It was stated at TTC meeting that the section between the DVP and the BD regardless what connecting station for the Don Mills line will be underground.
Since the roads are narrow in the first place to support an ROW, it has to go underground.
We will know in a few months which station will be use once the engineering investigation is done on the Leaside bridge.
I have said that the DM lines has to run underground to either Pape or Coxwell station from day one because of the road system. It also has to continue south to connect with either the Queen Line or the Lake Shore line to act as a relief line that ppl being calling for some years.
Coxwell is the better choices as the DM would be a straight line over the DVP and go under ground.
If doing Pape, the DM will have to run on an angle if the bridge will not support the LRT load. Even if it ran over the bridge, some homes will have to go to get the line underground.
No homes will have to go if the line use Coxwell as the LRT bridge will slope as it cross the DVP to get the line underground.
I like the notion of Coxwell over Pape myself. I don't know why we'd let condos dictate where to place our subway lines (oh wait, that's the criteria everyone's looking for nowadays, right?) as I'm sure someone will argue for in the case of Pape/Cosburn.
Using Coxwell however in the very same geographic grid alignment as Don Mills Road, not only spares us the Overlea-Millwood jog, but becomes practical for other uses as well. For one Pape is so close to Yonge St, it's effectively redundant whereas Coxwell is geographically in the middle of Kennedy and Yonge, hence farthest from major lines and closest to high demands.
Whereas Pape/Danforth is a major retail/commercial zone already, Coxwell/Danforth is ripe for massive redevelopemnt and building the 'subway' there would allot that. East York Civic Centre and East Toronto General Hospital sit on a dying spit of land aound Coxwell/Mortimer where tons of vacant lands sit anxious. Again there's where subways come in. Coxwell/Oconnor, where route 8 terminates also sounds like a good place for a stop of more help to route 70 than a Pape alignment would allot.
South of Bloor, Gerrard India Bazaar is an instant draw for a stop with exits facing the two Gerrards. However the 'subway' really meets it's full potential once hitting Queen St. Instead of following the rail corridor, this line could/should head across Queen into the downtown, where an intricate loop serves most of the inner city while also getting suburbanites into the city. Win...win
! Of course that idea's too clever for most people to admit so we'll be stuck with a lackluster peripheral line instead.
