[nfitz]

Deep level tunnels, depending on the ground conditions, can be really cheap and the only disruption on the surface ... Out in Kensington Market and Cabbagetown, beneath a layer of sand, it is solid basalt.

Deep level tunnels do indeed work where the geology is appropriate; it's extremely effective in London, where the deep level tubes are constructed in an excellent and consistent unit that's only disadvantage is that it's a bit deep; whether it's chalk or clay I can't quite remember right now.

But in Cabbagetown? I've drilled numerous boreholes there, and most what I have seen has been sand. Sure there's bedrock eventually, but not at any depth that would be feasible. These old Lake Iroquois beach deposits can be quite deep.

As for basalt ... I can assure you that you won't find basalt underneath Toronto! Well not for a few miles at least. It's an igneous rock, and underneath the sedimentary bedrock that you'd eventually find underneath the sands and other unconsolidated material. The first bedrock unit you'd hit should be the Georgian Bay Formation, which is a shale. Though further west, at least in Mississauga, you'd hit the Queenston shale ... sometimes it's quite shallow. But in Toronto ... well at Gerrard and Parliament I'd guess you'd be looking at 60 metres to bedrock! Typically a deep London tube is about 20 metres.

 

[EnviroTO]

Animated Subway Map (sorry for the size).

 

[Dan416]

Animated Subway Map (sorry for the size).

Did you make that? It looks awesome.

 

[Fred.S]

Animated Subway Map (sorry for the size).

Do you happen this in a larger size? I'm guessing not since your apologizing for the size, but figured I'd ask...

I would've sent Sheppard west to the airport, but otherwise looks great.

 

[EnviroTO]

Do you happen this in a larger size? I'm guessing not since your apologizing for the size, but figured I'd ask...

I would've sent Sheppard west to the airport, but otherwise looks great.

I have the individual images as a larger size but I used a website to animate it and it restricted the size. I didn't bother sending it to the airport figuring Etobicoke Centre is a "Places To Grow" and the combination of the Eglinton subway and Air Rail would be enough. In past iterations of the map I had sent the Sheppard line up to Finch around Jane and down 27 connecting to the airport and then down to the Bloor line but I decided a faster route to Etobicoke than going all the way downtown might serve people better. By getting to the Eglinton Line as directly as feasible the time added by transferring shouldn't be too bad. I calculate a line from Finch & Weston would have 9 stops to get to the airport versus 10 plus a transfer via Eglinton from Sheppard and Weston. The bigger difference is the number of stops and route length getting to the Bloor line from Sheppard West if airport routings are taken. If the area along Rexdale or Albion became a major draw the Orange line could be made to serve it. Serving that area with the Sheppard Line just didn't seem efficient due to the layout of the rivers, ravines, and streets providing no clear route from Sheppard to points directly west.

 

[kEiThZ]

EnviroTO,

That map is awesome. I love the background and the timelined animation. We would love to do something like that for TC.

And your vision of a complete network is very close to what we are going for.

 

[Dan416]

EnviroTO,

That map is awesome. I love the background and the timelined animation. We would love to do something like that for TC.

And your vision of a complete network is very close to what we are going for.

Yeah I paused a minute there and had to look who had posted it and when I saw it was EnviroTO I double-checked the post to see if he was citing it as someone else's work because it looks like SOS's plan lol.

 

[kEiThZ]

Once we nail down the network map, we'll need to do timeline snapshots like this.

EnviroTO, could you tell us what website you used?

 

[EnviroTO]

I used picasion.com but there are others.

 

[kEiThZ]

I used picasion.com but there are others.

Thanks!

 

[Dan416]

So what exactly did we disagree on EnviroTO? Since your map looks so much like ours.

 

[Second_in_pie]

It's a "fantasy map," meaning that Enviro would rather see money go to Transit City since we obviously can't afford subway!

 

[Dan416]

Oh okay I thought it might be that.

I'm willing to compromise on Eglinton as long as Sheppard and Danforth don't get screwed over.

 

[Second_in_pie]

I have to admit, I'm not willing to compromise for that. Seriously, c'mon. We have enough money. The ridership and demand are there. I don't see why we should be compromising for much needed transit just because someone arbitrarily says we shouldn't have subways.

 

[Dan416]

I have to admit, I'm not willing to compromise for that. Seriously, c'mon. We have enough money. The ridership and demand are there. I don't see why we should be compromising for much needed transit just because someone arbitrarily says we shouldn't have subways.

Well the line is (supposedly) being built to subway standard for the tunneled portion, so it's at least future-proof. But the one good thing is that it brings rail to the airport. We'd have to spend a great deal more to get subway to the airport versus LRT. When ridership demands (or if Eglinton turns out to be a big mess), then we can convert the tunnel to subway relatively easily since it was designed for it. Of course we'd be left with a Eglinton West LRT stub and a Eglinton East LRT stub, but those could be replaced with subway in phases.