The City of Toronto’s Executive Committee has approved a staff report recommending that $4.896 billion in federal funding be allocated to four key transit projects. Pending Council approval, funding from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program Public Transit Infrastructure Fund Phase 2 will be allocated to the Line 2 East Extension, the SmartTrack Stations Program, the Relief Line South, and Bloor-Yonge Capacity Improvement. The report goes to Toronto City Council on April 16-17.
“Today at committee, staff showed the progress we have made on our entire transit network plan including the Relief Line, SmartTrack, and the Bloor-Danforth subway extension further east into Scarborough,” said Mayor John Tory. “As the report makes clear, this is a critical moment to push ahead and actually build transit, to actually build subways, and we have arrived at that moment only because we have been doing the quiet, time-consuming planning and design work — approximately $227 million in work — to get us to this point. Now is not the time to delay. Now is the time to build.”
Here is an update on what phase of development each project is currently in:
Relief Line South: currently in preliminary design and engineering, the Relief Line South is a new eight-station subway connecting Line 2 at Pape Station to Line 1 at Queen Station and Osgoode Station. This is a priority project for the City and TTC that is required by 2031 to alleviate Line 1 congestion. Procurement and construction is scheduled to begin in 2020.
Line 2 East Extension: this project is now ready to proceed to procurement and construction. The 6.2 km extension from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Centre Station will deliver improved transit service to Scarborough. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2020. The current in-service date is scheduled for 2026/27.
SmartTrack Stations Program: leveraging heavy rail infrastructure, the SmartTrack Stations Program is a package of six new stations on the Stouffville, Lakeshore East and Kitchener GO corridors with enhanced service running every six to 10 minutes during rush hour. The project will begin procurement and construction in 2019 with an in-service date of 2025.
Bloor-Yonge Capacity Improvement: this project is one of the TTC-identified 19 key elements to address Line 1 capacity constraints. The Bloor-Yonge Capacity Improvement project involves building an additional platform at Yonge Station on Line 2, modifications to Line 1’s Bloor Station platform, improving passenger circulation, ventilation systems, and constructing a new substation.
The report also seeks Council direction on advancing preliminary design and engineering of the streetcar option for the Union Station-Queen’s Quay Link and East Bayfront LRT, and approval to work with Metrolinx on a plan to advance the preliminary design and engineering of the Eglinton East LRT extension.
The report is available here: app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2019.EX4.1.
