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[my heart pounded slightly]
City may fast-track relief line
Plan To Be Studied
Allison Hanes, National Post
Published: Thursday, January 29, 2009
In a surprise move, Toronto council yesterday voted to study the possibility of fast-tracking the construction of a new downtown relief subway line -- perhaps even putting it ahead of extending the Yonge line north into York region.
Toronto has long had reservations about pushing the already crowded Yonge subway line by six stops into Richmond Hill and the executive committee had already attached a slew of conditions to the city's support of the project, which would have doubled the price from $2.5-billion to about $5-billion.
But yesterday council added a few more -- including asking Metrolinx to move up the so-called downtown relief line to its 15-year plan from its 25-year blueprint and asking that the regional transportation body prioritize the new downtown subway over the extension into York region.
The downtown relief line refers to a U-shaped subway line studied by the Toronto Transit Commission in the 1980s that would link the west end of the Bloor-Danforth line to the east end by swooping through the core.
Councillor Michael Thompson (Scarborough Centre), who proposed asking Metrolinx to review its priorities, said the downtown relief line might be a solution to the overcrowding that is expected to result from extending the Yonge line north.
"The residents of Toronto deserve better, the riders of the TTC deserve better," said Mr. Thompson. "From a perspective of cost, the downtown relief line is cheaper, it is more efficient, it provides a utility that is needed."
Councillor Adam Giambrone (Davenport), chairman of the TTC, said expanding the Yonge line to York Region would require a massive overhaul of Yonge-Bloor Station --a bottleneck in the system.
That is likely to prove extremely costly and disrupt traffic for years.
"Certainly the downtown relief line has incredibly high volumes -- 18,000 people an hour would use the downtown relief line," Mr. Giambrone said.
"It may make sense to go a little bit faster, especially if you find the cost of dealing with capacity issues on the Yonge line to be over a billion dollars and the cost of the downtown relief line to be $2.1-billion."
Constructing it may kill several birds with one stone, he added. Some projected routes for the downtown relief line run in the corridor of King and Queen Sts., the busiest streetcar routes in the city.
But Gary Webster, general manager of the TTC, said there is much study left to be done, including the exact route and whether it should be an underground streetcar line or a true subway.
The 20-year-old plan suggested the subway run from Pape Station in the east, but it could also start at Donlands Station.
Besides King or Queen streets, it could also run through downtown along Wellington Street or closer to the waterfront. And it could flow to Dufferin Station in the west, up Roncesvalles or along the rail corridor.
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Don Valley East), who championed asking the TTC to conduct a feasibility study, said: "I think it would be smarter to build a new line."
"If you look at the money you would spend fixing the Yonge line, it's half-a-billion dollars to remodel Yonge-Bloor," he said. "This way you have a brand new line."
There were two holdouts in endorsing Toronto's approval of the Yonge Subway extension yesterday with many conditions attached: councillor Joe Mihevc (St. Paul's) a proponent of light rail, and Norm Kelly (Scarborough Agincourt), a member of the Metrolinx board.
He said council's request to move up the downtown relief line to take the pressure off the Yonge line is pointless because Metrolinx has already studied and weighed its $50-billion worth of transit projects.
"The door is closed," he said.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto/story.html?id=1230770
City may fast-track relief line
Plan To Be Studied
Allison Hanes, National Post
Published: Thursday, January 29, 2009
In a surprise move, Toronto council yesterday voted to study the possibility of fast-tracking the construction of a new downtown relief subway line -- perhaps even putting it ahead of extending the Yonge line north into York region.
Toronto has long had reservations about pushing the already crowded Yonge subway line by six stops into Richmond Hill and the executive committee had already attached a slew of conditions to the city's support of the project, which would have doubled the price from $2.5-billion to about $5-billion.
But yesterday council added a few more -- including asking Metrolinx to move up the so-called downtown relief line to its 15-year plan from its 25-year blueprint and asking that the regional transportation body prioritize the new downtown subway over the extension into York region.
The downtown relief line refers to a U-shaped subway line studied by the Toronto Transit Commission in the 1980s that would link the west end of the Bloor-Danforth line to the east end by swooping through the core.
Councillor Michael Thompson (Scarborough Centre), who proposed asking Metrolinx to review its priorities, said the downtown relief line might be a solution to the overcrowding that is expected to result from extending the Yonge line north.
"The residents of Toronto deserve better, the riders of the TTC deserve better," said Mr. Thompson. "From a perspective of cost, the downtown relief line is cheaper, it is more efficient, it provides a utility that is needed."
Councillor Adam Giambrone (Davenport), chairman of the TTC, said expanding the Yonge line to York Region would require a massive overhaul of Yonge-Bloor Station --a bottleneck in the system.
That is likely to prove extremely costly and disrupt traffic for years.
"Certainly the downtown relief line has incredibly high volumes -- 18,000 people an hour would use the downtown relief line," Mr. Giambrone said.
"It may make sense to go a little bit faster, especially if you find the cost of dealing with capacity issues on the Yonge line to be over a billion dollars and the cost of the downtown relief line to be $2.1-billion."
Constructing it may kill several birds with one stone, he added. Some projected routes for the downtown relief line run in the corridor of King and Queen Sts., the busiest streetcar routes in the city.
But Gary Webster, general manager of the TTC, said there is much study left to be done, including the exact route and whether it should be an underground streetcar line or a true subway.
The 20-year-old plan suggested the subway run from Pape Station in the east, but it could also start at Donlands Station.
Besides King or Queen streets, it could also run through downtown along Wellington Street or closer to the waterfront. And it could flow to Dufferin Station in the west, up Roncesvalles or along the rail corridor.
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Don Valley East), who championed asking the TTC to conduct a feasibility study, said: "I think it would be smarter to build a new line."
"If you look at the money you would spend fixing the Yonge line, it's half-a-billion dollars to remodel Yonge-Bloor," he said. "This way you have a brand new line."
There were two holdouts in endorsing Toronto's approval of the Yonge Subway extension yesterday with many conditions attached: councillor Joe Mihevc (St. Paul's) a proponent of light rail, and Norm Kelly (Scarborough Agincourt), a member of the Metrolinx board.
He said council's request to move up the downtown relief line to take the pressure off the Yonge line is pointless because Metrolinx has already studied and weighed its $50-billion worth of transit projects.
"The door is closed," he said.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto/story.html?id=1230770
