Those waiting to glide across town on the Eglinton Crosstown will have to wait a little longer.
The crosstown light rail line is now expected to begin operating in 2021, a year later than originally planned, the province says.
The 19-kilometre line will eventually run from Weston Road to Kennedy Station, with an underground section stretching from Keele Street to Laird Avenue.
At a news conference yesterday, Metrolinx officials announced that tunneling has now begun on the eastern portion of the line from Brentcliffe Road toward Yonge Street. However they said the project will open in September 2021, rather than the originally touted target of 2020.
In an emailed statement, Ontario Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said the extra time is necessary in order to minimize disruption to the local community.
“The Crosstown is the largest procurement and transit project in Ontario’s history and it is my priority as minister to fundamentally get this right to deliver world class transit for the people of Toronto,” Del Duca said in the statement. “The Crosstown will be in full service in 2021 in order to mitigate disruption to the local community and infrastructure as much as possible.”
Major construction around the path of the LRT project has been a source of frustration for local businesses, who have expressed concern that slow travel times and storefront obstructions are hurting their business.
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