[URBAN NOTE] "Spadina subway extension could cost an additional $400 million"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Tess Kalinowski reports on rising costs for the Spadina subway extension. This, I suppose, is not so much a surprise as an expected event.

Toronto and York Region are facing an additional $400 million in construction claims and other expenses on the overdue Spadina subway extension.

The costs would be split 60/40, with Toronto on the hook for $240 million and York Region facing a $160 million cost for the 8.6-km transit line.

The extension, from Downsview Station to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre near Highway 7, is about 85 per cent complete. Testing will begin in April 2017 for an opening later that year, about two years after the originally scheduled launch.

TTC CEO Andy Byford briefs reporters on a bus ride to tour the York University station on the Spadina subway extension. The TTC released a report Friday revealing that the city is looking at paying out another $240 million in construction claims and York Region's share would be $160 million. The project is now tracking to cost about $3.2 billion, compared to the earlier $2.6 billion budget.

TTC CEO Andy Byford briefs reporters on a bus ride to tour the York University station on the Spadina subway extension. The TTC released a report Friday revealing that the city is looking at paying out another $240 million in construction claims and York Region's share would be $160 million. The project is now tracking to cost about $3.2 billion, compared to the earlier $2.6 billion budget.

It is now tracking to cost $3.2 billion, up from the most recent $2.8-billion budget, according to a TTC staff report released Friday.

CEO Andy Byford, who came to the TTC in 2012, has called the project "an albatross around my neck." But on Friday, he expressed relief and pride that the end is in sight.