Item - 2024.EX19.5

The Executive Committee:

1. Received the report (November 26, 2024) from the General Manager, Transportation Services for information. 

This report responds to direction from City Council in EX17.11 that Transportation Services work with the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer to examine the capital budget and plan for the West Toronto Railpath Project, and to report back to the Executive Committee with an update on the project, including the process of due diligence and findings of an independent third-party estimate review.   

The West Toronto Railpath (WTRP) is a fully off-street pedestrian and cycling pathway that connects neighbourhoods, provides communities with greenspace and public realm amenity space, and serves as a safe active transportation corridor. The existing WTRP which runs 2.1 km from north of Dupont Street to Dundas Street West, was first endorsed by Council in 1998, and opened in 2008/2009.  

The second phase of the WTRP, known as the West Toronto Railpath Extension (WTRPE), will extend the Railpath an additional 2.1 km south to Sudbury Street, approximately 200m south of Queen Street. Much more than a pathway, the WTRPE is a significant infrastructure project that includes four bridges, including a 350 m long elevated section crossing the Barrie rail corridor, two public plazas and seven new community connections, providing direct access to the WTRP from Lansdowne Avenue, Shirley Street, Northern Place, Delaney Crescent, Brock Avenue, Dufferin Street and Queen Street.    

Once fully realized, the WTRP will be 4.2 km in length, providing a critical link connecting neighbourhoods from the Junction all the way to downtown and providing more than 26,000 residents with access to 6,000 jobs, as well as supporting the City’s TransformTO and congestion management goals. While the WRTP itself is 4.2 kms in length, it connects to key east-west cycling routes that complete over 20 kms of trail connection through the city, providing direct access for 82,000 residents and 179,000 jobs or 12 percent of Toronto’s total jobs within 250 metres of these key routes.

In May 2017, through MM29.47, City Council authorized the General Manager, Transportation Services, to negotiate, enter into agreements with Metrolinx for the design and construction of the WTRPE. Transportation Services and Transit Expansion staff are currently finalizing a Municipal Infrastructure Agreement with Metrolinx for delivery of the WTRPE. 

The WTRPE is at 100 percent design and is expected to be released for tender in January 2025. The third-party cost estimate peer review recently conducted and summarized in this report offers some assurance that the project costing provided to the City are appropriate for the purposes of identifying a suitable allowance for the project in Transportation Services Capital Budget 2025-2034. Further, the third-party review will provide a reliable baseline for the review of incoming contractor bids to realize the construction of this major infrastructure project.