Dufferin Streetcar to Bloor station
Tracks bed provision are next to the centre support.
I'm assuming that the beds will be fill in with asphalt until TTC decides when and where the tracks will run to in the north. TTC dose not have any funds for this extension under their 10 year budget at this time.
They could up to Dundas and College now. Beyond that, who knows?
This is just me totally daydreaming but I've come up with a cost effective proposal that would see the TTC build a much needed (and sure to be popular) streetcar line up Dufferin connecting it to the Bloor/Danforth line with an underground station at Dufferin Mall and one next to the Dufferin station.
The line would resume on Dufferin from it's current tracetory already in place south of Queen. Continuing north under the new tunnel, the streetcar would ride up Dufferin past Dundas and College.
The problem has always been getting to Dufferin. How do you create a streetcar loop in that intersection without expropriating buildings? You could go underground just before Bloor but there would need to be entrance and exit tunnels.
I propose that the streetcar enter a tunnel off to the side at Dufferin Grove Park, descending to below the depth of the Bloor subway line, and then realigning with Dufferin -- now underground.
The northbound streetcar would loop underground around under the tennis courts currently at the SW corner. A streetcar platform would be built and a pedestrian tunnel and short escalator ride would link to the Dufferin station mezzanine.
The streetcar would head South again, emerging from a tunnel adjacent to the Dufferin Mall parking lot.
The whole process could be done "cut-and-cover" on Dufferin, closing 2 centre lanes during construction in the short one block stretch from the end of Dufferin Park ave. to Bloor.
In the future, it could be extended underground past Bloor to the new Eglinton line, replacing the most popular bus route with a more efficient LRT.
