LORINC: Doug Ford draws a subway map
APRIL 11, 2019 | BY
JOHN LORINC
[...]
In his announcement, Ford claimed the new light-rail technology he wants to use can go
over the Don River instead of tunneling underneath – a configuration he contends will save megabucks.
Whoever conceived of this hare-brained idea evidently didn’t spend any time looking at the Google maps of the area where Queen and the Don River intersect. According to the latest Relief Line
alignment plans (which have been subjected to a substantial amount of regulatory due diligence), the route will dip south of Queen Street as it heads towards the Don River. On the east side, it will head towards a new station serving the giant
East Harbour redevelopment site, at
Broadview and Eastern Avenue, just steps from the proposed SmartTrack/GO station within the Unilever/Great Gulf precinct. The line then proceeds east under Eastern Avenue before turning northwards at Logan.
What’s anything but clear is how, under Ford’s plan, this light-rail line will get out of the tunnel west of the Don; where it will cross the river; and how it will re-enter a tunnel heading east. One need only look at the streetcar tunnels at St. Clair West or along Queen’s Quay to realize that the entrances and exits gobble up an enormous amount of space, simply because the grades can’t be too steep.
Moreover, the city blocks on either side of the Don in that vicinity are packed with condos, construction sites, valuable historic buildings, narrow streets and public spaces, like Corktown Common. It’s by no means obvious where those lengthy tunnel entrance/exit ramps will fit. And even if the engineers tasked with finding a solution can figure out how to thread the needle, the daylighted portion of the Ontario Line will need to be shoe-horned between apartment blocks and parks, etc. Either that, or the Ford government’s got to get to work expropriating and demolishing property.
All the looming complexity raises difficult questions about the extent to which the city will be permitted to plan this line. Doug Ford’s subway bridge over the River Don introduces a deeply challenging planning dilemma in a congested space with little fallow land, a gnarly road network, lots of new residential development, and a relocated highway (i.e., the relocated Gardiner/DVP interchange). Left to its own devices, the city might opt to find ways to mitigate all the expense and disruption to local residents. The question is, will Queen’s Park allow the city to plan, or will it play the ever-present constitutional trump card and impose its own approach, local concerns be damned.
[...]
urbantoronto.ca
