The Scarborough Waterfront Project, a series of shoreline trails below the Scarborough Bluffs, could soon get final provincial approval.

Costing an estimated $170 million over 10 years, the project would link Bluffer’s Park to the mouth of Highland Creek and other trails leading further east into Pickering.

Plans for the project were opposed by surfers and people who want remaining sandy beaches along the shore preserved, but the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) approved it in 2017.

Ontario’s Environment Ministry accepted the project’s environmental assessment, and has released a review for public comment until March 29.

After that, Ontario Environment Minister Rod Phillips can hand the project over to the TRCA and City of Toronto for construction.

That will be good news for Scarborough, said Gary Crawford, a local councillor.

The city’s 2019 budget, Crawford said, includes money for reconstructing the steep segment of Brimley Rd. S. leading down to Bluffer’s Park.

The project’s western segment — Bluffer’s Parker and the area below Meadowcliffe Bluff — would be the first built, and the TRCA says the public will be further involved in detailed design.

It will be several years before the most controversial segment, dealing with beaches and the areas below Grey Abbey and East Point parks, is examined in detail.

The TRCA knows people use what it calls “an informal and unmaintained access route” below the bluffs, but maintains the project will make visiting the Lake Ontario shore safe, improve fish habitat and put the entire shore into public ownership.