Eglinton Crosstown Year-In-Review

The Crosstown team appreciates the patience of our neighbours and local businesses while we work to build new rapid transit. In 2015, the project made significant progress and hit a number of key milestones. We would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the past year and provide a look ahead to how we expect the project to progress in 2016.

The Eglinton Crosstown project is building the Eglinton Line, a 19-kilometre light rail transit (LRT) line that will run along Eglinton Avenue through the heart of Toronto, with a 10-kilometre underground tunnel in its central section. The Eglinton Line will connect Mount Dennis in the west to Kennedy Road in the east, and the new service will be up to 60% faster than the bus service today

Major Project Milestones in 2015

January 2015 - TBMs breakthrough west side extraction shaft

There were some exciting accomplishments related to our tunnel boring machines (TBMs), and tunnel works. In January, two TBMs, Dennis and Lea, broke through the extraction shaft on the west side of Allen Road. This signified the completion of tunnelling work from Black Creek Drive to Allen Road.

April 2015 - TBMs’ Big Move

In April, the TBMs were lifted from the west side of Allen Road, moved along Eglinton Avenue, placed back underground on the east side of Allen Road and reassembled to continue their journey. Over 500 interested community members and transit enthusiasts came out to witness these huge machines make their big move. The TBMs were then relaunched in June and are currently making their way eastward to the west side of Yonge Street.

September 2015 - Launch of East Tunnels

In September, Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca joined Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig, as well as members of the Crosstown team for the launch of the two east TBMs. Held at the launch site, just east of Brentcliffe Road, the event marked the beginning of tunnelling on the 10-kilometre eastern segment towards east of Yonge Street. Don, the TBM on the north tunnel began its journey to Yonge Street on September 29, followed by the south TBM, Humber on October 29, 2015.

Shop Local: Experience Eglinton

We know that construction is never easy and we continue to work with local businesses and Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) to support local businesses. This year, the Community Relations team completed a number of advertising and marketing initiatives, ranging from subway and local newspapers advertisements, to postcards, coupon booklets and flyers all focused on encouraging residents in the neighbourhood to shop locally.

We continue to enhance the way we profile and support local businesses and BIAs on our website and through social media. Our goal is to highlight the variety of businesses and services available along Eglinton Avenue. To find out more, please visit: Experience Eglinton.

Community Benefits

We recognize that infrastructure investments should provide benefits for the communities in which they are taking place and we are committed to working with local community groups, agencies and stakeholders to realize those benefits.

To provide opportunities for contractors, small businesses and social enterprises to learn about how to get involved with the Eglinton Crosstown project, a full-day information session was held on November 24, 2015 at the Capitol Event Theatre at Yonge and Eglinton. Over 240 people dropped by to explore future business opportunities with the project and to register their contact information.

Metrolinx continues to meet with community benefits organizations to discuss how jobs and training programs can be optimized during the construction of the project and the operations and maintenance phases of the Eglinton Line.

Public Engagement

Metrolinx has pledged to provide timely and up-to-date construction information to the public. The Community Relations team uses a variety of engagement vehicles to reach out to the communities along Eglinton including telephone, digital and face-to-face dialogues with residents and local businesses.

In January and February, Metrolinx hosted three telephone town hall sessions to give residents an opportunity to have their Crosstown project and construction questions answered. Hundreds of people participated in these sessions. We will continue to use this engagement vehicle to interact with the public in the future.

Throughout the spring and summer, the team hit the streets engaging directly with the local community on Eglinton. The team participated in four street festivals to show support for various BIAs and their efforts to promote local businesses during construction.

To thank residents for their patience during construction, the team also hosted a number of Thank You Neighbours events at Keele, Bathurst, Avenue and Laird. These events allow the team to informally engage with community members and to answer questions about construction and project planning.

Station Construction

In July, Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario awarded Crosslinx Transit Solutions (CTS) the contract to design, build, finance, and maintain the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project. CTS prime team members include ACS Dragados, Aecon, EllisDon and SNC-Lavalin. The contract value is approximately $9.1 billion to design, construct and finance an integrated transit system consisting of 25 stations and stops, track work, signalling, communications and other required infrastructure, and maintain the LRT system for 30 years, including lifecycle repair and renewal of building and system components. Stay tuned for more information about station design and construction schedules.

Looking ahead…

While the tunnelling and headwall construction works will continue in the east and west, station construction will begin at the most western part of the line in early 2016. A maintenance and storage facility is also required to house the new vehicles, signaling, communications, and other required infrastructure. In November, a public meeting about the Mount Dennis station and Maintenance Storage Facility (MSF), on what were the former Kodak factory lands. See thecrosstown.ca for images of this transformative aspect of the project.

Along the entire 19-kilometre corridor in 2016, various preparatory work will be carried out. This work includes identification and relocation of utilities, demolition of some acquired properties, assessments for potential noise and vibration impacts, installation of monitoring equipment and evaluations of the soil conditions. All of this work is in preparation for station construction activities. The first station construction work will be visible at Keele as early as January 2016. As always, Community Relations staff will provide information to neighbourhoods prior to construction. The Eglinton Crosstown project will be completed in 2021.

The Crosstown Community Office

We have two offices along Eglinton - one at Dufferin and another at Bayview. Community Relations staff are available to answer your questions and respond to concerns about construction and the Eglinton Crosstown project.

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