The Ford government has sent two letters to the City essentially telling Councillors that it is going to take over the planning of four urgent subway construction projects planned for the near future. It says that the province is “committed to a three-stop extension” for Scarborough ending at the Scarborough Town Centre. This tosses out the much maligned one-stop wonder approved under the Liberal government. The PC cabinet letters say the government is also proposing that a significant portion of the Eglinton West extension to the Crosstown light rail transit (LRT) line be underground as opposed to a surface level right of way line as now planned.
And the letters say the province wishes to co-ordinate work on the Relief Line South use “alternate delivery methods and an approach that would create such a free-standing project which would enable the procurement of a truly unique artery spanning the City that is not beholden to the requirements of the technologically-outdated Line 2.” Just what this means in specific terms is unclear to the lay reader. And finally the province wants work on the Yonge Subway Extension north to take place in tandem with the Relief Line “so that the in-service date for the extension is fast-tracked to the greatest extent possible.” The letters were sent to City Hall Tuesday. Province details plans to alter four major transit projects in Toronto
