Eglinton Crosstown West Extension LIVE - March 30, 2022

Our goal is always to keep the number of trees we remove to a minimum and we strive to replace them in areas where they are being removed. Any time we have to remove trees, we ensure our plans are carefully studied by a qualified arborist and reviewed by our municipal partners and local conservation authorities. Specific trees were removed ahead of the headwall construction at the Martin Grove and Kipling sites in late March 2022. Only trees that directly impact construction were removed. We strive to keep tree removals to a minimum and only remove trees that are absolutely necessary. Our goal is always to plant more than we remove and all tree removals will be compensated in accordance with the Metrolinx Vegetation Guideline and the City of Toronto’s permitting process. Our approach goes above and beyond what’s required by local environmental regulations. Metrolinx follows municipal bylaws for compensating for trees removed outside of Metrolinx lands and provides additional compensation for trees located in designated natural areas. In addition to the compensation required by the City of Toronto for ECWE, Metrolinx has an agreement with the TRCA to plant additional  trees along the route as early as we can. Advance planting under this agreement began last fall, with more plantings scheduled for later this year. 

Headwall construction work at the Kipling intersection is scheduled to begin in May and is scheduled to complete in Spring 2023. Headwall construction at Islington Ave. is not expected to begin until Fall 2022. Details including lane closures, schedule and work activities will be shared over the next few months. For the Kipling station location, we conducted a virtual open house in December 2021 and released a survey asking the community weigh in on two options for the Kipling station location: a northwest option, which places the station entrance on the northwest corner of Kipling and Eglinton on the boulevard and a hybrid option, which would stack the station entrance on top of the station box and require a realignment of the existing roadway. The top-rated priorities when it came to station construction were protecting the woodlot, followed by reducing construction timelines. The hybrid option was the preferred location, with 55% of respondents preferring this option for the station entrance location. After reviewing this feedback, the project team came up with a new option combining aspects of the hybrid option and the north-west option where they were able to minimize the station entrance and ancillary building footprint as much as possible while only moving Eglinton Ave south by 3m. This resulted in only a few meters of encroachment into the actual boundary of the woodlot. This protects the existing multi-use path on the south side and also reduces the number of impacted trees on the north side. You can find the March virtual open house video recording here where we presented this information as well.

The federal funding was provided to the project as it is currently designed with the mixed alignment of tunnel and elevated guideway. 

When it comes to decisions related to transit planning and construction, the role of Metrolinx is to provide evidence, analysis, and advice to the Provincial government, who then makes decisions about how to allocate taxpayer dollars. This evidence, analysis and advice is communicated through the business case process, which is a comprehensive collection of evidence and analysis that sets out the rationale for why an investment should be made to solve a problem or address an opportunity. It’s part of an open and transparent decision making process. The business case lifecycle – the transition from options analysis to planning and design on a preferred option and finally to delivery and operations – relies on a progression of decisions to guide the advancement of an investment. 

Thank you for your submission. If there is any specific feedback you would like to share with the project team regarding the elevated section, please reach out to us at 416-202-8001 or [email protected]. 

There have been many discussions on how to deliver rapid transit along Eglinton West over the years. The mixed alignment moving forward provides highest ridership increase, travel time savings, and increases rapid transit access to the most jobs; it outperforms all other options in offering the best network connectivity and travel experience for people living and travelling along the corridor. Decisions on alignments take into account a number of factors, including integration with other transit, community benefits and impacts, deliverability, operations and costs, and topography, which are unique to each project. We understand these are beautiful areas and places of pride for the community and a place where people come from all over the city to play and walk and take in the beauty. The elevated guideway will be built on the boulevard next to Eglinton Avenue West therefore no infrastructure will be built in the active areas of the parks. 

Thank you for your feedback. Along with sharing notifications of upcoming public engagements through mail, we also use our digital channels to spread the word. You can sign up to our monthly e-newsletter here or you can also send us an email at [email protected] if you would like to be added to the weekly e-blast distribution list. You can also follow us on our twitter channel @EglintonWestEXT for latest updates!

