Toronto LRT Information Blog

Updated June 18: The display boards are now available online. 

Updated June 12: I have added a route map of the study area to help clarify the description current transit service in the area.

I attended the Don Mills/Leslie LRT Project Public Consultation (PPC) meeting this evening (June 10). This was a first-round meeting where the initial concepts of the plan were being presented. There will be at least two other meetings, tentatively planned for October and December, as the plan develops as additional details (Transit City Don Mills LRT and the Highway 7 Rapidway) become available and public feedback from this meeting are considered.

While there were no signs outside the Hilton Garden Inn at Commerce Valley East and Highway 7, the parking lot was completely full. Given that this location is quite easily accessible by transit, and that says a lot for York Region, the full parking lot ought to have been an indicator of the mood inside. The room was rather small as well, which probably did not enhance the help.

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Part of the Don Mills LRT line should be built as full subway. No, you haven’t entered a parallel universe where everything is backwards. I still believe that the entire Spadina Subway Extension and a proposed Yonge Extension north of Steeles would better serve our transit needs if built as LRT, but this is not the case for the portion of the proposed Don Mils LRT line that will be south of Eglinton. Eglinton and Don Mills should be the north-eastern end of a Downtown Relief Line (DRL), built as a full Subway.

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VIVA Next has announced a public consultation on an LRT project on Don Mills Road and Leslie Street from Steeles Avenue to Highway 7. There will be an open house from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm with presentation at 7:00 pm on Wednesday June 10, 2009. The location will be at the Hilton Garden Inn, 300 Commerce Valley Drive East, next to the eastbound East Beaver Creek VIVA stop.

Here is the background from this announcement:

In November 2008, Metrolinx adopted a Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) called The Big Move: Transforming Transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The RTP identifies a Light Rail Transit (LRT) line in the Don Mills Road/Leslie Street corridor from the Bloor-Danforth Subway to Highway 7. The City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission are currently undertaking a transit planning study to define the LRT project along the Don Mills Road corridor from the Bloor-Danforth Subway to Steeles Avenue.

I will add that even though this site is dedicated to the promotion of LRT over Subway, it is my opinion that the section of Don Mills Road from Eglinton to the Bloor-Danforth Subway would be better served by a northern extension of a yet-to-be-built Downtown Relief Subway line, for a number of reasons I have outlined on this site.

Here is the details of the study for this announcement:

The purpose of our study is to undertake the transit planning and assessment for the LRT on Don Mills Road and Leslie Street from Steeles Avenue to Highway 7. The study will proceed in two phases. The first phase will involve defining the specific details of the transit project. The second phase will be the transit project assessment, which will be initiated this fall and will be conducted in accordance with the  Ministry of the Environment’s assessment process for transit projects, Ontario Regulation 231/08, Transit Projects and Greater Toronto Transportation Authority Undertakings (March 2009).

To obtain additional information or provide comments, please contact:

• Dale Albers, Chief Communications Officer
  York Region Transit Corp.
  1 West Pearce Street, 6th Floor
  Richmond Hill, Ontario, L4B 3K3
  Tel: 905-886-6767  Fax: 905-886-6969
• Steve Mota, Project Manager, Infrastructure Planning
  The Regional Municipality of York
  17250 Yonge Street
  Newmarket, Ontario, L3Y 6Z1
  Tel: 905-764-6345 ext 5056  Fax: 905-895-0191
• Scott Thorburn, P.Eng, Consultant Project Manager
  URS Canada Inc.
  75 Commerce Valley Drive East
  Markham, Ontario, L3T 7N9
  Tel: 905-882-3534  Fax: 905-882-4399

Three open house meetings for the Don Mills LRT meetings are planned for June 10 (6:00 pm to 8:30 pm at Rosedale Heights School for the Arts, 711 Bloor Street East), June 17 (6:00 pm to 8:30 pm East York Town Centre, 45 Overlea Boulevard)  and June 18 (3:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the Don Mills Subway Station).  They will include presentation of:

A serious of route and transfer/connection options are being examined. Some key connections to be evaluated are the Don Mills subway station and Sheppard East LRT the Bloor-Danforth subway, and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.