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

The closure at the north of Eglinton near Yonge was really inconvenient for pedestrians (including me). Yesterday, they opened up part of the area they closed off so that people could walk through.
 
I am not a transit planner by any means, but I was just curious: this project is going to take quite a while to complete. But, there are three major components to this project: the tunnel from Black Creek to Yonge, the tunnel from Leaside to Yonge, and the at-grade section from Leaside to Kennedy road.

Obviously there is even more than that, but even with these parts it seems that everything is being done one at a time.

Why? Why are we only tunnelling one of the tunnels now? Why havent any of the other parts started yet?

What stopped the other tunnel boring machines from starting now, and why can't we have started the above ground portion at the same time?

Did we run out of construction workers?
 
have you forgotten...this is a govt project by the lowest bidder in a society where unions and overpaid workers run the show
there are plenty of construction workers. the question is do they have an incentive to work to get the project done as quickly and efficiently as possible....
 
I am not a transit planner by any means, but I was just curious: this project is going to take quite a while to complete. But, there are three major components to this project: the tunnel from Black Creek to Yonge, the tunnel from Leaside to Yonge, and the at-grade section from Leaside to Kennedy road.

Obviously there is even more than that, but even with these parts it seems that everything is being done one at a time.

Why? Why are we only tunnelling one of the tunnels now? Why havent any of the other parts started yet?

What stopped the other tunnel boring machines from starting now, and why can't we have started the above ground portion at the same time?

Did we run out of construction workers?

There is some work on the eastern end of the tunnel now but it is at a very preliminary stage (only a very small amount of construction near Brentcliffe at this point). Obviously this won't have passed the point of no return by June 12, so who knows what will happen with this if Hudak wins a majority?

The contract for building the above ground portion of the line, along with finishing the underground section, isn't supposed to be awarded until 2015. This is probably politics, and is probably related to the numerous proposals by Rob Ford, Hudak and others to make this line a conventional underground subway instead.
 
I am not a transit planner by any means, but I was just curious: this project is going to take quite a while to complete. But, there are three major components to this project: the tunnel from Black Creek to Yonge, the tunnel from Leaside to Yonge, and the at-grade section from Leaside to Kennedy road.

Obviously there is even more than that, but even with these parts it seems that everything is being done one at a time.

Why? Why are we only tunnelling one of the tunnels now? Why havent any of the other parts started yet?

What stopped the other tunnel boring machines from starting now, and why can't we have started the above ground portion at the same time?

Did we run out of construction workers?

Construction, in this case, is running at the speed of payment. The project is running up against cash-flow issues in the provincial budgets more than anything.
 
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I am not a transit planner by any means, but I was just curious: this project is going to take quite a while to complete. But, there are three major components to this project: the tunnel from Black Creek to Yonge, the tunnel from Leaside to Yonge, and the at-grade section from Leaside to Kennedy road.

Obviously there is even more than that, but even with these parts it seems that everything is being done one at a time.

Why? Why are we only tunnelling one of the tunnels now? Why havent any of the other parts started yet?

What stopped the other tunnel boring machines from starting now, and why can't we have started the above ground portion at the same time?

Did we run out of construction workers?

Everything works backwards from the target completion date in 2020. The western tunnel is the longest so it was started first. The eastern tunnel is shorter so it is just starting now. Both of these tunnels will end up at Yonge at approximately the same time. Once the tunnel construction is complete they can start work on the stations. The surface section will be very simple and quick in comparison so work on it doesn't need to start for another few years. There is no point building the surface section now and having it sit rusting until 2020.
 
I am not a transit planner by any means, but I was just curious: this project is going to take quite a while to complete. But, there are three major components to this project: the tunnel from Black Creek to Yonge, the tunnel from Leaside to Yonge, and the at-grade section from Leaside to Kennedy road.

In the grand scheme of things, tunnels are not really major components, but rather what can be best described as a low rung on the long ladder that is the project.

Obviously there is even more than that, but even with these parts it seems that everything is being done one at a time.

That's because a lot of it does have to be done one-at-a-time. You can't install the tracks, lighting, signalling, ventilation, power distribution, etc. until the tunnel is complete, and even then there are additional things that need to be done once the tunnel has been bored.

About the only thing that you can do in parallel with the tunnels is the stations and emergency exits, and they have started on those.

Why? Why are we only tunnelling one of the tunnels now? Why havent any of the other parts started yet?

Why should they?

Okay, maybe that's not completely fair. The western tunnels are much longer, and considering that there is a known rate at which EPB TBMs can dig at, they can (and have) estimated that it will take considerably longer to bore the western tunnels than it will the eastern ones. There is no need/incentive to finish the eastern tunnels first, thus they have started them later.

What stopped the other tunnel boring machines from starting now, and why can't we have started the above ground portion at the same time?

There is a lot of infrastructure that needs to be built to support the TBMs before they can even start driving. It took over a year to construct it out in the west end, and that's what they are doing now in the east.

As for the above-ground section, it can be done quite quickly and thus there's no incentive to get it started now. As others have also pointed out, doing it now would also require the funds to flow for it now.

Did we run out of construction workers?

Nope, not even close.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 

Having a little difficulty getting construction past Prospect Cemetery.
ZombieWoman.bmp
 

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