Expect at least 7 years of downtown Toronto traffic delays from Ontario Line construction -- of up to 30 minutes

Thestar.com
Dec. 1, 2021

Brace yourselves, Toronto.

Residents and businesses downtown are facing at least seven years of painful traffic and transit disruptions, according to a new report on road closures required for the construction of six new subway stations in the core.

The report from city staff estimates that, when combined with city-led infrastructure projects that will also necessitate tearing up roadways, construction of the new stops for the Ontario Line will cause widespread delays that will add as much as 30 minutes to a drive across downtown.

The “long-term temporary road closures” are expected to last between 2022 and 2029, and will also disrupt streetcar routes, as well as travel on sidewalks and bike lanes near work sites.

Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam, who represents one of two downtown wards where the construction will take place, said she and her constituents have “serious concerns” about what “never-ending construction” will do to businesses already suffering through COVID-19.

“We are working so hard to build back the downtown core after a very challenging year and a half” and road closures will make recovery more difficult, said Wong-Tam (Toronto Centre) in a statement. She said she’s also worried about construction noise, delays to TTC routes and potential safety risks to pedestrians and cyclists.

“I am very supportive of new transit. We desperately need it in this city. However, the rollout process is far from ideal,” said Wong-Tam.

The Ontario Line will have 15 stops and run for 15.6 kilometres between Exhibition Place and the Ontario Science Centre. It’s expected to carry 388,000 people a day by 2041 and is considered crucial to diverting ridership off the TTC’s normally crowded Line 1.

Metrolinx, the provincial agency overseeing the Ontario Line, is currently in the procurement stage for the southern section of the route, which includes underground stations downtown at King-Bathurst, Queen-Spadina, Osgoode, Queen, Moss Park and Corktown. The construction impacts included in the city report come from Metrolinx assessments of each site.

As the Star has previously reported, the most significant disruption will be at Queen station, where Queen between Victoria Street and Bay Street is expected to be completely closed to east-west car traffic between May 2023 to November 2027.

Construction at the other five stations won’t require full road closures, but sidewalks, bike lanes and individual traffic lanes will be obstructed. The timeline for work at each station varies, but construction on all six is expected to last from September 2022 to November 2029.

Over the same period, the city is undertaking major infrastructure work including rehabilitating sections of the Gardiner Expressway, replacing streetcar tracks on King Street, and upgrading and replacing sewers and water mains on Richmond, Wellington, Front, Adelaide, Richmond and Dundas Streets.

As a result of the simultaneous work, Metrolinx modelling shows that gridlock during afternoon rush hour will “significantly worsen,” the report says. In the worst case, roads in the area bounded by Parliament, Bathurst, Dundas and Front Streets will see travel time increases during the afternoon period of between five and 29 minutes “due to either increased congestion, reduced capacity or a combination of both.”

Travel times during the morning rush will also grow, but by a maximum of six minutes.

Richmond Street would experience the longest delays, with a westbound trip between Parliament and Bathurst during afternoon rush taking 51 minutes, instead of 22 minutes without the construction.

According to the report, Metrolinx and the city will take steps to minimize disruptions and safety hazards, including retiming signals, monitoring traffic patterns, installing signage and providing data to web-based navigation services like Google and Waze.

Temporary walkways will be installed adjacent to closed sidewalks wherever possible, and temporary bike lanes will be set up where construction displaces cycling infrastructure. Metrolinx will also pay for new streetcar tracks that will allow the TTC’s 501 route to divert around the closure at Queen station.

“We’re building this plan holistically and thinking about how the changes touch everyone, from nearby residents and businesses to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians,” said Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins.

City staff are recommending council approve the proposed closures, but they note that the timelines listed in the report will be the maximum allowed, and Metrolinx will give contractors financial incentives to clear the roadways sooner. Fewer and shorter closures may ultimately be required.

Don Peat, a spokesperson for Mayor John Tory, said the mayor supports Metrolinx’s “proactive approach” to mitigating construction impacts, and believes the end result will be a new transit line that will deliver significant benefits to the city.

“You can’t advocate for major transit investments and expansion without acknowledging that will lead to major transit construction,” Peat said. The goal is “to manage through that construction and get transit built without further delay.”

The report will go to Tory’s executive committee next Tuesday, before being debated by council.