DB9
New Member
City council had that conversation, asked city staff to prepare a formal comparison, and found that building the subway above ground would save less than $200 million, minus the cost of replacing the SRT with bus service for several years.
For Sheppard, a surface route isn't feasible, and an elevated guideway above a major road normally isn't much cheaper than tunnelling in the 21st century. When city staff looked at the possibility of a fully elevated route above Midland Road, it came in at just $116 million cheaper than tunnelling the same route. When you factor in the other costs of elevating the subway - things like lost tax revenue from lower property values, lost tax revenue from the traffic disruptions, etc. - it's not worth the tiny amount of savings.
Given how wide Sheppard is from Vic Park to McCowan, I find it hard to comprehend why a surface route isn't feasible, even if it takes a little property expropriation. The issue with tunnelling isn't even the cost of the tunnel itself. It's the extravagant costs of the station envelopes, especially if it's not shallow.