The Toronto Transit Commission unveiled Friday a $6-billion plan to build a massive new light-rail network, anchored by lines that would stretch all the way from Etobicoke to Scarborough and bring rapid transit to the city's underserved suburbs.
The ambitious plans, based on promises in Mayor David Miller's re-election platform, could create up to 120 kilometres of new light-rail lines by 2021, running in dedicated lanes separated from traffic, a source told The Globe and Mail.
Sources say the centrepiece is a $2.2-billion, partly underground line along Eglinton Avenue, from Kingston Road in the east to Pearson Airport in the west.
Sources say other routes in the plan, which one city hall source said was rushed in order to come out before the federal budget, include:
-- An $835-million line along Finch Avenue West, from Highway 427 in Etobicoke to Finch subway station on the Yonge line;
-- A $675-million line on Don Mills Road, from Steeles Avenue East to the Bloor subway line;
-- A $630-million line on Jane Street;
-- A $555-million line from Don Mills Station that runs along Sheppard Avenue East to Morningside;
-- A $630-million line on Morningside Avenue that continues onto Kingston Road;
-- A $540-million waterfront west line.
While TTC chairman Adam Giambrone and other TTC officials would reveal few details Thursday, TTC commissioner Glenn De Baeremaeker, familiar with the project, outlined some of its key routes and said it would essentially encircle the city with rapid transit.
"This is a big, bold, beautiful plan," Mr. De Baeremaeker said Thursday.
He said he did not yet know the precise costs, which TTC commissioners were to see this morning before the plan's release to the media.
"This is the turning point for public transit in Toronto," said TTC commissioner Joe Mihevc, a long-time advocate for light rail who fought the last election on the controversial dedicated lanes on St. Clair Avenue.
Mr. Giambrone said Friday's plans, to be accompanied by a public-relations campaign to boost support for the idea of a light-rail network, include routes promised by the mayor last fall, as well as "some surprises."
"The plan ... will outline a vision of how we would deal with traffic congestion and the environmental effects of car travel by building an environmentally sustainable, transit-friendly city," Mr. Giambrone said.
The general idea, and many of the routes, are not new.
The TTC has long said that it wants to run streetcars - or the sleek new light-rail vehicles the TTC plans to buy in the next few years - in their own lanes, or rights-of-way, down the middle of as many as a dozen major roads across the city.
Dedicated streetcar lanes, in place now on Spadina Avenue downtown and still under construction along St. Clair Avenue, proved controversial with some businesses and residents on St. Clair, where a local group raised concerns about traffic and parking problems and even took the city to court.
But TTC officials have long argued that the best way to make public transit efficient is to separate it from traffic jams, allowing streetcars to run more frequently and reliably. Many cities across the United States and Europe are installing similar dedicated lines.
They are also much cheaper than subways, proponents say. While new subway lines can cost as much as $250-million a kilometre, building dedicated light-rail lines can run as much as 10 times less.
But the cost of the lines unveiled Friday will likely average around $35-million a kilometre, Mr. Giambrone said, given that some may need expensive bridges or tunnels. Light-rail lines are also much cheaper than subways to operate once they are built, he said.
The TTC is also in the process of shopping for a fleet of new light-rail vehicles to replace and expand its current fleet of streetcars, now nearing 30 years old, a project expected to cost $1.4-billion but necessary for any light-rail expansion in the city.
All of the plans to be outlined will require funding from other governments.
Last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced nearly $1-billion in public transit for the Greater Toronto Area, including the federal share of a $2.1-billion project to extend Toronto's Spadina subway line 8.7 kilometres north into York Region.
But Mr. Miller and other mayors across the country have started pushing for a "national transit strategy" that would see Ottawa fund more transit projects nationally.
Mr. Giambrone said Friday's plans will make it clear what projects Toronto would fund with any new money the city receives.
With a report from Jennifer Lewington
Jeff Gray