Ontario adds fourth stop on Yonge subway extension
The Ontario government has announced plans to build a fourth station—at Clark Avenue in Thornhill—along its soon-to-be-constructed Yonge North Subway Extension.
In the same announcement, Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney also said the government is making further adjustments to the line that will, according to the province, maximize benefits for residents and minimize community impacts.
“The Yonge North Subway Extension will strengthen connectivity across the region, reduce travel times and greenhouse gas emissions, and provide more people with access to rapid transit,” Mulroney said at the official announcement on July 16. “The new Clark Station is the clear choice to support all those key benefits. With this alignment we can deliver the greatest number of stations for the growing communities of York Region while staying within budget, capitalizing on benefits, and providing better regional connectivity, including to GO Rail, York Region Viva and other transit options.”
The Clark station joins the Steeles, Bridge and Tech stations on the proposed eight-kilometre, $5.6 billion extension, that sees the TTC’s Line 1 travel into Richmond Hill.
An updated stations analysis from Metrolinx shows that Clark Station will offer seamless transfers between the Yonge North Subway Extension and the planned branch of York Region Viva Orange bus rapid transit. Clark Station will serve 2,500 riders during the busiest travel times while providing access to rapid transit in key residential and employment growth areas like Promenade Centre and the Bathurst and Centre corridor.
In addition to Clark Station, the province will work with York Region and the City of Toronto to explore the possibility of the funding of additional stations located at Royal Orchard Boulevard and Cummer Avenue.
“Clark Station is the right choice for York Region,” said Metrolinx president and CEO Phil Verster. “Clark Station will make it faster and easier to get around York Region by bringing the subway closer to thousands of people. The team at Metrolinx is very excited to continue to advance our planning and design work to deliver this important transit project."
Metrolinx is also actively investigating refinements to the route of the extension to minimize impacts to the communities it will serve. Results of those investigations are expected later this year.
In May, the federal government announced that it would contribute up to $10.7 billion—or 40 percent—toward the cost of the four GTA mega-transit projects: the Ontario Line, the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Yonge North Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.
The Federal government is funding up to $2.24 billion for the Yonge North Subway Extension, conditional on federal Treasury Board approval.
Featured image: Map of the proposed Yonge North Subway Extension. (Metrolinx)