Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum says it’s “disconcerting” that the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project, featuring a 16-kilometre line that was expected to be completed by 2025, has been delayed until 2028.
The delay for “opening day” is contained in a TransLink report. In July Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $1.3 billion in federal funding to extend the Expo line to Langley Centre from Surrey Centre, with the provincial government projecting its total cost to be $3.94 billion.
READ ALSO: Trudeau pledges $1.3 billion for SkyTrain to Langley
McCallum in a written statement Tuesday called this delay “disconcerting given the fact that funding for this vital project has been fully committed.
“This was confirmed in July, when the Prime Minister was in Surrey to announce the federal portion of the Surrey Langley SkyTrain, to go along with the provincial funding commitment that had been previously made. It has been close to 30 years since the last rapid transit expansion in Surrey. For a city that is home to close to 600,000 people, rapid transit is long overdue and is of critical need now,” McCallum said.
“What was once a SkyTrain line out to Fleetwood has now been extended to its full vision with rapid transit expanding into Langley City. At a time when the environment and global warming is at the forefront, the need to get people out of their fossil fuel burning cars and into transit has never been greater. The other added benefit of getting this project underway is the vast number of well-paying jobs it will create during these uncertain economic times.”
McCallum said the City of Surrey is moving “full speed ahead” on its portion of early work on SkyTrain by widening Fraser Highway.
“The time of talk and promises must come to an end. What we need now is the political will by all levels of government to get this long talked about project off the drawing board and to get shovels into the ground,” McCallum said. “There can no longer be any delay for rapid transit expansion in Surrey and communities South of Fraser.”
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