Eglinton LRT will be new TTC’S first priority

Commissioners to see buried report and grapple with province

A report showing the pros and cons of burying the Eglinton LRT — blocked from public view by Mayor Rob Ford’s allies on the old Toronto Transit Commission — will be released by the new board, says Karen Stintz, who is continuing as TTC chair.

But it’s not clear when that will happen, as the TTC tries to regain its footing under a new board and a new chief executive.

The report was supposed to outline how the TTC would work with the province and Infrastructure Ontario on the massive Eglinton LRT project, expected to now cost about $6.5 billion.

Now that it’s nearly certain council will back street-level LRT as the preferred option for Sheppard Ave. at a special meeting on March 21, Stintz said the TTC can again move ahead on the Eglinton project, on which preliminary construction is already underway. It’s the cornerstone of an $8.4 billion transit expansion Queen’s Park has promised the city. Coming to final arrangements on how the TTC will work with Infrastructure Ontario — the province’s preferred project delivery manager — on Eglinton will be among the first issues facing the reconstituted transit commission. On Monday, city council supported Stintz’s motion to dissolve the old TTC board, purging Ford allies Denzil Minnan-wong, Norm Kelly, Cesar Pelacio, Frank Di Giorgio and Vince Crisanti, who engineered the firing two weeks ago of TTC chief general manager Gary Webster. The new transit commission, comprised of Stintz, councillors Peter Milczyn, Maria Augimeri, John Parker, Raymond Cho, Josh Colle and Glenn De Baeremaeker, could be sworn in Wednesday. They will then be briefed prior to the next public TTC meeting at the end of the month, said Stintz. “The issues with IO (Infrastructure Ontario) are unclear right now,” she said. The provincial agency will build the Eglinton line, which the TTC will then operate. But during the long construction period, expected to span the rest of the decade, it’s not clear how issues with businesses and residents will be resolved — whether the TTC or IO will answer those calls. The loss of Webster, who was the TTC’S point person with the province on Eglinton, also leaves a gap, Stintz said. Interim TTC chief Andy Byford is too new to step in. “We’ve had a slight setback in understanding that project structure,” she said. Stintz stressed that the new transit commission brings balance to the discussion, noting that De Baeremaeker comes to the table with a Scarborough perspective and Colle has worked with Bridgepoint Group, a consulting firm that deals with transportation and infrastructure projects.