I daydream about the rail line being elevated here (red line) so the west river bank can be naturalized below it - think junction triangle track separation.
this would add more flood water resiliency to the rail line. and it would give us more access to the water's edge from corktown common or from the intersection of king/queen/river. it would be awesome!
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Regrettably, that won't happen, at least in the foreseeable future. It would require elevating all of the road bridges over the Don (Gerrard, Dundas, Queen, Eastern, and that in turn would require altering the approaches to same.
The most realistic changes to expand natural space in 'The Narrows' are:
1) Remove Bayview south of Gerrard to just south to just south of Eastern. That would create several acres of potential wetland/forest habitat.
2) You could optionally push the rail corridor slightly west if Bayview were removed, but only north of King/Queen, below which it would be constrained to the existing alignment.
3) Re-align the track to the east side of the River, next to the DVP, at the same height at the current DVP (it would still flood), but this option, in conjunction with option 1 above, would allow the actual re-alignment of the river, giving it some natural curves back and providing for habitat expansion.
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Option one above requires the acquisition of the car dealership that fronts Bayview or at least eliminating its access from Bayview, but likely full acquisition to have space for re-aligning the river.
The cost is in the range of 250-750M, depending on what properties are purchased, and whether the utilities now under Bayview have to be relocated.
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Option 3, (moving the railway to the east side, south of Gerrard) also requires enlarging the railway where it currently exists on the East side, to allow for the Don Branch to be joined by the Bala as a 2-sub corridor, to the 1/2 mile bridge, and then keep the Bala locked to the DVP until just north of Pottery Road, before returning to the current alignment.
Estimated cost, without moving the river - 2B-5B
Moving the River - adding 400M-2B depending how how big of a set of moves you make, and the quality of the habitat enhancement.
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* the large estimate ranges should be vaguely accurate, bit and pieces of the above have been given cursory consideration in the past. However, none of have been seriously pursued due to cost and complexity, there has been no EA, and no detailed design, which is why there is such a wide range in the numbers.
