[TOareaFan]

Because the final structure isn't ready yet. Presumably there'll be times the tunnel has to be closed.

Tunnel is already dangerously packed at time - can't wait 10 years to relieve it. Seems quite a reasonable pragmatic approach!

Maybe I was not clear...I fully get why they are building the bridge....just not sure why they are calling it temporary and planning to take it down...leave it up, use it for surge events...this area will only grow...BMO is only gonna get bigger, OP is only gonna get more active the new event space that is being built for (checks notes) esports is gonna come along.....the new station on the KW line will bring more people into the area from the north side of the tracks (as opposed to via Union as they do now)...not sure why we would build capacity and then tear it down.

 

[W. K. Lis]

There use to be THREE railway stations that serve Parkdale. The GTR (now CNR) had a Parkdale Station at Dufferin & Queen until 1970 (see link). The CPR had its own Parkdale Station, also at Dufferin & Queen until 1970's (see link). There also was a South Parkdale, which was replaced by the Sunnyside Station, until the 1970's (see link).

The construction of the Grand Trunk Railway‘s Sunnyside Station coincided with a major grade separation project that took place through south Parkdale in the early 1900’s. The project involved the closure of the Grand Trunk’s South Parkdale station and Sunnyside station was essentially its replacement. It was built at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue, a few kilometers west of the South Parkdale station. First, a temporary structure was built in 1911 for passengers to use while the permanent structure was being built. This was completed in 1913, and featured a pedestrian flyover to access the platforms from street level. Situated on a four-track section of mainline, the station had a platform on the north track as well as one in between the two middle tracks.

In addition to the Grand Trunk, Sunnyside Station was also used by the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway via trackage rights over the Grand Trunk into Toronto Union Station. It was commonly a stop on the TH&B’s trains between Toronto and Buffalo. The TH&B would continue to serve this station under Canadian National, at least until 1954. After this, Canadian Pacific’s Budd Rail Diesel Cars between Toronto and Hamilton over the TH&B but this, too, would end in 1967. That year, Canadian National also stopped serving Sunnyside as GO Transit took over commuter service out of Toronto. GO chose to build their own stations at Exhibition and Long Branch rather than use the existing Sunnyside station, and as a result it was demolished in 1973.

From link.

 

[toraerach]

Terminating at Exhibition has always been a very questionable decision to me. Realistically, I think a "Liberty Village" station was only ever going to be located on the edge of Liberty Village. But, they picked the wrong edge. Located at the very south of the neighbourhood, the station feels very isolated. Sure, it serves Liberty Village residents well enough. But as its quite far from King St (with a rail corridor located in-between), it doesn't serve anyone else, and I'm not sure the events at Exhibition/Ontario Place or future development will make up for that.

Very few stations in the system are justified by walk-in traffic alone. Like most other stations across the city, OL Exhibition's success will not primarily depend on the handful of buildings in the immediate vicinity but rather on its integration with the local surface network. On that front, the site is better positioned than most in the West End: It is at or very close to the termini for routes 504B, 509 and 511. More importantly, the area is already the terminus for the busy 29 and 63 bus routes and would be the logical end to an extended 47 (via Jameson and Springhurst, thereby vastly improving access for residents of south Parkdale). Rerouting the 80 from Keele to Exhibition would also dramatically improve the utility of that route. Combined with a revived/slightly modified Long Branch–Exhibition 507, this could fundamentally alter how southern Etobicoke travels and lay the groundwork for a future OL extension in that direction.

All together, this would divert substantial ridership away from Line 2 and its congested transfer stations and would provide crucial redundancy to the network in the not-so-infrequent event of a Line 2 and/or GO LSW service disruption.

 

[generalcanada]

again, people are just not understanding the fact that Exhibition station isnt existing just for the people living in liberty village, but more akin to east harbour where go trains will transfer everyone onto the OL

Thats its 1 and only purpose, the fact that liberty village will be helped by OL is secondary

Exhibition is basically "west harbour"

 

[nfitz]

There use to be THREE railway stations that serve Parkdale. The GTR (now CNR) had a Parkdale Station at Dufferin & Queen until 1970 (see link). The CPR had its own Parkdale Station, also at Dufferin & Queen until 1970's (see link).

Ah - I hadn't realised that there were stations at Queen and Dufferin - let alone 2 of them. Or that there was a CP freight yard between King and Queen.

Here's the 1924 fire insurance map, where you can see the two station in the northwest of the image.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

And the purple bit marked as A was built years ago and just not opened.

Have no idea why the pedestrian bridge is "temporary" if you are going to build it....just keep it. It won't be fancy (needn't be going over an expessway) but it can add valuable flexibility to an area designed to attract large, but fluctuating, volumes of people.

