Anyone in the Eglinton and Bathurst area knows that the impacts of construction on the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit (LRT) line have arrived.
When complete, the Crosstown will provide much-needed fast, reliable transit for our community. Isolated from traffic, LRTs are built for smooth commuting; the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will ease congestion on some of Toronto’s busiest roads. The route will be fully accessible, operating with air-conditioned, low floor vehicles.
For the next few years, communities along Eglinton will face significant disruption. Metrolinx will be working with the city to manage the disruption as well as possible. Allen Road at Eglinton, the site of both launch and extraction shafts for two of the tunnelling machines, has long had traffic flow issues, which are only compounded by the current work.
There are a number of measures that I have already worked on with Metrolinx to reduce congestion, and I have asked Metrolinx and the city to look at further options to manage traffic. We must consider all options. A closure of the Allen on-ramp may seem extreme, but it may help reduce through traffic in this area of Eglinton. Nearly half of all traffic on and off of the Allen is non-local.
During construction, we need to encourage as many of those drivers as possible to use alternate routes.
I am committed to work with residents, city staff and Metrolinx to manage the pain as well as possible. We must brace ourselves for disruption for the next several years. But Metrolinx and the city must do what we can to ease construction-related traffic congestion.