TORONTO, May 15 (UPI) -- Construction of a light-rail line along a major Toronto arterial road can begin, now that the city has received $950 million, officials said Friday.
The 9-mile rail line -- part of Mayor David Miller's 75-mile Transit City light-rail plan -- is to run in dedicated lanes along Sheppard Avenue East from a subway station in the Don Mills residential neighborhood to the Toronto Zoo area in Toronto's eastern Scarborough area, officials said.
It will carry about 45,000 people daily when fully operational, The Toronto Star quoted officials as saying.
The Transit City plan calls for a series of transit corridors, providing rights-of-way for light-rail vehicles. The corridors are envisioned to be integrated with existing subway, streetcar, bus and rapid-transit routes.
Ontario will provide two-thirds of the Sheppard Avenue project's estimated $950 million cost and the federal government will cover the remaining third, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said.
The project -- the third proposed Transit City line to receive funding -- will generate about 9,500 construction jobs and is expected to be completed in 2013, officials said.
