An 81-page report done for the Ontario government offers new specifics about the route the province has suggested for the Ontario Line subway project.A confidential business case for the proposed Ontario Line subway project in Toronto acknowledges that putting much of the route above ground would have environmental downsides and could inconvenience nearby residents, but notes that tunnelling less would help bring down the cost.
The report says the Ontario Line would outperform Toronto’s originally proposed Downtown Relief Line, which it would supersede, in a number of ways. But it emerges against a backdrop of hardening attitudes among some Toronto councillors, who say the city is being dictated to even as it is being asked to foot a hefty part of the bill.
“It’s a historic subway expansion plan that will benefit transit riders in the city of Toronto and the greater Toronto area, and it’s the kind of project that gets built with the collaboration of the three levels of government,” she said, adding that the business case has been submitted to Ottawa. Although the planned route overlaps relatively little of the relief line, design work for which is 15-per-cent complete, Metrolinx says the Ontario Line could be built on schedule.
While the report makes the case for the Ontario Line as a better option than the relief line, some of its comparisons are not apples-to-apples. The business case argues that tunnelling the whole route, as proposed for the original relief line, would have its own environmental impacts, but also acknowledges that the Ontario Line has “a greater potential for disruption” to the environment and people living nearby. It specifically cites the potential for more noise and vibration and the “permanent displacement” of natural features.