$224M spent on Toronto transit projects as province contemplates changes: report

A new report by city staff says Toronto has spent around $224 million over the last few years on planning for priority transit projects, some of which are now in question due to changes being contemplated by the province for the city’s transit system.

The report provides city council with an update on the 2016 transit network plan, designed to reduce the strain on the city’s crowded subway system and says that some of those projects are now at a “critical” juncture in their development.

It includes progress updates on the downtown relief line, the Scarborough subway extension, SmartTrack, waterfront transit, and the Eglinton East and Eglinton West LRT projects.

According to the report, several of those projects are ready to move to the procurement and construction phase by the end of 2020. Those projects include SmartTrack Stations, the Scarborough subway extension, the Exhibition Loop-Dufferin Loop Streetcar Connection (part of the Waterfront TransitNetwork Plan), and the Relief Line South.

The report comes a week after Premier Doug Ford threw a bomb in the transit file, saying that the province had a different view of transit projects in Toronto as part of ongoing discussions about a provincial upload of the city’s subway system.

Letters sent to the city by provincial officials indicated that the province would like to look at using unspecified alternative technologies to build the relief line, add two more stops onto the Scarborough subway extension, shift a significant portion of the Eglinton LRT project underground, and fast-track the Yonge North subway extension.

The proposed changes have thrown into question the cost and timing of the affected projects and the province has yet to fill in the blanks on many of the specifics of how the changes would work.

According to the city staff report released Wednesday, the province and Metrolinx have shared “limited information” about the changes to date.

City staff say further discussions with the province are required in order to understand the possible impact of the changes to the transit network plan.

The city’s executive committees expected to meet next week to consider the report.