Construction starts next summer on $4.6B project
By SUE-ANN LEVY, TORONTO SUN
When TTC Commissioner and staunch socialist Joe Mihevc mused earlier this week that the plan for Eglinton Crosstown LRT is a "win, win, win," I got very nervous indeed.
"This is all very good... it's exciting," he told Tuesday's TTC meeting.
If Mihevc -- the chief cheerleader behind the St. Clair dedicated streetcar line -- is basing his assessment on the mess that is still afflicting the businesses and residents of his own neighbourhood, I shudder to think what will happen once the TTC takes its construction "capabilities" to such a massive project as a light rail transit line on Eglinton.
Make no mistake, the Eglinton Crosstown project is huge and the timelines ambitious. The 32.6-km. line will provide service from Pearson airport to Kennedy station with 10.5 km of the line buried underground in the midtown portion.
The budget is pegged at $4.6 billion with construction expected to begin as early as next summer following a seemingly fast-tracked six-month project assessment process.
When it commenced in 2005, the 6.7-km St. Clair dedicated streetcar line was supposed to take just two years to construct. TTC Chairman Adam Giambrone told me yesterday it will be finished sometime in the spring -- taking five years or more than double the time anticipated.
The original budget was pegged at $65 million. Now it is well over $100 million with its costs reported to be buried in a variety of city and TTC accounts.
Meanwhile, many businesses along St. Clair Ave. W. have been forced to shut their doors and the traffic is forever a mess on that street and on the many streets feeding into St. Clair. How can residents impacted by a project nearly five times the scope and 40 times the budget be assured they won't be faced with a St. Clair mess for years to come?
'LESSONS LEARNED'
Only one audit has been done by the TTC to date on three St. Clair contracts totalling $12.5 million. Giambrone told me yesterday there's been "a lot of lessons learned from St. Clair" that will allow them to move Eglinton in a "more expeditious way."
He noted 90% of the businesses along Eglinton are in the underground section where "tunnelling" (instead of digging up the road) won't be as disruptive.
"Eglinton has a very clear path," he said.
Coun. Mike Del Grande is not convinced.
"They repeated and made mistakes they said they wouldn't make with respect to (the) Spadina (LRT line)," he said, adding the TTC does not have a "track record" of coming in on budget and on time on these kinds of projects.
Look, more transit lines are needed and I'll concede construction is never pretty.
But how can lessons be learned when the TTC blue suits are loathe to even admit there are lessons that need to be learned. I've never seen such tunnel vision and blatant back-patting as I have at TTC meetings.
Take yesterday's quarterly TTC audit committee meeting, which I was finally permitted to enter after they'd met for a good hour in private.
'DOING WHAT THEY SAID'
The rest of the time (less than 30 minutes) was spent listening to Chief General Manager Gary Webster insist the audit reports on the public agenda conclude "management is doing what they said ... and that's good."
Coun. Karen Stintz, whose ward will be impacted by the Eglinton line construction, said she thinks there's absolutely no accountability for the timelines set by the TTC and fears they are not estimating its budget properly.
"I don't think they (the TTC) have the right project management in place," she said.
Businesses and traffic will definitely be impacted, especially at Yonge and Eglinton, where they will be building a new underground station.
"It will be extremely disruptive," she said. "Traffic will definitely be impacted and parking restricted."
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