Surrey Langley SkyTrain project approved, expected to be completed by 2028

British Columbia's transportation minister says the business plan and funding for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project have been officially approved.

Rob Fleming says the project is expected to be completed by 2028, two years earlier than originally planned, and will cost $500 million less than was anticipated by building the line to Langley "all at once.''

He says the capital cost of the link is $3.94 billion, which includes $2.4 billion from the province, $1.3 billion from the federal government and the remainder coming from local government.

Once complete, Fleming says it will take just 22 minutes to travel from Langley to King George station in Surrey and just over an hour to get from Langley to downtown Vancouver.

The province says in a statementthat work on the project, including utility relocations and road widening, is already underway and major construction is expected to begin in 2024.

Fleming says the province will also be providing another $60 million for active transportation routes for biking and walkingalong the Fraser Highway to complementthe SkyTrain line.