Danforth Line 2 Scarborough Subway Extension

[BurlOak]

The key to cut-and-cover is to find a way of handling the hospital. I sketched up an B-D line that is just west of McCowan (note that North is right). Google Earth elevations are not that accurate, so I am not sure if things are correct. Once you clear the hospital, everything else can be cut-and-cover - unless you want to go to Sheppard than TBM is required under 401).
The Station is underground at Lawrence, but extends north and becomes roughly at (near)-grade as McCowan dips about 3.5%. The subway would be on a bridge, about the same elevation as McCowan. After crossing Highland Creek, the line would go underground and curve to continue north under McCowan. I have now blocked access to the hospital, so that needs to be worked out.

I would have loved to raise the elevation of McCowan and just put the subway under the bridge, however, the line would not be underground in time for Benleigh Drive and access to that road would be blocked.

View attachment 102350

So I figured out how to solve this. Build it roughly as shown, or maybe slice off one lane (make it temporary a 3 lane bridge with middle lane alternating) of the existing bridge and move new bridge a bit east. The railway would be underneath, and the roadway on top - thus, the roadway would be at a higher elevation than current - about 5m. The roadway would carry 3 traffic lanes - 2 SBL and 1 NBL for people coming out from the hospital. The existing bridge would be rebuilt as 2 lanes for the main NBL of McCowan. This bridge would be at the existing elevation. Now the Benleigh Drive intersection would meet a McCowan Road at the same elevation as now, but only right turns (northbound) are allowed.

So if you are heading southbound, there are 2 lane on the new "high level bridge".
For those coming north, the exit to the hospital in on the left, and traffic rises to be on the "high level bridge". A left turn is made to enter the hospital.
For those coming north and continuing north, they would take the right 2 lanes and use the "low level bridge".
For those coming from the hospital to head north, they would make a left onto the "high level bridge" and continue on this.
At the north end of the bridges, between Benleigh Drive and Bellechase, the 3 lanes would go into 2.

View attachment 102350

 

[steveintoronto]

SSE and SmartTrack will be funded anyway. Eglinton West LRT will be funded as well, since it is formally considered a part of SmartTrack.

Everything else is up in the air and will have to wait till the next round of funding. Maybe Eglinton East will be built with funding transferred from Sheppard East.

I'm having trouble accepting your figures. I might be wrong, if so, please quote and/or reference, but here's the latest on this:

[...]
Following the release of the Liberals’ spending plan Wednesday, Mayor John Tory’s office praised what it estimated would be a $5-billion investment for Toronto under the second phase of the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund. A statement from Tory said the money would provide “major benefits” for residents of the traffic-clogged city.

The federal government would not verify the mayor’s $5-billion estimate Thursday, but did confirm the funding would include $660 million that Ottawa had already pledged towards the one-stop Scarborough subway extension.

If the mayor’s math is right, that would leave the city with about $4.3 billion to spend on other priority projects that are partially or completely unfunded, including the relief line subway, the Eglinton East LRT, and Tory’s SmartTrack plan.

Speaking by phone from India, where he has been conducting a trade mission, Tory put the burden on the province, telling reporters it was time for Queen’s Park to “step in and do its part.”

The federal contribution is “most welcome,” he said, but “now we have to move forward and see what the provincial budget does.”

The provincial Liberals are set to table their own spending plan next month. A spokesperson for Finance Minister Charles Sousa would make no commitments about contributing more to Toronto’s transit projects. [...]

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...ojects-even-after-federal-budget-funding.html

"The federal government would not verify the mayor’s $5-billion estimate Thursday, but did confirm the funding would include $660 million that Ottawa had already pledged towards the one-stop Scarborough subway extension."

So doing the math backwards to arrive at that being 40% of the final cost = Total Cost $1.65B

There seems to be a problem...

