Metrolinx has withdrawn its application to close a portion of Bathurst Street for a seven-month period to accommodate Eglinton Crosstown construction amid concerns brought forth by residents and local businesses.

In December, the provincial transit agency announced a proposal to close Bathurst Street near Eglinton Avenue in order to complete construction of Forest Hill Station.

The road closure would have shorten the construction of the station by about three months, Metrolinx said.

The closure was postponed after residents and businesses brought forth concerns to city council. There are already partial road closures in effect in the area, with the intersection reduced to one lane in either direction.

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Metrolinx said that it has decided “not to pursue the proposal to close Bathurst Street.”

“We acknowledge we could have done a better job engaging the community and the councillors. While closing Bathurst Street would have accelerated construction of Forest Hill Station by three months, we understand the community did not feel this benefit outweighed the impacts on area residents and business owners,” the statement read.

“We know that construction can be disruptive and we will continue to work very hard with Crosslinx to minimize the impacts. Metrolinx and Crosslinx will continue to communicate with and engage the local community and elected representatives on all construction activities pertaining to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.”

At a town hall meeting hosted by Metrolinx on Wednesday evening, Ward 12 city councillor Josh Matlow said the community supports the Eglinton Crosstown itself, but residents should have been consulted prior to the closure announcement.

“The community supports the project itself and it has put up for years with traffic…noise, disruption, dust, you name it and they get it,” he told CP24. “They get that’s the price of building a transit project, but when Metrolinx just announced on their own over the holidays that they were going to shut down a major intersection that would lead all the traffic, detour the buses, put all the trucks, just make a mess of the area, I think it’s reasonable for the community to express concerns.”

“This is the middle of the city,” Ward 8 councillor Mike Colle said.

“Bathurst and Eglinton is the heart of Toronto. If you close down the main artery, people have no other way to go. If you close down Bathurst you have all the cars, buses, trucks by the thousands on the residential streets. People said this is nuts. Eventually they listened.”

Midtown residents and business owners did not hold back their frustrations at the meeting.

Though it was just hours after Metrolinx backtracked on the proposal, the townhall was brimming with people.

Some residents said move has left Metrolinx with little credibility.

“How could any rational person make the decision or even consider closing the intersection for seven months when they were only saving three months worth of construction?” one resident said. “Those people are still in charge of this project.”

Others expressed concern about the way the construction in the area is going currently, noting safety concerns about traffic violations and blocked sidewalks.

“A lot of illegal turns are being made in the area,” another resident said. “I’m just afraid someone is going to make that illegal turn when a pedestrian is crossing.”

Metrolinx admitted that the proposal could have been handled differently.

“They could’ve done a better job. There’s no question about it,” Jamie Robinson, Metrolinx’s director of community relations, said.

“We’ve learned and we’ll continue to engage with the communities that we have.”

But it was community engagement that some residents saw as the silver lining to the ordeal.

“I’m encouraged by this room full of residents… Hundreds of people who actually banded together to show that power of the people, from the grassroots,” one man said.

“Sometimes the good guys win.”