We understand these are beautiful areas and places of pride for the community and a place where people come from all over the city to play and walk and take in the beauty. The elevated guideway will be built on the boulevard next to Eglinton Avenue West therefore no infrastructure will be built in the parks itself. We know that some trees will need to be removed to safely build and operate the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, but we will strive to keep that to an absolute minimum. A full inventory of trees within the project area, including Fergy Brown Park and Pearen Park, and an assessment of their health is underway now. Once that report is complete, we will share the results with the community. In the meantime. we continue to move forward with replanting and revegetation initiatives, including an event in October last year with the TRCA where 400 new trees were planted along the Humber River. By planting trees now, they will have ten years to grow before the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension even opens, which will help preserve and strengthen tree cover in the community. Metrolinx will continue to work with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and the City of Toronto on new planting initiatives next year.

We have completed the studies and taken baseline readings for noise and vibration impacts. There are several ways to mitigate noise - it can be mitigated without installation of sound barriers. Noise levels will be continuously monitored throughout construction to allow for additional mitigation measures to be implemented, as required. A site-specific construction noise and vibration management plan will be prepared in advance of construction that assesses the potential impacts of selected means and methods for the relevant construction activities and prescribes appropriate mitigation to best manage these potential impacts, taking the surrounding environment into account. We commit to working closely with the community and will be available to discuss your concerns about noise. Our community relations team is setting up smaller group tables with community members to learn about the needs of your neighbourhoods and how we can work together on solutions.  

Contractors will be required to implement a suite of mitigation measures to control air quality during construction, including mud mats at site entrances, covering soil stockpiles, and use of dust suppressants. Air quality will be continuously monitored throughout construction and additional mitigation used, as required. Similarly, noise levels will also be continuously monitored throughout construction to allow for mitigation measures to be implemented, as required. A site-specific construction noise and vibration management plan will be prepared in advance of construction that assesses the potential impacts of selected means and methods for the relevant construction activities and prescribes appropriate mitigation to best manage these potential impacts, taking the surrounding environment into account. We commit to working closely with the community and will be available to discuss your concerns about noise. Our community relations team is setting up smaller group tables with community members to learn about the needs of your neighbourhoods and how we can work together on solutions.

Thank you for your submission. The elevated section runs along the north side of Eglinton Avenue West. The elevated section will be built on the boulevard, as close as possible to Eglinton Avenue West while meeting the City of Toronto requirements, preserving as much existing vegetation as possible, maintaining access to Fergy Brown, Eglinton Flats and Pearen parks, and ensuring a good pedestrian experience in this area. 

There have been many discussions on how to deliver rapid transit along Eglinton West over the years. The mixed alignment moving forward for  provides highest ridership increase, travel time savings, and increases rapid transit access to the most jobs; it outperforms all other options in offering the best network connectivity and travel experience for people living and travelling along the corridor. Decisions on alignments take into account a number of factors, including integration with other transit, community benefits and impacts, deliverability, operations and costs, and topography, which are unique to each project. You can read more about it in the initial business case that was published on our website in 2020.

We are working closely with the City of Toronto on this matter. The recently installed multi-use path will need to be taken out of service during construction. It will be temporarily relocated to the south side of Eglinton Ave West to ensure cyclists mobility and safety. Pearen Park will not be closed - a section of the park will be used as the construction staging area for the access shaft. We presented this information at a virtual open house in September 2021. You can find the video recording of the event and the presentation material here. Access to the parks for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists will be maintained during construction and when the transit service is operational. 

There have been many discussions on how to deliver rapid transit along Eglinton West over the years. The mixed alignment moving forward provides highest ridership increase, travel time savings, and increases rapid transit access to the most jobs; it outperforms all other options in offering the best network connectivity and travel experience for people living and travelling along the corridor. Decisions on alignments take into account a number of factors, including integration with other transit, community benefits and impacts, deliverability, operations and costs, and topography, which are unique to each project. We understand these are beautiful areas and places of pride for the community and a place where people come from all over the city to play and walk and take in the beauty. The elevated guideway will be built on the boulevard next to Eglinton Avenue West therefore no infrastructure will be built in the active areas of the parks.

