Letter to Councillors Thompson, Crawford, Mantas, Lai, McKelvie and Ainslie
via email to:
councillor_thompson@toronto.ca
councillor_crawford@toronto.ca
Councillor_Mantas@toronto.ca
councillor_lai@toronto.ca
councillor_mckelvie@toronto.ca
councillor_ainslie@toronto.ca
RE: DO WE HAVE A TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT AND IF SO, WHAT ARE THEY DOING FOR US?
Dear Councillors for Scarborough:
There are four huge infrastructure projects all slated to happen in Scarborough at once.
- Eight grade separations, bridges over or tunnels under the Lakeshore and Stouffville GO tracks;
- Nine complete major arterial road intersection rebuilds along Ellesmere between McCowan and Military Trail;
- Four massive ‘cut and cover’ excavations for the Scarborough Subway Extension.
Each one will involve complete road closures, partial road closures, lane restrictions, detours, diversions, bus service delays-rerouting and huge volumes of heavy truck traffic. Most of them will take several years to complete.
The road-rail grade separations and the subway extension are good for Scarborough, no question about it. Not so sure about the Ellesmere Busway.
BUT: each will have dramatic impacts on how Scarborough people and businesses get around this city while these are under construction.
The Stouffville GO Expansion Project:
Metrolinx is double tacking the Stouffville GO tracks through Scarborough so they can operate all day/two-way/frequent train service. Bridges over or tunnels under are proposed to remove level crossings at Passmore, McNicoll, Huntingwood, Progress and Danforth Road. But nor Finch.
The Lakeshore East GO Rail Expansion Project:
Metrolinx is expanding service on the Lakeshore East GO line. Roads that now cross the tracks at level crossing cannot continue to operate with the proposed frequency of trains and electrification. Scarborough Golf Club Road, Galloway and Morningside are all proposed to be grade-separated.
The Scarborough Subway Extension Project:
Metrolinx is building the Scarborough Subway Expansion project from Kennedy to Sheppard-McCowan using ‘cut and cover’ to build stations and ‘special track’ works.
The Ellesmere Busway for Durham/TTC/Go Buses.
Metrolinx plans to widen the paved surface of Ellesmere dramatically from Grangeway to Military Tail to accommodate a centre lane busway. Every signalized intersection will be exploded into a miasma of lanes, loading platforms, bike lanes and U-turns introduced.
You have probably seen plans for each of these projects in various reports. It really gets scary when you put them all together on an air photo of Scarborough.
The eight grade separations and especially the four huge ‘cut and cover’ excavations will take years to complete. Who knows how long it will take to widen-rebuild the 9 Ellesmere intersections?
Cost over-runs, unforeseen construction issues, disputes with contractors, workplace safety issues etc. have been known to lengthen projects like these by years. [Viz. Union Station, the Vaughan Subway and on a smaller scale the water reservoir on Ellesmere east of Nielson.]
When we finally emerge from the COVID emergency our people and businesses are going to run right into these massive interruptions of our road system whether we ride a bus or drive a private vehicle to work, school, the grocery store, music lessons, soccer practice etc.
Often overlooked when our experts think about reducing the capacity of our road system are two very important user groups:
- The bus fleets operated by the Public and Separate School Boards in this city transports over 45,000 students each and every day primarily for students as young as 4 years old, right up to high school students. The great majority are in ‘suburban’ locations like Scarborough;
- Wheel-Trans provides 4.2 million trips a year to its 42,000 customers across this city.
Six of the twenty busiest bus routes in the entire city are located in Scarborough. The Lawrence bus alone carried way over 30,000 people a day in 2014.
Every one of these travellers and a huge portion of our businesses will be delayed by road closures, lane restrictions, detours and heavy construction truck traffic.
Somewhere in the midst of all these disruptions, our SRT will come to its final creaking groaning shuddering halt. There is talk of taking lanes out of Midland and/or Brimley for buses only.
Only four years ago our Mayor and Councillors were all concerned with gridlock.
- Congestion on our roads was estimated to cost our regional economy over $6 billion a year.
- We were reminded that the full cost of congestion is a lot more than just time spent sitting in traffic.
- There is a multitude of logistical, economical, social and health-related effects which arise when people and goods cannot move efficiently.
Our Mayor and Councillors told us:
Traffic is strangling this city and costing us millions in lost productivity. We need to take immediate action to get Toronto moving so people can get to work on time and home to their families sooner.
- Mayor Tory
In order for Toronto to remain competitive and prosperous, it is essential that elected officials and governments partner with stakeholders to develop solutions that will keep people and goods moving efficiently across our city.
- Councillor Kelly
If left unabated, the cost of traffic congestion is estimated to balloon to over $7.8 and $7.2 billion for commuters and the economy respectively. The economic potential being withheld by issues directly related to gridlock is immense.
- Councillor Minnan-Wong
Gridlock, [while] rare here just two decades ago, is now a major inconvenience to residents, a growing constraint on our economy and a significant burden on public safety and our quality of life.
- Councillor Thompson
We could not agree more wholeheartedly with these statements.
Our questions to you are:
1. Who is looking closely at each and every one of these road closures/lane closures/diversions to ensure each is designed to produce the absolute minimum disruption;
2. Who is looking at the timing and sequence of all of these road closures/lane closures/diversions to ensure the absolute minimum disruption;
3. Who is looking at the City’s own program of road resurfacing, water main replacement and so on all of which can close lanes/restrict traffic to minimize disruption and delay;
4. Please, no more grand misguided adventures like taking two lanes out of Brimley for bike lanes until all of these road works and disruptions are completed.
And lastly: who is taking responsibility to build a grade separation of Finch over/under the Stouffville GO tracks? It’s not in the Metrolinx plans. They’re doing Passmore, McNicoll, Huntingwood, Progress and Danforth but not Finch and there’s no way Finch can operate as a level crossing.
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