Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor John Tory are announcing the start of tunnelling for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension on Monday.
The Eglinton Crosstown West extension, which was announced in 2019, will run from Mount Dennis Station to Renforth Station and the Mississauga Transitway.
There is no link in the works, yet, to Pearson Airport.
Map available on the Infrastructure Ontario website. Photo credit: Infrastructure Ontario
The Eglinton Crosstown West is an extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT the ten-year-old project which is supposed to open later this year as Line 5.
According to the Metrolinx website, the route will:
- Have 25 stations and stops along Eglinton Avenue
- Be 19 kilometres, with more than 10 kilometres running underground
- Be up to 60 per cent faster than current travel times
- Link to 54 bus routes, three TTC subway stations and GO lines
Map available on the Infrastructure Ontario website. Photo credit: Infrastructure Ontario
The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers notes that the extension create connections between different transit systems throughout the region including UP Express, TTC buses and MiWay and GO buses.
“The preliminary cost estimate of the project is $4.7 billion, and is estimated to support as many as 4,600 jobs annually during the six-year construction period,” the group said.
But, even though it has not yet begun, the project has been attracting mixed feelings and multiple concerns, especially over the effects on small businesses.
Louroz Mercader, manager of York-Eglinton Business Improvement Area said “tunneling and new station construction can be disruptive to local residents and for small businesses.”
The BIA said years of construction have been harmful to small businesses in the area.
“It is important that Metrolinx and contractors take lessons from past transit construction projects on how to minimize the impacts on local communities.”
Mercader believes a “program to financially compensate small businesses for losses they will incur during the construction phase” must be put in place from the start of the project.