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Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s

The premier will blame any Crosstown problems on the previous government.

And in this particular case, he won't be necessarily wrong. At least, it would require a detailed analysis to determine when the relevant mistakes were made, during the Wynne's watch, or under the current government.

The question will be, when did you know and why didn’t you tell us sooner. And how many times did you tell us that everything is great before you fessed up. Ford and ML have done enough of the latter on this file (including site visit photo ops with Ford and his minions) that they have effectively assumed credit/blame for the result.

Incoming Governments are quick to declare that the finances were left in a mess. The time for doing that with Crosstown has passed.

- Paul
 
I was passing through Kennedy RT station earlier and the station there is nowhere near ready to open. There is no concrete up yet and the hole for the station is still being excavated.

I get that miracles can happen but this station is a long way from opening in 2021. I am expecting it to be ready in 2022.
 
Honestly, I am not super worried whether the Crosstown comes into service in 2021 or in 2023. Either way, it is a dramatic, game-changing improvement for this corridor. A delay of a year or two is nothing, compared to the situations in many other major corridors that are waiting for their lines for decades, without any luck.

Yes, it's better they take their time and make things go without a hitch than having it dogged with issues as seen with K-W's and Ottawa's rushed openings of their LRT lines.
 
I dunno...I am getting impatient to begin zipping across Eglinton. I have avoided the street for about five years and it has even affected how much I visit close friends, since it's so painful to get around on Eglinton and in the neighbourhoods close to. When you think about it, construction of this magnitude has demolished a generation of businesses.
 
I see you stirring
I dunno...I am getting impatient to begin zipping across Eglinton. I have avoided the street for about five years and it has even affected how much I visit close friends, since it's so painful to get around on Eglinton and in the neighbourhoods close to. When you think about it, construction of this magnitude has demolished a generation of businesses.
^I would be good with the project taking however long it takes, provided there were transparency and candour about progress. Not many megaprojects come off on their original timetable.

This approach of whistling a happy tune and periodically rewriting history is what’s unfortunate.

- Paul

Problem here is that a lot of these struggling businesses are working under the assumption that the heavy construction will be wrapped up long before September 2021; they're probably thinking they need to survive just another year and a half of this construction. Metrolinx's apparent lack of communication regarding the delay could really hurt these businesses.
 
I wonder whether the lesson learned from Crosstown (and TYSSE, frankly) is whether deep bore tunnelling is all it was said to be. There may be locations where it was unavoidable - but could we have done parts of the job cut and cover, and how bad would that have been compared to the current hell on Eglinton?

The businesses on Eglinton would probably agree in hindsight that two years of excavation would have done them less harm than five years of blocked sidewalks etc. We may be more willing to bite the bullet on cut and cover on future lines (Ontario Line, take note) where is was a non starter when these last projects were planned.

My longer term fear for those businesses is, what happens when the line opens and development intensifies? I expect rents will rise and many leases will be terminated so that new construction can happen. That kind of transition is part and parcel of creating a higher order transit line... it may come to Finch also.

- Paul
 
I wonder whether the lesson learned from Crosstown (and TYSSE, frankly) is whether deep bore tunnelling is all it was said to be. There may be locations where it was unavoidable - but could we have done parts of the job cut and cover, and how bad would that have been compared to the current hell on Eglinton?

The businesses on Eglinton would probably agree in hindsight that two years of excavation would have done them less harm than five years of blocked sidewalks etc. We may be more willing to bite the bullet on cut and cover on future lines (Ontario Line, take note) where is was a non starter when these last projects were planned.

My longer term fear for those businesses is, what happens when the line opens and development intensifies? I expect rents will rise and many leases will be terminated so that new construction can happen. That kind of transition is part and parcel of creating a higher order transit line... it may come to Finch also.

- Paul

That's what we call gentrification
 
I wonder whether the lesson learned from Crosstown (and TYSSE, frankly) is whether deep bore tunnelling is all it was said to be. There may be locations where it was unavoidable - but could we have done parts of the job cut and cover, and how bad would that have been compared to the current hell on Eglinton?

The businesses on Eglinton would probably agree in hindsight that two years of excavation would have done them less harm than five years of blocked sidewalks etc. We may be more willing to bite the bullet on cut and cover on future lines (Ontario Line, take note) where is was a non starter when these last projects were planned.

My longer term fear for those businesses is, what happens when the line opens and development intensifies? I expect rents will rise and many leases will be terminated so that new construction can happen. That kind of transition is part and parcel of creating a higher order transit line... it may come to Finch also.

- Paul
Any change on Finch (especially Jane-Finch) is welcome. It cannot get any worse.
 

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