Laval metro given green light

The provincial government is giving the green light to a metro extension into Laval.

Quebec's Transport minister made the announcement at a news conference in Laval.

Guy Chevrette says there will be three new stations added to the orange metro line at Henri-Bourassa. The government will devote $379 million to the Laval metro project.

That's almost double the projected cost first announced by the government in 1998. Chevrette says the cost has increased because the original plan gave a price for three kilometres of track instead of four.

He says the extension is more ambitious than the plan outlined in 1998.

"There were important modifications made," he says. "Besides the length, which increases from 4.3 to 5.2 kilometres, there's the addition of a third station, Concorde station, on top of Cartier and Montmorency."

Chevrette says the third station will provide a link with the commuter train.

A call for bids on the extension will be put out by the end of the year.

Construction should begin in 2002 and all three stations are scheduled to open two years later.