 

[Leo_Chan]

Here's a brilliant idea: Let riders use the emergency exits in the 6 km tunnel as stations

 

[Rainforest]

I'm having trouble accepting your figures. I might be wrong, if so, please quote and/or reference, but here's the latest on this:

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...ojects-even-after-federal-budget-funding.html

"The federal government would not verify the mayor’s $5-billion estimate Thursday, but did confirm the funding would include $660 million that Ottawa had already pledged towards the one-stop Scarborough subway extension."

So doing the math backwards to arrive at that being 40% of the final cost = Total Cost $1.65B

There seems to be a problem...

Honestly my prediction is not based on any analysis of numbers, but on the assumption that "they" (John Tory + the province, with the Feds being mostly indifferent) will prioritize projects which they cannot afford to abandon. Thus, SSE and SmartTrack (too much political investment plus some design work) go first. Eglinton West got lucky because it has been bundled into SmartTrack, even though it will use a completely different kind of vehicles.

If they have extra money left after that, all the better, but I will believe it when they make a real commitment. Maybe they can squeeze Eglinton East, Waterfront LRT, or even both of them into that funding envelope.

The Relief Line will be so expensive that the City cannot fund 60% of it; not even the shortest Phase 1 between Yonge and Pape / Danforth. Thus, its progress will largerly depent on the provincial funding.

 

[sixrings]

Scarborough transit supporters logic... politicians have to build these lines... in reality lines are cancelled or stubbed all the time.

 

[Hopkins123]

Scarborough transit supporters logic... politicians have to build these lines... in reality lines are cancelled or stubbed all the time.

Scarborough transit supporters real logic... why wasn't the Bloor-Danforth not extended to Scarborough Town Centre back in the 1980s in the first place when it was still financially feasible to do so? Commuters are paying today and into the foreseeable future for the blunders of politicians past.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Scarborough transit supporters real logic... why wasn't the Bloor-Danforth not extended to Scarborough Town Centre back in the 1980s in the first place when it was still financially feasible to do so? Commuters are paying today and into the foreseeable future for the blunders of politicians past.

We'll still be paying for this blunder decades from now when people demand the missing stations be added. Scarborough will still be screaming bloody murder over the injustice of a one-stop subway, while everywhere else gets many more stops. However, this time it'll be an injustice of their own making.

 

[OneCity]

We'll still be paying for this blunder decades from now when people demand the missing stations be added. Scarborough will still be screaming bloody murder over the injustice of a one-stop subway, while everywhere else gets many more stops. However, this time it'll be an injustice of their own making.

Not really. The missing stops in this plan falls directly on Tory & not at all on Scarborough.

-Smarttrack is not Scarborough's doing and has ruined any chance of the subway on the surface and has impacted ridership for extra stops. The Lawrence LRT stop would also be a casualty here

-The LRT can no longer be connected seamlessly to Eglinton because that would force the opposition to admit Ford had a good compromise. They wont and the decision that council made to not accept this revision is not Scarborough fault.

-The Stubway on Sheppard will not be converted to LRT because Politicians will again have to admit failure and its easier to just sell a subway than deal with the challenges required. The stubway is not Scarborough fault and does force a ridiculous transfer in the LRT plan

The costs of the SLRT have also escalated and further design would be required due to changes since the original. IMO we might as well just move ahead to make sure something gets built. But make no mistake the lack of stops issue falls directly on Tory's Smarttrack which has questionable benefits that are yet to be determined

 

[sixrings]

Scarborough transit supporters real logic... why wasn't the Bloor-Danforth not extended to Scarborough Town Centre back in the 1980s in the first place when it was still financially feasible to do so? Commuters are paying today and into the foreseeable future for the blunders of politicians past.

Doesn't change the fact that politicians don't need to build this line and may not build it. Like I tell my 10 year old nephew...life isn't fair

 

[sixrings]

Well as crappy as it is Smarttrack is his election promise. I was hoping he was simply going to rename the drl to smarttrack but I guess you can't blame him for doing what he said he would

 

[sixrings]

At this price perhaps a Sheppard extension makes more sense. Then people would transfer to the drl at Don mills.

 

[dowlingm]

Once Crosstown reaches Kennedy, that area will become a more significant transit node. Crosstown East could make that even more the case. But I guess Oxford Properties doesn't own as much land there as at STC.

