCH: Feb. 15, 2017 — Metro Vancouver’s transit plans still need $70 million per year
Details about where the money will come from are still not available.
The funding represents just the first hurdle in realizing the new transit infrastructure, as the province still needs to finalize a bilateral agreement with the federal government.
That could happen as early as the end of this month, with Ottawa already committing to match British Columbia’s 40 per cent of funding for the Phase 2 projects.
Treasury Boards in both Victoria and Ottawa will need approve the funding.
The cost of the Broadway subway line was pegged at $1.98 billion when TransLink unveiled the project’s budget in 2014.
But costs have gone up since then, Translink CEO Kevin Desmond said in December.
“Yes, they’re going to be more expensive,” Desmond said .
“When those projects were conceived for the referendum, that’s now three years ago. So you’ve had a change in the value of the Canadian dollar, you’ve had general inflation, land values have gone up a lot. So for both the light rail project and the Millennium Line extension, land values are big part of the price.”
Desmond is set to appear at an announcement to make the funding official on Friday, alongside Minister of Municipal Affairs Selina Robinson, Mayors’ Council chair Derek Corrigan and Peter Ladner, the chair of the David Suzuki Foundation board of directors.
The Broadway subway and the Surrey LRT, along with the replacement of the Pattullo Bridge, are the proposed centrepieces of Phase Two of the Mayors’ Council’s 10-year plan.
READ MORE: ‘Vancouver is falling behind’ says Mayor Gregor Robertson on 10-year transit vision