Rapid transit corridor gets funding for Phase 2

Funding to complete the second phase ofWinnipeg's Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor has been announced.

Mayor Sam Katz along with city councillors Dan Vandal and Russ Wyatt revealed on Thursday that $137.5 millionwill be set aside in the 2014 and 2015 capital budgets.

Theentire cost to complete the corridor, whichextend from Jubilee Avenue to the University of Manitoba, is$350 million.

Construction on the new line will start in 2015 with acompletion goal of2018, according to Dave Wardrop from Winnipeg Transit.

That is two years later than the city's transportation master plan had indicated, but Wardropcalled 2016 ambitious.

The first phase of that line, from downtown to Jubilee, was completedearlier this year at a cost of$138 million.

The city has also announced it will set aside $1.1 millionin the 2013 capital budget to start the eastern stretch of the rapid transit lineto the Transcona suburb.

The funding, however, is contingent upon matching partner funding from the province of Manitoba.