Welcome back

Terminating at Exhibition has always been a very questionable decision to me. Realistically, I think a "Liberty Village" station was only ever going to be located on the edge of Liberty Village. But, they picked the wrong edge. Located at the very south of the neighbourhood, the station feels very isolated. Sure, it serves Liberty Village residents well enough. But as its quite far from King St (with a rail corridor located in-between), it doesn't serve anyone else, and I'm not sure the events at Exhibition/Ontario Place or future development will make up for that.

As it stands, I feel like the west end of the city is going to get shafted big time by the OL. The gap between Exhibition and King/Bathurst is significant (25 minute walk), and I fear future governments will be unable to resist the allure of extending the OL further west at-grade along the rail tracks, skipping much of the west half of the city in the process (35 minute walk to King-Roncy).

Personally I would have liked the Ontario line more if they had taken the opportunity to switch to a King St alignment. This could have allowed them to connect with King-Liberty Station and the multiple GO routes (and UP Express) that will pass it. Though I'll admit it would certainly have significant cost and constructibility implications. That would also eliminate the "upside down U" through the downtown, which I was, am, and will likely never be a fan of.

Totally agreed.

Feels like this was supposed to help reinvigorate Ontario Place.

 

[asher__jo]

How quickly people forget. On the north side of Liberty Village, they are designing the King-Liberty GO Station...

From link and link, dated November 18, 2021...

View attachment 376656
View attachment 376657
View attachment 376658

I always thought putting the OL line terminus station halfway between Exhibition and King-Liberty with an underground connection to both.

 

[nfitz]

Maybe I was not clear...I fully get why they are building the bridge....just not sure why they are calling it temporary and planning to take it down...leave it up, use it for surge events...this area will only grow...BMO is only gonna get bigger, OP is only gonna get more active the new event space that is being built for (checks notes) esports is gonna come along.....the new station on the KW line will bring more people into the area from the north side of the tracks (as opposed to via Union as they do now)...not sure why we would build capacity and then tear it down.

With two tunnels and one (very large looking) bridge - I'd think a second temporary bridge (which won't be steps-free) just isn't needed. I'd guess this is going to look and be very utilitarian - perhaps not even covered or heated.

 

[officedweller]

Here's a temporary bridge at a SkyTrain station excavation in Vancouver.
Would you want to keep it after completion?

 

[Steve X]

True. We could just ban cars from Queen and Broadview and we'd save a few billion dollars while getting similar results.

Plus the taxis/Ubers and food couriers in cars from the downtown core. Limit supply deliveries to overnight.

 

[evandyk]

Yes, we'd want to capture those. A surprisingly small number of people actually travel by car in dense urban areas, and getting rid of them usually has smaller effects than most people think it will.

 

[Red_Bulmer]

The King streetcar already carries a ton of people, and it could easily carry more people more quickly if we got more cars off of King St. Why build a subway there?

Because this entire area will be a massive dense neighbourhood of condos by the end of this decade. It’s already hell to live there and only the eastern 3rd has been developed. It should have a subway station right in the center. It could probably have 2 subway stations and then the subway could head north to Bloor.

 

[gibsonm]

View attachment 376814Because this entire area will be a massive dense neighbourhood of condos by the end of this decade. It’s already hell to live there and only the eastern 3rd has been developed. It should have a subway station right in the center. It could probably have 2 subway stations and then the subway could head north to Bloor.

I don’t understand. It’s going to have an OL station at Exhibition, a Smart Track station just north of King, and it has the King streetcar route which is free of cars east of Bathurst. That’s very good transit access. There are many areas of the city that don’t have half that number of transit options.

 

[innsertnamehere]

LV is hard to access today, though better than it was pre-King pilot. Back in those days it was next to impossible and took absolutely forever.

The OL is going to change things big-time for access. The station location will be very accessible from all of LV, especially once the new south road is built along the rail corridor. The whole area highlighted in red above will be an easy 10-min walk.

The benefits of access across the lower core area of the City that will come from the OL cannot be understated and I feel like they are often missed. The west end of the core, which prior to the OL had no real plans for significant transit improvements, will go from a long haul on slow streetcars which are slower than biking and barely faster than walking to being a quick couple minute subway ride.

I used to commute from Shuter and Church to LV - it would be a 40 min commute with a walk down to the King car and a ride across town, even with the King St Pilot. With the OL it'll be like 12-15 minutes door to door. Life-changing.

 

[TOareaFan]

Here's a temporary bridge at a SkyTrain station excavation in Vancouver.
Would you want to keep it after completion?

Why go to Vancouver for an example....here is a temporary bridge just down the road....and, yes, if it did not interfere with other infrastructure I would keep something like around to use when needed.