Neutrino
Senior Member
Toronto in a nut shell.
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Toronto in a nut shell.
nfitz
Superstar
I've not even solid indication of that. He campaigned on no line of any kind on Eglinton.
Some of his staff may have pushed underground ... or was it Stintz? Is there any indication that Rob Ford was ever sober enough to know the difference? I"m not seeing any particular statements ...
Perhaps someone should read up the thousand pages of this thread. Though does it really matter what such an atrocious and failed Mayor might have thought?
Neighbours pushing for elevated with all the extra noise? That would be unique. Car drivers who didn't live nearby maybe.
BurlOak
Senior Member
I think locals were in favour of the elevated alignment.
BurlOak
Senior Member
The Memorandum of Understanding said the line would be underground, with portions in Don Valley and near Eglinton elevated. With the two branches of the Don River, that means over half elevated.
They did not consider any options. They said due to slope stability problems, it was imposible to put the Brentcliffe portal in the original EA approved location, so they proposed tunneling all the way to Don Mills. When locals complained about losing the Leslie stop, they said that station (underground, but deep) would cost $60M and that was too much. I don't recall any complaints about losing the Ferrand stop - which was the correct reaction. Then when the public was still unhappy, they reverted to the "impossible" original EA Brentcliffe portal and routing through Leslie.
I had read Steve for a number of years prior to this date. He always was convinced that putting the LRT in the median through Leslie was an oversight and it was bound to be corrected in detailed design. We kept waiting and waiting, but it never happened. I am convinced that some in the design team preferred it in median as it would hurt cars significantly.This article goes into much more detail as to what transpired at the time, including what happened with the "south side alignment".
Metrolinx Announces Design Changes and Public Meetings on Eglinton LRT (Update 8)
Updated June 17, 2013 at 6:15 pm: In the comment thread for this article, there has been substantial discussion about a “south side option” for the Eglinton LRT between the portal at Br…stevemunro.ca
BurlOak
Senior Member
I recall this. Basically they said they screwed up the design and there was no time to fix it.
Bureaucromancer
Active Member
I always felt like it was more an issue of treating the Transit City design standards as the word of god for all portions at all times... My suspicion is that it came from Miller's office, but I've certainly worked with engineers pron to this sort of thing as well. There was aboslutely a LOT of pushback at ANY suggestions for increased grade seperation on ANY of the LRTs around the time TC was an active project.
As for cars... It seems to me like interacting with the Leslie intersection isn't much ofa traffic impact, and much more a negative for riders than drivers.
thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
One thing's for sure, the "treating Transit City like a god idea", idea, is definitely something Miller thought of it. Lesile intercestion I think will need to some changes to make it appear more pedestrian friendly in the future as well.
robmausser
Senior Member
I thought Rob Ford wanted the entire line underground, so I'm unsure where @Steve X gets that "Rob Ford got ML to change to an elevated line" (unless it's non-public information).
That aside... not mentioned at all in this discussion is that Metrolinx pushed to have the section between Laird and Don Mills changed to a bored tunnel beneath the Don Valley, with the Leslie and Ferrand Dr stops eliminated. They may have considered other surface options, but those were rejected in favor of a tunnel. Of course the documents have since been deleted as per Metrolinx's usual contempt for transparency, however I managed to pull a few slides from the deep web from a public consultation.
View attachment 198205 View attachment 198206 View attachment 198207 View attachment 198208
This article goes into much more detail as to what transpired at the time, including what happened with the "south side alignment".
Metrolinx Announces Design Changes and Public Meetings on Eglinton LRT (Update 8)
Updated June 17, 2013 at 6:15 pm: In the comment thread for this article, there has been substantial discussion about a “south side option” for the Eglinton LRT between the portal at Br…
As for why we switched back to the original plan, you and @Steve X are correct. To elaborate... political posturing by councillor Robinson on behalf of some Leaside residents put pressure on Metrolinx to back down on eliminating the Leslie stop. The only way this would be feasible is to either go back to the original surface alignment, or pursue the "south side alignment". However because the latter would have required approval from city council, which at the time was too busy ripping up transit plans every six months and dealing with the mayor's crack scandal, Metrolinx had no confidence in their ability to make a decision in a timely manner and stick with it. Needless to say, "Fuck it, we're not touching you guys with a ten foot pole" was the easiest thing to do.
Thats a shame, I stand by my opinion that the south side alignment was a better one of the surface options, and was not dismissed for engineering concerns but political ones.
salsa
Senior Member
One of the slides in my post suggests that there was enough pushback that Metrolinx later added it back to their tunnel proposal.
salsa
Senior Member
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Coolstar
Senior Member
Yeah that video is a lot better suited for the ION Light Rail.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Likely there will be closed circuit security cameras at the stations, stops, and crossings & intersections. At intersections, to catch red light infractions and to record collisions (don't call them accidents).
Maybe as the surface sections get finished, they should install the cameras to get the "bugs" out.
Maybe as the surface sections get finished, they should install the cameras to get the "bugs" out.
Allandale25
Senior Member
thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
Exactly. I don't think having something like that on the Crosstown is a good idea anyways for multiple reasons, mainly because there's a lot more cell phone zombies here then Waterloo.