Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

[Johnny Au]

100 years from now Torontonians will still be talking about Harris as if he murdered their dog.

That would be in history textbooks. Harris would go down in history as among the worst Ontario premiers (along with Wynne's sale of Hydro One).

 

[BurlOak]

The tough part is that if you are mad at Harris for cancelling the subway, then you must be opposed to the current LRT - because if Harris did not cancel it, then LRT would not be possible.

Alternatively, you can be happy that Harris cancelled the subway to allow LRT to be built.

The only people who have a right to be mad at Harris are those who think Eglinton should have been built as subway in its entirety.

 

[salsa]

100 years from now Torontonians will still be talking about Harris as if he murdered their dog.

Lest we forget.

 

[dowlingm]

The tough part is that if you are mad at Harris for cancelling the subway, then you must be opposed to the current LRT - because if Harris did not cancel it, then LRT would not be possible.

Alternatively, you can be happy that Harris cancelled the subway to allow LRT to be built.

The only people who have a right to be mad at Harris are those who think Eglinton should have been built as subway in its entirety.

Is it not fair to say that the LRT currently being built for Crosstown - 90m trains of low floor LRVs - was not an available option during the Harris era Eglinton project?

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

The tough part is that if you are mad at Harris for cancelling the subway, then you must be opposed to the current LRT - because if Harris did not cancel it, then LRT would not be possible.

Alternatively, you can be happy that Harris cancelled the subway to allow LRT to be built.

The only people who have a right to be mad at Harris are those who think Eglinton should have been built as subway in its entirety.

Why? The two are separated by years of time. If the subway was in place, Toronto transit decisions would be very different now. That's nonsensical.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

The tough part is that if you are mad at Harris for cancelling the subway, then you must be opposed to the current LRT - because if Harris did not cancel it, then LRT would not be possible.

Alternatively, you can be happy that Harris cancelled the subway to allow LRT to be built.

The only people who have a right to be mad at Harris are those who think Eglinton should have been built as subway in its entirety.

And what about people who think LRT or subway would've been fine on Eglinton?

The world isn't binary

 

[Hopkins123]

A subway across Eglinton would have been better in the long term but likely would have remained a "stubway" like on Sheppard due to the prohibitively higher capital costs and would be less likely of having as many stations en route making it of less local benefit.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

The Eglinton subway would probably have been extended to at least Don Mills by 2020.

 

[Bojaxs]

Can the Eglinton LRT be upgraded to a subway in the future?

 

[W. K. Lis]

Can the Eglinton LRT be upgraded to a subway in the future?

The LRT would be l-o-n-g-e-r. When the "Eglinton Subway" was first "started", it was to be built from Eglinton West to Black Creek (York Centre Station). The current underground LRT is m-u-c-h longer.

Don't forget there will be a Finch West LRT and a Sheppard East LRT... allegedly.

 

[MetroMan]

A subway across Eglinton would have been better in the long term but likely would have remained a "stubway" like on Sheppard due to the prohibitively higher capital costs and would be less likely of having as many stations en route making it of less local benefit.

Exactly. I prefer a rapidly expanding extensive network of LRTs than decades in waiting subway extensions. The city will work well with a subway spine complemented by a network of LRTs bisecting it and small buses to reach into neighbourhoods that can't yet justify either.

 

[ehlow]

And what about people who think LRT or subway would've been fine on Eglinton?

The world isn't binary

Not to mention we're talking about underground LRT and underground subway.

The original Eglinton subway would've been 1/3 the length of the currently built tunnel and not cover dense areas like Yonge-Eglinton. So we're getting a tunnel triple the length in one go now. Huge increase in the amount of underground transit.

 

[howl]

Can the Eglinton LRT be upgraded to a subway in the future?

No. The station platforms are too short. They are only about a third the length of a subway platform.

Not to mention we're talking about underground LRT and underground subway.

The original Eglinton subway would've been 1/3 the length of the currently built tunnel and not cover dense areas like Yonge-Eglinton. So we're getting a tunnel triple the length in one go now. Huge increase in the amount of underground transit.

It's likely that if the Eglinton West Subway had of been built back in the 1990's it would connect to the airport by now; and by this time we would be building, or planning to build, an extension east towards Kennedy.

 

[crs1026]

This is a bit too much coulda, woulda, shoulda for me.

The big thing to imagine is what would have happened to development along Eglinton, had there been a subway by now. And what that might have pulled away from the development elsewhere. Especially since it would have been done under an earlir planning regime. I can't say what would have been different, but I suspect we might hate it already. Let's hope we get it right after Crosstown.

In the Harris era, web graphics were a lot more primitive. There would not have been a cool project tracker giving weekly updates. That's half the fun these days

- Paul

 

[TheTigerMaster]

No email either. The people who apparently won't stop bothering the person who updates the TBM tracker will have to go to their office daily, rather than sending off dozens of emails demanding updates.