Ontario Construction News staff writer
Work is underway for the Ontario Line in the Lakeshore East rail corridor, bringing transit upgrades to neighbourhoods surrounding the sites of the future East Harbour, Riverside-Leslieville and Gerrard stations.
New rail bridges as well as new retaining walls and noise walls around the rail corridor are all included in the work and it is forecasted that about ten years after the line is open, more than 30,000 people could be living within a 10-minute walk of the three new Ontario Line stations.
New rail bridges at Eastern Avenue, Queen Street, Dundas Street and Logan Avenue will revitalize neighbourhoods, accommodate more transit trips, and improve traffic flow.
The bridges, which currently accommodate both GO and VIA Rail services, are located within the shared rail corridor and need to be replaced to reposition existing GO tracks to make room for the Ontario Line, and for expanded GO services. Ontario Line bridges will be built next to the new GO rail bridges.
Replacing the old bridges will also leave the community with upgraded infrastructure that will last for at least another 100 years.
Construction of retaining walls and noise barriers will also begin this summer, from Eastern Avenue to east of Pape.
The Ontario Line will be a 15.6-kilometre subway line with 15 new stations and running from Exhibition Place through the downtown to the current site of the Ontario Science Centre.