 

[BurlOak]

So I figured out how to solve this. Build it roughly as shown, or maybe slice off one lane (make it temporary a 3 lane bridge with middle lane alternating) of the existing bridge and move new bridge a bit east. The railway would be underneath, and the roadway on top - thus, the roadway would be at a higher elevation than current - about 5m. The roadway would carry 3 traffic lanes - 2 SBL and 1 NBL for people coming out from the hospital. The existing bridge would be rebuilt as 2 lanes for the main NBL of McCowan. This bridge would be at the existing elevation. Now the Benleigh Drive intersection would meet a McCowan Road at the same elevation as now, but only right turns (northbound) are allowed.

So if you are heading southbound, there are 2 lane on the new "high level bridge".
For those coming north, the exit to the hospital in on the left, and traffic rises to be on the "high level bridge". A left turn is made to enter the hospital.
For those coming north and continuing north, they would take the right 2 lanes and use the "low level bridge".
For those coming from the hospital to head north, they would make a left onto the "high level bridge" and continue on this.
At the north end of the bridges, between Benleigh Drive and Bellechase, the 3 lanes would go into 2.

View attachment 102350

I had second thought. The above requires more difficult staging, just to reduce the centreline shift of McCowan.

• I think its better to build a brand "new high level bridge" beside (west of) the existing one. All traffic goes onto this new bridge.
• To reduce the shift in McCowan alignment, cut off the existing west sidewalk and close it during construction. Then build the new bridge without the east cantilever overhang in the construction stage. Traffic would be shifted west, with no bike lanes or east sidewalk during construction.
• Traffic coming out of Benleigh would be required to go north only. When they look out, they would be looking at a ~3m retaining wall, so they couldn't make it south if they tried. The existing bridge, which is 60 years old, would be removed. Those coming southbound on McCowan would also not be able to turn onto Benleigh.
• (The above means no access to Benleigh from McCowan, only egress. Likely a 1 lane bridge would be kept that acts as an exit ramp from McCowan NB to Benleigh).
• The centre lane (more of a gore) is needed on the bridge because immediately south of the bridge there is a left turn lane.
• I figure the post-tensioned concrete bridge is about 50m span. It also requires retaining walls on either end being a couple of hundred metres long (a bit longer where it curve into the hospital).
• The bridge is far from efficient (a 50m span bridge would likely only be 2.0m deep, and not 5.0m), so I will assume $20k/m2 (normal bridge is about $5k). This is maybe a $25M bridge, along with $10M for retaining walls.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Not really. The missing stops in this plan falls directly on Tory & not at all on Scarborough.

-Smarttrack is not Scarborough's doing and has ruined any chance of the subway on the surface and has impacted ridership for extra stops. The Lawrence LRT stop would also be a casualty here

Holy revisionist history. The missing stops has nothing to do with SmartTrack. Prior to the cost overruns, this was going to be a three-stop extension, with or without SmartTrack. The only reason two of the three stops were removed was because the extension blew its original funding envelope. If not for the cost overruns, the thing would still have three stops.

And yes, the fault for this lies squarely with Scarborough and Scarborough politicians. Nobody is forcing them to adovocate so fiercely for a flawed one-stop extension.

 

[steveintoronto]

And yes, the fault for this lies squarely with Scarborough and Scarborough politicians. Nobody is forcing them to adovocate so fiercely for a flawed one-stop extension.

Indeed, they have better *fully funded* options. Some posters have asked (gist) "Why didn't they extend it to SCC in the first place?". Errr...why didn't they extend it to West Mall/Sherway Gardens? The demand just wasn't there, and it still isn't. There's better ways to serve the peripheries, and leave a huge chunk over to serve the regions further afield.

For the record, I also don't support DRL as a TTC item. I support doing it as part of GO Transit RER. Dig a tunnel like that, and you'd damn well best make sure it's standard rail and loading gauge, and run it through to extant GO trackage. Think Crossrail.