Would you mind elaborating your 2008 proposal for those of us that haven't been following it that long?
I will revised it based on the fact GO Transit will be using the Lake Shore for entrance/exit in place of Bay now to the new terminal.
Bay St become a pedestrian transit mall from Queen St to Queens Quay.
2 southbound tracks between QQ and Harbour with one northbound. The southbound tracks allow cars to go both direction without interfering with each other.
From Harbour to Lake Shore becomes 4 tracks to split the directions. From Lake Shore to Front become 5 tracks with 3 being stub ends. 2 tracks north to Queen St and then onto Bloor St on the north side where stub ends will be. There will be 5 platforms under the RR tracks.
Route 6 will run north of Bloor only and could run to/from St George or become a totally new route.
Sidewalks will be wider than they are now and flush with the roadway, meaning no curbs. No bike lanes being allow for south of Queen. You will be able to plant trees and shrubs for this area.
Which route would run to Bloor could be one or 2 different route with the east being the prefer option, but not set in stone.
With duel end cars being needed, all new loop areas would be stub only, freeing up land and location of stop. Also the cost to build them.
This option would remove the need for $400 million for the new loop, the cost of building a T junction and the tunneling to Freeland.
You could open things up in phase north of Front. Going north of Front acts a a relief line for the Yonge Line and will still be needed if and when the DRL is built.
The QQ Bay intersection would have to be setup to allow streetcars to turn without interference from pedestrians since this was TTC greatest concern back in 2008.
Because traffic ends up blocking Bay intersection most of the time, crossing gates be install to stop traffic from blocking the intersections to allow better flow for everyone and keep transit on schedule.
May have to look at crossing gates for Bay to stop clueless drivers making illegal turns.
Going to duel end cars, you can put in extra crossovers to allow cars to use one track while one being repair.
There is no place in the city core to put loops in and why stub tracks.
You build all the surface track on Bay and QQE first with the exception of the intersection and this allow 509 & 510 to continue to operate. Once everything is done, you close QQ for a few months to fill in the existing portal and built the T junction. The faster it built, the sooner the lines can go into service.
