Ward 3 candidates offer opinions on Eglinton LRT, bike routes

Nancy Mueller thinks traffic along Eglinton Avenue in her ward is bad enough without a planned crosstown Light-Rail Transit (LRT) factored into the mix.

“We’re against it, we have concerns … when streetcars break down, they tie up traffic and Eglinton is already a mess,” said the president of Community of Rathburn-Grove Ratepayers (CORR). “Sometimes (traffic is) stopped for miles coming east, and certainly it’s very heavy-going west.”The current Transit City plan will see a 33-kilometre LRT line connect the Kennedy subway station in the east to Pearson Airport in the west along Eglinton Avenue. It will run underground for about 10 kilometres from Laird Drive to Keele Street.

Phase one of the project (from Jane to Kennedy stations) is scheduled for completion by 2020, according to Toronto’s Transit City website.

The project could take a different turn once the new mayor and city council are in place, however, as some mayoral candidates have differing plans for the Eglinton LRT, including scrapping it altogether.

Ward 3 (Etobicoke Centre) incumbent Doug Holyday echoes the concerns of Mueller, suggesting a subway line is the better way for Eglinton.

“I don’t think the city can afford subways everywhere, but I think Eglinton Avenue is a major route compared to some of the other places they’re thinking of putting LRTs,” said Holyday.

While he acknowledged subways are pricey in comparison, he said selling “air rights” (the space above a property) which are “taken up by an LRT line” could help alleviate some of the cost.

“The city owns (the air rights). That might be a source to pay for some of this from a city standpoint,” he said.

Candidate Ross Vaughan is skeptical about the Eglinton LRT, but he believes the transit line can be viable if the entire stretch is underground rather than a portion, noting the service as it is proposed could cause disruptions for drivers.

“Everyone who wants to access streets north and south of Eglinton … is going to have to drive past, make a U-turn and come back on a lot of streets. How is that going to improve traffic flow?” said Vaughan.

Roger Deschenes agrees the project could be viable, but thinks the timing is off.

“We probably need it, but we should wait until the financial times are better,” he said. “We have other priorities.”

Candidate Peter Kudryk’s opinion was from the opposite side of the coin: “I’m all for the LRT obviously … I don’t think there’s much question on that. To me it was either subway or LRT and I would just look at which one would be more economically feasible.”

While candidates offered opinions on tracks running along Eglinton, they also offered their views on bike lanes along major roadways in the ward.

Herb van den Dool of I Bike T.O. acknowledged the city has devised a “comprehensive Bike Plan … I believe we should use it.”

In the plan there is a proposal to put bike lanes on Bloor Street West and “a number of other signed routes on other streets,” according to van den Dool.

But Kudryk is against bike lanes on a major route.

“Especially along Bloor (from Kipling to Mississauga), is where they were at one time proposing (bike lanes) and that’s something I would be totally against .. it’s a very heavy traffic area and I think we’d be inviting some sort of tragic situation to develop there,” he said. “I could see if it was extended beyond Kipling and beyond Mississauga and would actually … take us down to the lake or something where the families could actually go together and have a nice day out riding their bikes.”

Vaughan had a mixed opinion on the subject.

“When it comes to bike lanes you have to look at where is it people are going when they use the bike lanes, and how are new bike lanes connected to existing ones,” he said.

But he added, “We can’t even do anything (with bike lanes) on the boulevard, because the boulevard is full of trees, which is great… we can’t put cyclists and pedestrians on the same sidewalk because the sidewalks (aren’t wide enough).”

While Deschenes is not against bike lanes, he needs more convincing.

He supports “bike lanes where practical … where they will be used,” but added there isn’t a lot of industry in Ward 3 to warrant them. “I would go easy on the bike lanes … we have to be careful where we put these (bike) lanes, most people use cars, that’s just the way it is.”

Holyday is also not convinced about the need for more bike lanes in his ward. “I think bike lanes are warranted where used, but out in Etobicoke I haven’t seen the use yet. Until such time that somebody can justify the cost of doing these, I’m not in favour,” he offered.

Holyday suggests a trial period to gauge success of the lanes. “Hook up bike lanes out in Scarborough somewhere in a couple of wards, and if they were used by hundreds of people than I think they could sell the bike lanes throughout the city.”

But van den Dool balked at the idea cost is a debilitating factor. “It is so cheap to paint some lines on the road that this should hardly be a concern,” he noted, adding he’d like to see more residents choose bicycles or transit to commute.

- Jeff Hayward

Posted in Etobicoke, News