After years of promises, debate and preparation, Tri-Cities residents have been told the $1.4 billion Evergreen Line project will begin preconstruction in the coming weeks.
Municipal, provincial and federal government officials announced Wednesday that two companies have been signed to install underground power lines and demolish vacant buildings along the 11-kilometre rapid transit line's route.
Locals frustrated by the Evergreen Line's years of delay were appeased by Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, who assured that "Yes, progress is happening."
"Contracts are being signed, ground is being broken, we are moving forward and this project is indeed going to happen," Moore said.
Langley-based Pedre Contractors Ltd. and Hans Demolition and Excavating of Surrey will be breaking ground at an unspecified date.
The line, which has been planned since the late-1980s, will run from Coquitlam through Port Moody to the Lougheed Town Centre SkyTrain Station in Burnaby. Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said his community has been anxiously awaiting its arrival for decades.
"For our community, this is the fulfillment of not only the dream of having a SkyTrain Station but also all that planning work that's been going on for 20 years."
Other preconstruction projects yet to be contracted include widening roads, relocating utilities and realigning railway tracks.
B.C. will be contributing $583 million of the project's hefty estimated cost, while the federal government is contributing $417 million. TransLink will pay the remainder, in part through a two cents-per-litre gas tax increase set to take effect in the spring.
TransLink currently collects a 15 cents-per-litre gas tax.
Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom he is "pretty confident" the project will not go over budget.
"A lot of hard work has gone into this to date and we're pretty confident the numbers that are there are going to be the firm numbers,' he said.
The Evergreen Line is expected to be in service in summer 2016.
