Feds pledge $123 million for London transit projects

It's the final piece of a funding puzzle that will allow construction on London's truncated Bus Rapid Transit plan to begin as early as next year.

On Friday, with two local Liberal MPs beside him, London Mayor Ed Holder gave praise to the federal government for officially committing $123 million in funding toward 10 local transit projects, including three legs of the five proposed BRT routes council approved in March.

With Wellington Street blocked to traffic for the morning funding announcement, Holder called the money key to finalizing a "transformative" list of transportation projects.

He said the list of projects and the cash to pay for it came together despite a divisive BRT debate at city hall and an approval process involvingtwo senior levels of government on opposite sites of the political spectrum.

"There were cynics who believed a set of projects approved by a Doug Ford government would not, or could not, be approved by a Justin Trudeau government," said Holder. "And certainly not under such tight time constraints."

"And yet, here we are. We got it done."

In June, the province committed its share: $103 million. The city is slated to kick in $148 million, with the bulk of that expected to come from fees charged to developers.

The bulk of the funding package will be gobbled up by the creation of thethree BRT routes (Wellington Gate, Downtown Loop and East Link) that council voted to support in March. Those three in total willcost more than $75 million.

Holder was among those on council who voted againsttwo key BRT routes: the North Connection along Richmond Street and the West Connection, which was slated to run alongWharncliffe and Oxford.

Also on the list of projects covered by the funding:

• Adelaide Street underpass.
• An improved cycling connection with Dundas Place and the Thames Valley Parkway ($1.3 million).
• 31 new expansion buses ($8.4 million).
• Intelligent Traffic signals ($6.5 million).
• Dundas Street Old East Village streetscape improvements ($2.7).
• Oxford Street/Wharncliffe intersection improvements ($2.9 million).

London North Centre MP Peter Fragiskatosand London West MP Kate Young joinedHolder in the announcement.

Fragiskatos said the city's move to adopt a list of "transportation projects" helped speed the approvalprocess.

"There's something here for transit commuters, there's something here for cyclists, there's something here fordrivers, it's an all-encompassing plan," he said. "There was regular engagement on this this year, in the end we landed in a very good place I believe."

• Province kicks in $103.5 million for local transit projects

Despite all the praise for cross-party co-operation, Friday's announcement wasn't free from politics.

It triggered a statement from Elgin-Middlesex-London Tory MP Karen Vecchio, who accused the Liberals of tring to "buy your vote with your money."