GO Environment minister “approves” GO Plan to Kitchener, funding still pending
According to the KW-Record (and GO sources) The EA has been approved by the GO Environment Minister.
http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/660961
However, Jeff Outhit, who seems to forget that a rush-hour highway commute to Union Station is easily nearly 2 hours long and only getting worse… correctly states that funding has yet to be allocated, and the project will not proceed until this is done.
Jeff: The quickest driving commute to Union is 1 hour 13 minutes no traffic, obeying speed limits. Everyone knows traffic bunches at Milton and lasts until Pearson, and adds about 20 minutes, sometimes more, especially in pockets around Toronto (Gardiner Expressway, anyone?). This will only continue to get worse. The 1 hour and 33 minute driving commute is now nearly equal to the proposed 1 hour 45 minute GO transit commuter time. GO will only improve from here, as more grade seperations, track and signalling improvements are put into place. I suspect a GO commute could be shaved to 1 hour 15 minutes. Imagine that..
- Steve Host
Comment by Michael D
January 26, 2010 @ 2:30 am
Good point about comparing GO to a rush hour auto commute. GO seems quite confident that the service will have high demand on Day 1.
Do you have any information on what sources of funding might be available? Outhit’s disingenuous conflation of Ontario into one decision-making entity makes it seem like there’s been negative news on the funding front, whereas there simply hasn’t been any. The environment minister has only just approved the project, and I’m sure it takes some time for a funding announcement, especially if it comes with fanfare.