For anyone who has ever travelled on the subway or streetcar at rush hour in Toronto, talk of a downtown relief line will be welcome news to your ears. Ears that are no doubt plugged up with headphones, helping you to escape the commuter craziness to go to your happy place.
And though the possibility of such a subway line has been discussed in one way or another for years, some details of the long-awaited transport link have finally emerged.
According to information obtained by The Globe and Mail, staff have decided that the best solution is a connection between Pape Station near Danforth Avenue and the area around City Hall.
Stations “along Queen Street around Sherbourne Street, Sumach Street and Broadview Avenue, and one near Gerrard Square” have been provisionally marked, and would help to move passengers away from the crowded Yonge line.
By offering an alternative East to West route through the city’s downtown core, it would avoid adding congestion to an ever busier Union Station. By moving the plans further north than previous ones proposed it would lessen the potential conflict with plans for more service occurring along the GO lines.
Importantly, if the plan goes ahead, it would create a station by Nathan Phillips square, the centre of the city geographically as well as culturally.
Of the six route plans put forward to city planning staff on Friday – all of which started at Pape or Broadview and made their way downtown – the one that ran down Pape Avenue and along Queen Street got the best support. Based on factors that considered affordability, environment, choice, and experience, the alternative route laid out on Friday got the highest marks in the most categories.
Future plans could see the line pushed further north and west. But before we get too excited, it’s important to remember that all of this is still years away.
And since no funding for any of the proposed line has been secured yet (meaning construction will not begin for at least a decade), perhaps we’ll hold off on cracking the champagne. That said, every journey starts with a first step. Here’s hoping that’s what this is.
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