June 22, 2007

York Region commits $3 million for preliminary planning of Yonge Street subway extension

Richmond Hill - York Regional Council has committed $3 million to begin preliminary planning for a TTC subway extension on Yonge Street to the Richmond Hill Centre.

The investment was made following the unveiling of the Province's Move Ontario 2020 Plan last week, with the Ontario Government investment of $17.5 billion to expand rapid transit across the GTA . A bulk of that work will be within York Region.

The extension of the TTC Yonge Street subway into York Region is in addition to work proceeding on the TTC Spadina subway to the City of Vaughan Corporate Centre and expansion of the Region's award-winning Viva Rapid Transit as Regional Council continues its work to address traffic congestion affecting both residents and businesses.

The $3 million investment made today will be taken from capital reserves in the 2007 Business Plan and Budget. Staff will investigate ways to recover portions of the $3 million from the provincial and federal governments.

York Region staff will be working with the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission ( TTC ) to develop an integrated and coordinated approach for the timely extension of the subway.

Council also directed staff to delay all expropriation plans in the City of Vaughan and the Town of Markham in conjunction with the development of Rapidways on Yonge Street for Viva Phase 2 until September's Rapid Transit Committee meeting. At this time, Committee will discuss progress on the plans for the Yonge Street subway and decide how progression for Viva Phase 2 construction will proceed.

All progress on the project will be reported back to Council in Fall 2007 to ensure that the project is progressing as efficiently as possible.

Read the Yonge subway to be expanded to Hwy 7 Article at www.yorkregion.com

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