Over the past 10 years, Toronto has been thrust onto the world stage as a major city with potential to rival places like New York, London & San Francisco.
While we have seen explosive growth in our housing market over these past 10 years, much of our existing infrastructure does not meet the requirements needed to take us to that next level of being a truly world-class city.
This is all due to change over the next 10 years as we complete three major projects that will drastically shift the landscape of Toronto forever.
Ontario Line
One of the most ambitious projects is the Ontario Line which will add a much needed subway line to the existing TTC system.
With 15 new stops & 16km of new tracks, this additional line will help alleviate crowding along the Bloor-Danforth line as it will have 40 connection points to other transit options throughout the Downtown Core & East End.
This will ultimately result in a 22% reduction of people at Bloor/Yonge Station during peak rush hour, a 16% reduction at Eglinton Station & a 14% reduction at Union Station.
In a post-COVID world, this is quite desirable as it means less overcrowding on each of the subway lines.
What's really great is that is will allow people to travel from Exhibition Place to the Ontario Science Centre in 30 minutes.
The line will start in the West at Exhibition Place and then run east through King & Bathurst on its way up to Queen & Spadina before heading east to Moss Park, then south to Distillery District/Corktown.
It then crosses under the DVP for a stop at East Harbour before heading north through Leslieville where it ultimately meets Line 1 at Pape Station.
The line then continues north through Cosbourn, Thorncliffe Park before ultimately arriving at the Ontario Science Centre where the it connects to the new Eglinton LRT.
This will give rise to many new neighbourhoods that were previously hard to access via public transit such as the East Harbour area being developed by Cadillac Fairview.
Estimated completion = 2030
Portlands
The Portlands redevelopment will completely reshape the Eastern portion of Downtown Toronto from being a largely unused industrial area to a vibrant community with gorgeous parks, a new river, workspaces & residences.
Situated along the eastern shore of Toronto's Inner Harbour & south of Lake Shore, this project can be broken down into 4 major categories.
Parks
The 1km of new river valley will create many beautiful new parks & green spaces that will lead out to Lake Ontario.
Promotory Park will be the largest park that is going to be situated on the western-portion of the Portlands and will offer a large play area, a large event lawn as well as a paddling cove & cobble beach with water access so you can easily go canoeing, kayaking or paddle boarding.
Roads
To accommodate all of this newly developed land, there will be two new bridges installed across the Keating Channel at Cherry St, one for cars & another for cyclists/pedestrians.
Cherry St will also be realigned to include sidewalks, an extension of the Martin Goodman Trail, a dedicated transit lane & two lanes for car traffic.
On top of this, Commissioners St will be revamped to have a dedicated transit lane, separated biking trails and a pedestrian walkway.
Municipal Infrastructure
To help facilitate all of this new growth, extensive municipal infrastructure will be put in place for hydro, lighting, gas, telecommunications, water distribution & waste-water management.
Earth works/flood protection
A major part of this project involves extending the Don River to have a natural stream to flow out into Lake Ontario vs. the abrupt ending that it currently has at the Keating Channel.
Ultimately this will help prevent flooding throughout the Eastern portions of Toronto situated close to the Don River as these areas are very susceptible during heavy rains since it is the dumping place for a lot of the sewers in the City.
They will be able to control this flooding even further with infrastructure that regulates the amount of water entering the new river valley & Keating Channel.
This flood protection actually ties in with the Ontario Line mentioned above as this is exactly where the East Harbour Station will be located.
Estimated completion = 2024
Eglinton Crosstown LRT
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT will be a new midtown connection that will help alleviate congestion on the Bloor-Danforth Line while also making it much easier to go from east to west in the areas north of Downtown.
With 25 stations spanning 19km of new track (10km underground ~ 9km overground), getting across town via public transit will now be 60% faster than the existing system.
Starting at Mount Dennis in the west & finishing at Kennedy Station in the east, this new line will travel through Caledonia-Fairbanks, then over through Forest Hill to Eglinton Station where it meets with the Yonge-University Line before heading to Leaside and onwards to Sunnybrook Park.
It then meets up with the future Ontario Line at Science Centre before proceeding east to O'Connor, Pharmacy Ave, Birchmount and then terminating at Kennedy Station where it joins the Bloor-Danforth Line.
This will make midtown more connected than ever before which will bring much-needed revitalization to the eastern portions of Eglinton around O'Connor & Pharmacy Ave.
In addition to this, it will further increase demand for areas like Forest Hill as they will now have easier access to the Downtown core.
Estimated completion = 2022
Summary
It will be truly amazing to see how these three projects transform the city over the next 10 years as they finish construction.
From an investment standpoint, these are great areas to watch as it will make many areas of Toronto that were previously hard to reach via public transit much more connected & accessible.
Which of these projects are you most looking forward to?
Let me know in the comments section below!
Rylie C.
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