Thanks for reaching out! Those markings are not part of the ECWE project. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] for any further questions.

The eastbound traffic on Eglinton Ave West at Martin Grove will not be constricted during headwall construction. The only lane closure required at the Martin Grove intersection is the north westbound right-turn lane. No eastbound direction lane closures are currently scheduled at this intersection. If schedule or construction activities change, the project team will keep the public informed.

We are working very closely with the City of Toronto and our constructors, West End Connectors (WEC) to ensure the construction along the Eglinton Ave West corridor has as little impact as possible. All traffic impacts will be communicated to the public ahead of construction. The City has allowed us to close one lane in each direction at various intersections to complete this construction work safely, and we are implementing the following measures to assist with the resulting capacity constraints:

1. Timing adjustments will be made to the signalized intersection lights during peak hours of traffic, which can help ensure continuous movement through each intersection along the corridor.
2. Portable Variable Message Signs will be installed at specific locations at all roads approaching construction zones to inform the road users to re-plan their regular routes. This has been known to reduce traffic congestion levels in the past.
3. Public engagement has been underway the past couple of months along Eglinton Ave West to keep residents informed and aware of the upcoming construction impacts before they begin, allowing the public time to adjust their routes and timing during weekday commutes.

We are doing all we can to ensure the above ground construction along Eglinton Ave W is completed on schedule and with safety for our workers and the public top of mind.

Currently, work at Martin Grove is scheduled to begin in April and last for approximately seven months. Work at the Kipling intersection is scheduled to begin in May and complete in Spring 2023. The road realignment work at Scarlett Rd, which comes before the extraction shaft work where the tunnel boring machines will come out of the ground at the end of tunneling, begins in April. Road work in the Scarlett area will continue to progress throughout the next few years. The details for the intersection work at Royal York Rd. and Islington Ave. have yet to be finalized. Details including lane closures and work activities will be shared over the next few months.   

Please refer to the construction notices posted on our website here for more details and be advised that construction schedules can adjust and change depending on many factors throughout the project duration.

We are working very closely with the City of Toronto and our constructors, West End Connectors (WEC) to ensure the construction along the Eglinton Ave West corridor has as little impact as possible. All traffic impacts will be communicated to the public ahead of construction. The City has allowed us to close one lane in each direction at various intersections to complete this construction work safely, and we are implementing the following measures to assist with the resulting capacity constraints:

• Timing adjustments will be made to the signalized intersection lights during peak hours of traffic, which can help ensure continuous movement through each intersection along the corridor.
• Portable Variable Message Signs will be installed at specific locations at all roads approaching construction zones to inform the road users to re-plan their regular routes. This has been known to reduce traffic congestion levels in the past.
• Public engagement has been underway the past couple of months along Eglinton Ave West to keep residents informed and aware of the upcoming construction impacts before they begin, allowing the public time to adjust their routes and timing during weekday commutes.

Our goal is always to keep the number of trees we remove to a minimum and we strive to replace them in areas where they are being removed. Any time we have to remove trees, we ensure our plans are carefully studied by a qualified arborist and reviewed by our municipal partners and local conservation authorities. All tree removals will be compensated in accordance with the Metrolinx Vegetation Guideline and the City of Toronto’s permitting process at a 3:1 ratio. Our approach goes above and beyond what’s required by local environmental regulations. Metrolinx follows municipal bylaws for compensating for trees removed outside of Metrolinx lands and provides additional compensation for trees located in designated natural areas. In addition to the compensation required by the City of Toronto for ECWE, Metrolinx has an agreement with the TRCA to plant additional  trees along the route as early as we can. Planting under this agreement began last fall, with more plantings scheduled for later this year. 

Provisions for future transit connections in and around the area are always considered as part of planning for the projects. Please call us at 416-202-8001 or email us at [email protected] for any further questions.

