I'm confused as to what a Waterfront LRT would actually be. Would it be LRT trains replacing the QQ streetcar on an extended track along QQ? Or an LRT line along the rail corridor? Or is it literally just an extension of the QQ streetcar line?
This was the route recommended from the EA:
Study undertaken for the Bremner-Fort York environmental assessment has identified the following alignment to be feasible and operationally superior (see Exhibit 2):
• terminal operation in an expanded Union Station LRT/streetcar loop, which has already undergone preliminary engineering and design
• south through the existing Bay Street tunnel
• west via a new tunnel to be built under the Air Canada Centre Galleria, under the southeast corner of the office building under construction at 25 York Street (at Bremner Boulevard) and under a short section of Bremner Boulevard. This tunnel has been previously protected during the design and construction of these buildings
• right-of-way would emerge to grade via a portal on Bremner Boulevard near Simcoe Street
• between Simcoe Street and Bathurst Street, the dedicated streetcar right-of-way would be in the centre of Bremner Boulevard and Fort York Boulevard. During the construction of Fort York Boulevard, between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street, a centre median was included for the specific purpose of accommodating a light rail right-of-way and passenger platforms
• the reconstruction of the Bathurst Street bridge over the railway tracks, expected to begin later in 2008, has been designed to allow for light rail/streetcar movements across Bathurst Street, and between Bathurst Street and Fort York Boulevard
Between Bathurst Street and Exhibition Place, two alignments options are still under consideration:
• In Option A, shown in Exhibit 3, the dedicated right-of-way would continue west in the centre of Fort York Boulevard from Bathurst Street and connect to the existing LRT/streetcar right-of-way on Fleet Street, where the alignment would proceed west along the existing Fleet Street right-of-way to Exhibition Place and the onward
connections with the Waterfront West light rail line. This “centre of Fleet Street and Fort York Boulevard” alignment is illustrated in the Central Waterfront Secondary Plan.
• In Option B, shown in Exhibit 4, the dedicated right-of-way would continue west in the centre of Fort York Boulevard, and then shift north to an alignment under the Gardiner Expressway where Fort York Boulevard crosses under the expressway. In this “under the Gardiner” alignment, the right-of-way would then continue west under the Gardiner Expressway and make use of an abandoned railway cut and underpass at Strachan Avenue to connect to Exhibition Place and the Waterfront West light rail line. Exhibit 5 is a photograph showing the area proposed for this alignment under the Gardiner Expressway, looking west towards the Strachan Avenue bridge, and Exhibit 6 is a rendering illustrating a potential light rail right-of-way and passenger stop at Strachan Avenue.
There are some pretty maps and renderings of what the line could look like here:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-14828.pdf