[URBAN NOTE] "What the TTC would look like if Toronto stuck to plans"

[rfmcdonald]

blogTO's Derek Flack writes about Toronto's long history of flirting with ambitious mass transit plans and then failing to live up to them.



The above map shows an abortive subway/streetcar line proposed more than a century ago.

It's cruel to think about what the TTC might look like today had previous municipal and provincial leaders stuck to a coherent vision when it comes to transit planning. Current planners have released a series of maps detailing what might be done in the next 15 years, which looks as promising as it does unlikely to happen in the allotted timeline.

Yes, Toronto is good at imagining new transit futures, but not at making them happen. This has been happening since 1910, when the first meandering subway was proposed for Toronto. If only we had really started building underground transit that long ago. We might even have a Queen subway and the Bloor-Danforth Line.

The grandaddy of all of these visions would be five years old now had the political will existed to push it through to realization. Conceived in 1985 when the city realized that it was falling behind in transit infrastructure growth, Network 2011 would shuttle Toronto into the future with no less than three new subway lines.

Whenever Network 2011 comes up, the project that gets the most focus is the Downtown Relief Line (DRL), but in fact this was a comprehensive package meant to help Toronto meet the transportation needs of its rapidly swelling population across the entire city. Along with a DRL, significant commitments were made away from the core.

Here's the plan in a nutshell: The YUS Line would be extended to Downsview, A Sheppard Line would be built from Downsview to Scarborough Town Centre, Bloor-Danforth would be extended to Sherway Gardens, an Eglinton West Line would be built to the airport, the Scarborough RT would be extended to Malvern, and a DRL would be built from Union to Pape.

These are not hiccups. This underachievement is part of a trend. I only hope Toronto will break from this, and soon.