June 3, 2008

TTC begins prequalification for Kipling subway station redevelopment

DAN O’REILLY

correspondent

A $35-million redevelopment of the Toronto Transit Commission’s Kipling subway station and a parallel $19-million project at the nearby Islington station will get underway later this year, with construction scheduled for completion by 2010.

Construction delivery method will be stipulated lump sum contract, says TTC project manager Stephanie Rice. “We’re already prequalifing contractors.”

A major component of the Kipling redevelopment will be the construction of a new interregional bus terminal that will serve both GO Transit and Mississauga Transit. Other planned work includes new entrances and the reconfiguration of the commuter parking lots.

Mississauga Transit currently picks up and drops passengers at the existing Islington subway bus terminal. It will ultimately be demolished and replaced with a new one that will be built on adjacent hydro corridor lands.

“But demolition won’t occur until Mississauga Transit has made the transfer to Kipling,” says Rice, pointing out that a purchase or lease agreement still has to be negotiated with the Ontario Realty Corporation, the provincial government’s real estate division.

A new north-east entrance, a new pick-up and drop-off entrance, the reconfiguration of the parking lots and the installation of elevators which allow patrons to ride from the subway platform to the concourse level is also part of the project. The work won’t interfere with the operation of subways or cause delays, she says.

Rice is also the project manager of a planned $46-million bus terminal replacement at Victoria Park station in the east end of the city. The transformation of that station along with the Kipling and Islington ones is part of a much broader ‘modernization program’ of the University and Bloor-Danforth lines launched last summer.

Opened in 1963 and 1966 respectively, those lines are more than 40 years old and are starting to show signs of wear and tear in their original wall, floor, ceiling finishes and signage, say TTC officials.

Upgraded finishes, improved entrances, upgraded lighting and the installation of public art are some of the elements of the program.

“Passengers will find the Station Modernization Program dramatically improves environments, making them brighter, more attractive and easier to use,” says TTC chair Adam Giambrone.

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