Engineer decries transit meddling

Re: Toronto’s fatal urban mistake, Terence Corcoran, June 21.

Terence Corcoran is right about “the full-blown absurdity of Toronto’s ongoing transit planning,” but he is missing some important engineering clarification. As a senior engineer who in the 1960s was a student of the chief engineer when the Bloor-danforth line was under construction. I can supply those missing details — and the mistake is still underway.

To free Toronto of gridlock, it is necessary to understand the principle of grade separation or plane separation. you cannot have efficient public transportation if you do not have a true unrestricted right of way. Public transit must be on a separate plane.

In 1965, the plan was this: All streetcars were to be eliminated and replaced by subways on an ongoing basis starting after the Bloor-danforth line completion. There was to be one streetcar left for the tourists running around a block between King and Queen. All of the rest of Toronto was to be subways. This would have been affordable, if kept ongoing.

We should not have purchased the streetcars we have now, let alone the LRTs. The really fatal mistake was the misunderstanding of the principle of grade separation, as we now have LRTs running in mixed traffic. This is similar to forcing all airplanes to fly at the same altitude and wondering why they crash into each other. Political interference in engineering always ends up in a mess.

I don’t see any easy way out. Maybe the title of Mr. Corcoran’s column should have been “Toronto’s fatal urban disaster.” John Bailes, senior professional engineer, retired. (safe from being fired), Toronto.