A corridor that has seen more than its share of construction work will soon be seeing a little more as the TTC undertakes major retrofits along St. Clair Avenue to make the streetcar line fully accessible.
Starting June 14 and continuing through Sept. 4, buses will replace streetcars on the entire 512 St. Clair line. Then from Sept. 4 to December, streetcars will return to the line, except between St. Clair and St. Clair West stations, where buses will continue to operate.
The TTC says the work is being carried out on right-of-way in order to accommodate the new accessible streetcars that are set to be in operation on the line by 2018.
While the work is expected to cause some inconvenience, businesses along St. Clair say they’re optimistic that the disruption won’t be anywhere near the scale of the five-year-long facelift the street got a few years back bvetween 2005 and 2010 when the streetcar right-of-way was installed.
“It’s not going to be as bad as the other one,” St. Clair Gardens BIA Chair Don Panos told CP24. “That was a few years in the making; this is just a few months.”
Panos, the owner of Don’s Meat Shop, lived through the construction a decade ago and remembers when businesses were reeling because there were literally no sidewalks. He said while the added buses might make things a bit awkward, he doesn’t anticipate anything near the same level of disruption.
“We’ll have parking there. Buses will only have one lane. It may get congested, but listen at the end of the day I think we’re hopefully alright as long as we have the parking on the street,” Panos said.
He said the TTC and the city have also been communicating with businesses ahead of the work and appear determined to keep the street running.
“They have no choice. I think they have a different mindset. They had enough bad publicity from the last one,” Panos laughs.
According to the TTC, “construction involves retrofitting a four-metre section of each passenger platform to ensure people using mobility devices can easily board the new, low-floor streetcars.”
Workers will be also be making repairs and upgrades to the two subway stations along St. Clair Avenue. Workers will be installing a new roof and replacing the streetcar loading platform at St. Clair Station. At St. Clair West Station, streetcar tracks will be replaced and new elevators will be installed.
In order to try and ease traffic flow as buses are added to the mix, the city says it is working to coordinate traffic light timing.
Throughout the work, the line will operate on a proof of payment system, with Presto card readers installed on buses.
Passengers will also be able to get a time-based transfer during construction that will allow them to hop on and off the TTC along St. Clair for up to two hours without having to pay again.
The city has set up an information website about the project with details about where to board buses and route changes. The city also said that it will post updates throughout the construction process.
For updates about construction at St. Clair Station, click here.
For updates about construction at St. Clair West Station, click here.
