Watch video above: Metrolinx proposes shutting the northbound Allen at Eglinton for 2 years. Sean Mallen reports.
TORONTO – A new proposal suggests closing a portion of northbound Allen Road for nearly two years to help crews construct the Eglinton Crosstown LRT tunnel a few months faster.
The proposal would shut down Allen Road – one of the city’s major north-south arteries – between Eglinton Avenue and Lawrence Avenue to make room for construction crews.
Right now, Metrolinx’s giant boring machine is digging a tunnel east underneath Eglinton Avenue towards Allen Road. When it reaches Eglinton West station, Metrolinx will build an extraction shaft and transfer the machine to another shaft on the other side of the station to allow subway service to continue uninterrupted.
When the machine starts digging the hole east of Allen Road towards Yonge Street, there will be countless tonnes of dirt that will need to be moved. Metrolinx spokesperson Jamie Robinson says approximately 150 trucks will be taking dirt from the site each day.
“While things are really bad now, they are going to be worse when we actually begin to bring the muck out of the tunnel beginning in 2015 and there’s going to be 150 trucks a day that are going to be coming through this area to pick up the muck and dispose it elsewhere,” Robinson said.
The proposal to close the northbound lanes of Allen Road would allow those trucks to use the closed lanes. Robinson estimates the closure could shave more than four months off the tunnelling.
But close to 36,000 vehicles currently pass through Eglinton Avenue and Allen Road each day and that traffic has to go somewhere. And that barrage of congestion on surrounding neighbourhoods is what’s keeping councillor Josh Colle from lending his support to the plan for now.
“That’s the fear. That they would think it would just shift the pain from Eglinton to Lawrence, even to Yorkdale or other arterials, so that’s where the concern lies,” Colle said in an interview Thursday.
He suggested if a forthcoming Metrolinx review shows others neighbourhoods won’t be unfairly burdened with congestion, he’d be willing to have “the conversation” about closing a portion of Allen Road.
“You’re not going to inflict that much pain on other neighbourhoods for a modest gain on construction schedules. It has to be significant,” he said.
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is a $5.3 billion project that’s part of the province’s Big Move plan to expand public transit across the region. The 10 kilometre tunnel will run from Keele Street to Laird Avenue with an above ground LRT stretching beyond those stations. It’s expected to open in 2020.
The city’s Public Works Committee will likely review the proposal in June and it could be before full city council in July.
– With files from Sean Mallen
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