Traffic around the site of the future Forest Hill LRT station has been rough enough for local residents, but they fear it could get even worse if a planned closure along Bathurst St. goes ahead without a suitable plan to deal with traffic problems.
"I see cars going on the sidewalk," says Lindsay Detsky, a resident who has helped organize the community response to the proposed closure from Wembley Road to Eglinton. "I have testimonies from multiple neighbours about people pushing strollers and almost being hit by cars."
"There are intersections here where pedestrians have been hit."
Originally, the plan from Metrolinx and Crosslinx - the consortium doing the buildling for the Crosstown LRT - was the closure would begin this December and go on for another seven months.
Detsky said she first learned of it by getting a notice in the mail and quickly checked with friends and neighbours to see if they had been consulted.
She said she organized a survey of almost 500 people, claiming a vast majority had never been contacted.
That led to calls to local councillors including Mike Colle and Josh Matlow and when neighbours voiced their opposition to Metrolinx, the agency announced it would be putting the closure on hold, while hosting a town hall event in January.
Detsky said side streets are congested enough with detoured vehicles, leading to cars illegally turning on roads and lineups so long that some residents have waited 15 minutes to get in and out of their own driveways.
"It's horrible," said fellow resident Terri Goldstein. "We all worry for our kids safety because nobody stops."
"I can't imagine how much worse it's going to get with the closure, it's going to be horrific."
Detsky and Goldstein both say they recognize that construction has to be done in order for the project to get built, but at the same time, input from the community has to be heard.
Furthermore, Detsky said Metrolinx planned to go forward with the closure, even though they didn't have a permit to do so when it was announced.
Metrolinx spokesperson Anne-Marie Aikens said Crosslinx is working to get the permits and despite the concerns, the goal is still to eventually have the closure.
"Our goal is really to accelerate the work and get it done as fast as possible," she said. "There's all kinds of pluses with closing it and getting out of there as fast as possible, but we really need to educate everyone about what the plan is."
Aikens said hopefully a resolution will be worked out at the January 16th meeting.
The current timeline is for the entire Crosstown project to be completed by the fall of 2021 and the closure would cut out three months of construction.
"We're trying to minimize the disruption and get out of there as soon as possible," Aikens said.
For her part, Detsky said she'd rather take the three months of construction if it meant less cars being diverted into the community and Goldstein said if the closure does go ahead, there must be safety assurances.
"If you're going to do something like this, you need to compensate in the way of having the police out and the crossing guards," she said. "I wish there was a good solution, but I think either way, it's going to be a very hard one for us."