taal
Senior Member
I suspect at this point they'll need to justify the cost or drop it so hoping we'll hear more details soon - it does seem ridiculous at first glance
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Cycling: West Toronto Railpath (City of Toronto, Phase II Proposed)
Towered
Superstar
Great - watch it get indefinitely deferred now in classic Toronto style. We can file it next to the John Street "revitalization" that will happen any day now, we promise!
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Cabral
New Member
Well they've closed the current trail at Dundas and Sterling for a while now so I guess we won't have the new addition or access to the existing trail (even though they were supposed to be starting construction shortly)
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kotsy
Senior Member
Northern Light
Superstar
Excellent post, excellent interview from Matlow
- He supports the project, but the price makes no sense
- Metrolinx not transparent; he wants an itemized accounting of the dollars.
- He noted a much larger project in Vancouver, for about the same cost, I believe he was meaning the one to convert the old rail corridor on Vancouver Island to a bike trail, which envisions a budget of 172M for 289km of trail!
Trail along old E&N line would cost $172.7 million and bring economic benefits, say advocates
Study is based on idea of four-metre-wide 289-kilometre trail between Victoria and Courtenay, with link to Port Alberni.
www.timescolonist.com
A cost of $596,000 per km.
facepalming_brooklynite
Active Member
Deferred for a decade, and then it will cost even more
Northern Light
Superstar
Deferral is not the answer, holding Mx to account and getting the price charged to the City here reduced by at least 1/2 if not 2/3 is what needs to happen.
facepalming_brooklynite
Active Member
Yes, but will it?
The typical Toronto outcome is that this will not get build any time soon.
I for one would rather have a cost-inflated railpath than no railpath
Jonny5
Senior Member
Is it possible Metrolinx is billing the City for land acquisition, in the sense that they are handing this over to them when, even if only theoretically, they could use it for anything?
Northern Light
Superstar
That is definitely a possibility, but to be clear, The trail itself is on Mx owned rail corridor, so any property takings would be, if needed, for bridge piers or access points.
There is no surplus land, that I'm aware of to be added to this project, so if an entire parcel were taken, I would expect proceeds of sale of the extra to be deducted from this project.
There are other things I believe are likely in the project budget that to my mind do not belong there. But I won't say too much, except work is underway to obtain that information.
Northern Light
Superstar
The media is now sinking its teeth into this project.......... Edward Keenan w/The Star joins the parade this morning:
www.thestar.com
Edward Keenan: Metrolinx wants $150 million to build 2 kilometres of bike path. Who’s taking who for a ride?
The astonishing leap in the price of the much-needed trail doesn’t inspire confidence in the provincial transit agency’s management.
www.thestar.com
Allandale25
Senior Member
^ Bradford was on Newstalk this morning about the topic and the last question was what he may do about this. He basically said the timing is awkward because there isn't a Council meeting for a while and he's not sure what contracts have been signed. Is there any public information on the status of any contacts being signed? Would this be a 2/3 vote at Council to stop or delay it, or just the majority?
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Drop it. Take that $150 million and build curb separated bike lanes across the city. Focus on saving cyclist lives while in traffic.
Allandale25
Senior Member
^ you may not have all of that 150 million dollars to spend. Apparently 15% is coming from the federal government and so that proposal may not fit within their program parameters.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
True. But we could ask the Feds to redirect their contribution to overall cyclist safety, as I propose.