Regional Council to discuss Stage 2 ION, three routes proposed for $4.5B project

The second stage of the ION extending through Cambridge will be discussed at Regional Council Wednesday afternoon.

Councilors will examine three alternative end points for the line and the projects’ price tag.

All three options will extend from Fairway Station in Kitchener.

Option one would see the line begin at Fairway continue into Preston and then move east, parallel to the 401, ending at Pinebush Station.

The second option would follow the same route as the first but extend further south along Hespeler Road ending at The Delta.

The third option includes the same stops in both option one and two but would continue past The Delta to the downtown core.

The roughly $4.5B cost of expanding ION service into Cambridge, and three alternative locations for how far the LRT should run, all to be discussed by Regional councillors this afternoon. @CityNewsKIT or https://t.co/8n8c3cpLsJ pic.twitter.com/ppwVM4hSHs

— Mark Douglas (@DouglasCityNews) May 24, 2023

This third alternative matches the preferred plan endorsed by Regional Council back in June of 2019.

Council will also be taking a closer look at the price tag.

It’s estimated to total $4.46 billion including $2.7 billion in project costs at the 2022 Canadian dollar value, an extra $744 million in contingency funds, and an additional $1 billion for the estimated cost of inflation by the time the extension is expected to finish in 2033.