Fare integration is an important ongoing discussion. We know that with better fare integration the user experience will improve, and we would see even more people use transit. Most 905 area transit agencies currently have fare integration with each other and GO transit. Metrolinx continues to work with the Ministry of Transportation and municipal partners on options to better integrate fare systems. Since 2018, Metrolinx has introduced programs such as Kids GO Free, Sunday Funday (unlimited travel for $10) and lowered short-distance fares for GO Transit. We are working with our partners towards a regional solution. Metrolinx also announced a 100% co-fare between local transit agencies and GO Transit earlier this month, making local transit free when transferring between GO Transit and participating agencies, which include Durham Region Transit, Milton Transit, Grand River Transit, Guelph Transit, Oakville Transit, MiWay, Brampton Transit, Hamilton Street Railway, Burlington Transit, Bradford West Gwillimbury Transit and York Region Transit, with continued participation from Barrie Transit.

We don’t have passenger pick-up areas in stations. However, we are planning for good bus, bike, and pedestrian connections.

Station construction is not expected to begin until 2024/25. We will have more details including construction staging area footprint closer to the commencement of construction. We know that some trees will need to be removed to safely build and operate the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, but we will strive to keep that to an absolute minimum. The community will be notified in advance about tree removals in the area through our regular communication channels. For each tree we need to remove from City-owned or private property, we meet city bylaw and Metrolinx Vegetation Guideline requirements. The city bylaw typically requires planting three trees for each removed tree; when we need to remove trees from Metrolinx-owned property, we introduce new plantings at a minimum of a one-to-one basis up to 50:1 depending on size and location of the tree being removed in line with our Metrolinx Vegetation Guideline. Our guideline is based on the Toronto Region Conservation Authority’s own highly regarded guidelines, which are firmly rooted in ecological science. In 2020 alone, Metrolinx funded and coordinated the planting of more than 22,100 native trees and shrubs (8,079 trees and 14,050 shrubs). We are looking to incorporate restoration, vegetation and landscape plans into our project agreements with our construction companies so they can appropriately restore the land back to the condition it was received, or better once construction is complete. A full inventory of trees within the project area and an assessment of their health is underway now. Once that report is complete, we will share the results with the community. In the meantime. we continue to move forward with replanting and revegetation initiatives, including an event in October last year with the TRCA where 400 new trees were planted along the Humber River. By planting trees now, they will have ten years to grow before the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension opens, which will help preserve and strengthen tree cover in the community. Metrolinx will continue to work with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and the City of Toronto on new planting initiatives next year.

We are working very closely with the City of Toronto and our constructors, West End Connectors (WEC) to ensure the construction along the Eglinton Ave West corridor has as little impact as possible. All traffic impacts will be communicated to the public ahead of construction. The City has allowed us to close one lane in each direction at various intersections to complete this construction work safely, and we are implementing the following measures to assist with the resulting capacity constraints:

• Timing adjustments will be made to the signalized intersection lights during peak hours of traffic, which can help ensure continuous movement through each intersection along the corridor.
• Portable Variable Message Signs will be installed at specific locations at all roads approaching construction zones to inform the road users to re-plan their regular routes. This has been known to reduce traffic congestion levels in the past.
• Public engagement has been underway the past couple of months along Eglinton Ave West to keep residents informed and aware of the upcoming construction impacts before they begin, allowing the public time to adjust their routes and timing during weekday commutes.

All north-south bus routes will have bus lay-bys hence buses will not stop in live lanes of traffic. Although a large portion of the east-west bus service will be replaced by the ECWE service, we are currently reviewing options of providing lay-bys for areas where there will be bus service to ensure that buses do not occupy live lanes. 

There are no solar panel in stations, however we are following latest version of Toronto Green Standard (TGS). You can watch the video recording of our virtual open house where this question was addressed on our website here. 

We don’t have passenger pick-up areas in stations. We are planning for good bus, bike, and pedestrian connections.We’re also focused on minimizing the footprint of the stations and not having them being busy traffic zones. During construction, it is our intent to have little to no parking on side streets. Construction vehicle parking will be within the construction sites only.

You can watch the video recording of our virtual open house here where this question was addressed.

