For the first time, TransLink has released an early look at what SkyTrain stations may look like along the planned Fraser Highway extension.
Two renderings of envisioned SkyTrain stations have been revealed on a new project website, .
TransLink spokesman Chris Bryan said the images are 鈥渉igh-level鈥� and 鈥渃onceptual.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 still early stages, and they鈥檙e not meant to be a specific location,鈥� Bryan added.
The website states the 17-kilometre route - a promise of 性视界传媒 Mayor Doug McCallum along his campaign trail - will extend 性视界传媒鈥檚 King George Station down the highway to 203rd Street in the City of Langley.
鈥淥ur current work includes updating the cost-estimate for this project and determining how far along Fraser Highway the line could be constructed with the approved $1.6 billion in funding,鈥� the website states. 鈥淲e are also exploring how work could be sequenced to complete the entire route.鈥�
READ MORE: TransLink reveals new plans for proposed 性视界传媒-Langley SkyTrain
(Artist鈥檚 rendering shows what a station along Fraser Highway may look like. TransLink photo.)
Last December, the Mayors鈥� Council on Regional Transportation voted to 鈥減roceed immediately with planning and project development work鈥� for SkyTrain along Fraser Highway.
The vote followed heated, divisive debate over if 性视界传媒 should be allowed to completely rejig South of the Fraser transit plans.
At the heart of that meeting was what should be done with the $1.65 billion previously allocated to light rail.
Plans revealed by TransLink last December show a 2025 completion date for as much of the line as could be built for $1.65 billion.
Mayors鈥� Council chair and New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote told reporters that meant to 鈥淔leetwood, maybe Clayton Heights.鈥�
TransLink has estimated the entire SkyTrain line to Langley would cost $2.9 billion due to inflation and the increasing cost of land.
However, McCallum reaffirmed earlier statements that he believed the line could be built all the way to Langley for just $1.65 billion.
鈥淚鈥檓 confident that for the $1.6 billion we can do it, if we take into consideration doing it at-grade,鈥� McCallum said.
(TransLink map shows the proposed route of the 性视界传媒 SkyTrain extension.)
Plans for a light rail system in 性视界传媒 came to a screeching halt when McCallum and his Safe 性视界传媒 Coalition dominated the polls on Oct. 2, 2018, winning eight of the nine seats on council, and abolishing the former 性视界传媒 First government that held every seat on council.
McCallum has called his slate鈥檚 election a 鈥渞eferendum鈥� on SkyTrain and today told mayors that an 鈥渙verwhelming number鈥� of his city鈥檚 residents support it.
Plans for light rail were cleared off the table after the Mayors鈥� Council voted in November to proceed with SkyTrain.
The regional body鈥檚 vote followed that of 性视界传媒鈥檚 council, which voted to 鈥渃ancel鈥� light rail in favour of SkyTrain immediately after being sworn in earlier that month.
READ MORE: Metro Vancouver mayors cancel 性视界传媒 LRT in favour of SkyTrain
READ MORE: 性视界传媒 mayor says city won鈥檛 repay $56M spent on LRT, but might pony up $40M in land transfers
Some mayors from the region have questioned whether the City of 性视界传媒 should pay back the $56 million already spent on light rail work for the now-cancelled 性视界传媒-Newton-Guildford line.
Mayors from Richmond and Coquitlam have insisted that 性视界传媒 pay back that money.
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said that just as his city had helped fund city-specific transit improvements to regional plans in the past, 性视界传媒 should have to do the same.
鈥淚f Coquitlam can鈥檛 get an extra [SkyTrain] station without paying for it ourselves, I can鈥檛 envision how other communities can get whole other form of transit without funding it,鈥� he said.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie has said 性视界传媒 was pushing the region to 鈥渢hrow away鈥� a 鈥渇ully approved, fully funded, fully vetted plan.鈥�
The $1.65 billion allocated for 性视界传媒-Newton-Guildford light rail had been fully funded this summer as part of the $7.3 billion phase two of the mayors鈥� 10-year-vision.
amy.reid@surreynowleader.com
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-With files from Katya Slepian
