Durham media: Toronto shouldn't get all the money
hume on the transit plan
and from the Globe
Questions remain in much-touted transit plan
JEFF GRAY
April 3, 2009
Despite Premier Dalton McGuinty's decision to fund a $7.2-billion chunk of Mayor David Miller's light-rail vision, the ambitious plan still faces questions about how the lines will be built and how much they will cost.
The projects endorsed this week would put dedicated light-rail lines down the middle of Finch Avenue and along Eglinton Avenue from Scarborough to Pearson Airport, with a tunnelled section through the centre of town. The Scarborough RT would also be extended.
Toronto Transit Commission staff have been hard at work on the details, but some questions remain, including the final alignment of the lines, traffic problems, concerns from some along the routes about construction and the final costs.
"Any project, of any nature, has technical issues," said Councillor Adam Giambrone, chair of the TTC. "The good news is ... we know that all the challenges are surmountable."
The approximately 30-kilometre Eglinton line, for example, was originally projected to cost $2.2-billion when first proposed in 2007.
Now, its estimated cost - which includes a 10-kilometre tunnel - has risen to $4.6-billion. The new figure is based on estimates from Metrolinx, the province's regional transportation agency.
Mr. Giambrone said the revised estimate now includes the costs of a carhouse to store the new fleet of vehicles, but could not spell out the other price increases.
Already, some are dreading the construction.
The TTC chairman said Eglinton's tunnel will be constructed with a mix of methods. Some of it will use underground boring machines, but other sections will use more disruptive, but cheaper, "cut and cover" - digging down from the surface.
Jordan Applebaum, chairman of the Eglinton Park Residents' Association, said the city must mitigate the effects of construction, especially as diverted traffic spills onto side streets.
"We will be looking to [the city] to make sure our side streets are safe," he said.
TTC engineers are also examining the needed overhaul for Kennedy Station at the new line's eastern end, and how the light-rail vehicles will thread their way through the many highway off-ramps around Pearson Airport to the west.
Meanwhile, the $1.2-billion, 23-kilometre Finch line from Highway 27 to Don Mills, which will run completely on the surface, has its own challenges.
TTC engineers have determined that a 36-metre-wide road is ideal when putting two light-rail tracks down the middle of a city street, separated from the traffic.
But from Bathurst to Yonge Street, Finch is just 30 metres wide, forcing the TTC and city staff to devise other designs, including considering widening the road "over time" to avoid snarling traffic.