The design we are moving forward with is seven new stations and each of those connect with the major surface, local bus connections available. So, we’ve maximized the locations based on nearby people, destinations, and local transit connections. From a construction perspective, we have a lot of constraints in terms of what we can do in the area because of all the other road infrastructure that exists, including tunnelling near highways 401 and 427. If there are changes in the future, we have given ourselves the ability to include stations, however, that’s very complicated to do and would likely require suspending service during construction. In short, no infill stations are anticipated but we have protected for the future possibility.

Yes, we’re building the station near the existing Renforth Terminal where local transit access is well organized already. The new station will be designed and built for a seamless customer experience. Thermal comfort during winter at platforms is currently being studied and ideas such as heated shelters around designated waiting areas (DWAs) are being explored. We’ll be coming back to the community to consult on Renforth Station design later this fall.
 

The Province is committed to establishing connectivity with Pearson International Airport. We are actively collaborating with the GTAA and municipal partners to explore a connection between Renforth Drive to Pearson International Airport. An initial business case to extend the LRT to the airport is underway now. Stay tuned! We will have more information when that work is complete. We are protecting for extension west of Renforth station in all our designs.

Safety and accessibility are always at the center of our design thinking and process at Metrolinx. In the development of ECLRT accessibility requirements we convened a consultation group comprised of the CNIB and persons with visual impairments to develop layout and design requirements for tactile guidance tiles. This will ensure customers who are visually impaired can safely and confidently navigate center platforms. These requirements have become a part of Metrolinx standards for all LRT and subway projects. They comply with AODA, CSA and ISO requirements while leveraging insights from those with lived experience of disability.

We meet with the City of Toronto and TTC regularly and coordinate our work. We are working towards seamless connections between the LRT and the surface/bus service now and in the future, which are key to the success of this project and easy transfers at stations. The province is exploring potential transit-oriented communities (TOC) developments across the entire provincial subway program. Plans are not confirmed for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.The TOC approach provides opportunities to bring more housing and jobs closer to transit, and new services within walking distance in the communities we’re building in. We will continue to share information as the work by the province progresses.

We are meeting with City of Toronto on regular basis as the project design develops. Those discussions include assessing the potential traffic impacts to the local network so that our work can be taken into consideration with the wider community developments that the City needs to consider.

We understand and have heard from residents that having multiple project underway at the same time is concerning and so we will continue to work with the City on our plan and on any coordinated communications that may be necessary. We are committed to keeping residents directly informed as well so that you have the information in advance about any impacts such as changes to traffic. We'll continue to use all of our channels including regular engagements, mail drops, social media and the e-newsletter to keep you informed.  

Thank you for your question. We would like get more details and clarity on your question to be able to address it better. You may reach out to us directly at [email protected].

We are working with the City of Toronto to assess the overall traffic and transportation network in this area and to fully understand the impact the permanent closure (scheduled for 2024/25) will have on traffic in the area. We're looking at all options to address this and we will keep the community updated as the traffic impact analysis work is completed We are working on this with the City of Toronto and the Richview properties. We will have more to share next month.

We don’t have passenger pick-up areas in stations. However, we are planning for good bus, bike, and pedestrian connections.

At this time, no GO station is planned at Renforth. However, we are building the station near the existing Renforth Terminal where local transit access is well organized already. The new station will be designed and built for a seamless customer experience.

Yes, the site at Renforth and Eglinton is the launch shaft site for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension project. This is where the tunnels begin their journey underground to head towards Scarlett. 

Work on the Stations, Rails and Systems contract which includes station construction is not expected to begin until 2024. You can see the updated project timeline here (page 6). 

Yes, all stations have a uninterrupted power supply (UPS) for emergency lighting and communication that will meet all applicable code requirements.

Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario are working to deliver this project by approximately 2030-31. We will be monitoring the noise levels generated by construction constantly to keep it within permissible levels. We will take actions to mitigate it if the noise levels exceed the permissible limits. 

There are no plans to do this as part of the ECWE project as of now. This question is best directed to City of Toronto Transportation.