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\u00a01.6K\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\nA major extension to one of the core’s first-ever “rail trails” is mired in its twentieth year of planning, as progress on the southern extension of the West Toronto Railpath (WTR) remains stalled. Stretching from Dupont Street in the north to Dundas Street in the south, the former rail line has long served as a multi-use path and greenspace connecting the neighbourhoods of Brockton Village, the Junction Triangle, and West Bend.<\/p>\n
The WTR’s right-of-way was once the route of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway, which operated a short, single-track service along the eastern edge of the larger Weston rail subdivision – today home to the Kitchener GO Line and the Union Pearson Express. Primarily serving factories and warehouses within the Junction Triangle throughout the 20th century, the line saw freight demand decline steeply as industry left the downtown core. After the line was fully abandoned in 1996, the City of Toronto purchased the corridor, then known as the “PS Lead,” from Canadian Pacific Railway in 2003.<\/p>\n In October of 2009, the first phase of the WTR would open to the public, running from the intersection of Dundas Street West and College Street near Lansdowne Avenue, to Cariboo Avenue, just north of Dupont Street. Despite the six year delay from public acquisition to opening, construction was relatively straightforward, with the overwhelming majority of the path being composed of at-grade paved paths with minimal landscaping.\u00a0<\/p>\n Where grade separations do exist at Bloor Street West and Dupont Street, construction of the WTR repurposed existing, decades-old rail bridges to ensure an uninterrupted travel experience. In December 2025, a City led bridge rehabilitation project on the northernmost crossing over Dupont Street wrapped up following its start four months earlier. The result was the replacement of the aged wooden bed with smooth pavement to allow easier movement for those using bicycles or mobility devices.\u00a0<\/p>\n Metrolinx construction at Bloor GO station, however, has resulted in a multi-year closure along the core segment of the WTR between Ernest Avenue and Bloor Street West. In an October, 2022 construction notice, the Provincial transit agency claimed the closure would last “approximately one year” to facilitate the installation of a fourth track on the Kitchener GO Line and improve access to the station.<\/p>\n The project has since experienced a multi-year overrun, with this core segment of the WTR still closed as of January 2026. As the previously projected 2023 completion date has drifted further into the past, local residents have grown increasingly frustrated by the lack of access to this once a highly-trafficked portion of the WTR.<\/p>\n Despite this central section setback, the planned WTR extension to the southeast will traverse what may be a first in Toronto history\u2014an elevated connection of a high-rise residential building and multi-use trail. 1071 King West, designed by BDP Quadrangle for Hullmark and First Capital, is currently under construction across the rail corridor from Liberty Village. When complete, it will have space reserved for the southeast WTR extension to travel along the southern flank of the building, with connections into internal common spaces to provide easy path access for residents.<\/p>\n Most of the southeast extension will consist of an at-grade paved path, with the exception of the 1071 King West connection, a crossing over Dufferin Street (that was completed in 2016), and four new bridges needed to carry the path over the Barrie GO rail corridor, Lansdowne and Brock Avenues, and Queen Street West. In a similar manner to the original segment of the WTR, the path itself will be buffered from the rail corridor with landscaping and improved noise barriers.<\/p>\n While simpler than most other major infrastructure projects on paper, the planning, consulting, and design phase of this project has dragged on for 18 years, all the while costs have escalated rapidly. Four years after the original segment’s completion, work on the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the extension began in 2012, determining the precise alignment of the path through the existing corridor. After nearly five years, the study was complete, at which point the City got underway on four years of public consultations.<\/p>\n With eight years of study and consultation on the path, in 2020, the City estimated construction would start in 2022. In the meantime, they would acquire the necessary properties not already owned by themselves or Metrolinx. When work failed to start in 2022, the estimated start was shifted back to 2023 \u2014 a process which would then repeat every subsequent year \u2014 with the City now authoritatively proposing the start of construction to be in 2026.<\/p>\n In a similar arrangement to the now-mothballed King-Liberty GO Station plans, funding would be largely provided by the City of Toronto, with Metrolinx handling construction and thus determining overall costs. In a 2020 budget document, the City’s Transportation Services estimated the total project cost at $20 million. A mere three years later, that number had ballooned to $83.75 million, yet within 12 months it would escalate further to $125.7 million. A 2024 promise of $23 million in Federal funding would further hike the cost to a total of around $150 million.<\/p>\n The news of this immense cost escalation prompted protest from City Council, with members of the public expressing doubt over whether or not the path extension remained financially prudent at such a price. At $75 million per kilometre, the project was approaching the cost range at which nations such as Spain and South Korea build entire subway lines, averaging $116 million\/km and $105 million\/km respectively<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since the 2024 uproar, little information has been provided by Metrolinx as to the source of the $150 million price tag, and no formal rescinding of funding has been undertaken by the City or Federal government. In the ensuing 18 months, costs have jumped once more, with the 2025 Transportation Services budget estimating the City’s contribution at $147 million\u2014an over $20 million jump in just two years. When combined with the $23 million Federal funding contribution, the total project budget comes to approximately $170 million.<\/p>\n With budget issues already befalling City Hall, and no clear timeline for the end of Metrolinx’s quad-tracking work on the Kitchener GO Line, the likelihood of 2026 start for construction appears doubtful.<\/p>\n UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on the West Toronto Rail Path Southern Extension. If you’d like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum threads or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n UrbanToronto’s research and data service, UTPro, provides comprehensive data on construction projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe\u2014from proposal through to completion. Other services include Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider, that tracks projects from initial application.<\/p>\n <\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t\t![\"-\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.skyrisecities.com\/release\/img\/more-content.png?14728329483\")
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