Eglinton LRT delays taking a toll

After more than a decade of construction, residents voice their frustration

After another delay to the longawaited Eglinton Crosstown LRT, and more than a decade dealing with construction, residents and businesses along the project’s route are experiencing a familiar feeling — frustration.

“We don’t even know when it’s going to finish,” said Zehaye Beraki, who’s lived in the Fairbank neighbourhood, near Eglinton Avenue and Dufferin Street, for 16 years.

Due to the transit project, traffic near his home has become hectic, dust has become a constant nuisance and so have rodents, which surfaced after construction crews began tunnelling underground.

“Too long, too dusty, too noisy,” Beraki said. But he has no choice but to stomach it, he added — he can’t afford to move.

On Friday, Metrolinx, the provincial Crown corporation overseeing the Crosstown LRT, announced that the 19-kilometre light rail line would miss its latest deadline and not be finished by this fall. A new timeline was not provided. The LRT has been under construction since 2011 and was initially set to be complete in 2020, but the timeline has been pushed back a few times.

Now, one local councillor is calling for a public inquiry to figure out what’s behind the multiple holdups.

“It’s just totally ludicrous,” said Mike Colle, a councillor for Ward 8 Eglinton-Lawrence, who’s running for re-election next month. “We’ve got to find out what the hell’s going on.”

Every day he receives complaints about the project, from the impact it’s had on rush-hour traffic to the increased number of rats in the area and the constant noise. By now, his constituents are “mad as hell,” he said, and they deserve answers. “Now there isn’t even a pretext of a phoney completion date. That’s how bad it is.”

Josh Matlow, councillor for Ward 12 Toronto-St. Paul’s, supports the push for an inquiry into the project, though he emphasized his support for better transit in Toronto.

“Transit is the dream, but the construction’s been a nightmare,” said Matlow, who’s also running for reelection. “For small business owners, there’s just been a token of support by government … many of them have fallen by the wayside,” he added. “Metrolinx and the province of Ontario have treated the residential and business communities along Eglinton like collateral damage.”

He’s calling on the province to provide meaningful financial support to businesses harmed by construction associated with Crosstown — “just to help pay their bills.”

Judith Haynes, who manages a paint shop at the corner of Eglinton and Westover Road, isn’t a public servant, but she still receives a daily dose of grief from her customers. She estimates about 90 per cent of them complain about the local traffic.

Fortunately, the congestion and the ongoing racket hasn’t made a dent in her business, but that’s not true for many neighbouring shops, she said. A couple of doors down, a sign reading “Save Our Streets” hangs in the window. Many nearby storefronts, still partially blocked off by construction, weren’t open at all on Monday.