[URBAN NOTE] "The Uncertain Future of the Finch LRT"

[rfmcdonald]

Torontoist's Sarah Sweet notes the continued controversy surrounding the Finch West light rail route. Toronto should build some mass transit, already!

The Finch West LRT will, if and when it is constructed, run between the Finch West subway station and Humber College—a distance of 11 km. An environmental assessment wrapped up in 2010, public consultations have been ongoing, millions of dollars have already been spent, and the project is scheduled for completion in 2020.

But the provincially funded, $1-billion project will soon be facing renewed political opposition: Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West) recently told the Toronto Sun that at council’s first meeting next month, he intends to ask it to nix the plan. He claims that shelving the Finch LRT would provide Tory with roughly $1 billion that could be devoted to SmartTrack.

[. . .]

Tory himself has conceded that LRTs aren’t his primary focus. “Transit decisions in this city will be made, of course, by the city council working with the province and the federal government, and I’ve indicated my top two work priorities, which are the Scarborough subway and SmartTrack,” he said yesterday.