Avenue station

Avenue
Main entrance under construction on northwest corner of Eglinton Avenue and Avenue Road in January 2024
General information
LocationEglinton Ave / Avenue Rd
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Coordinates43°42′17″N 79°24′28″W / 43.70472°N 79.40778°W / 43.70472; -79.40778
PlatformsCentre platform
Tracks2
Connections TTC buses
Construction
Structure typeUnderground
AccessibleYes
Other information
StatusUnder construction
History
Opening2024 (0 years ago) (2024)[1]
Services
Preceding station Toronto Transit Commission Following station
Chaplin
towards Mount Dennis
 Line 5 Eglinton
(opens 2024)
 Eglinton
towards Kennedy
A photo of the largely completed secondary entrance to Avenue station. It is a modern, white building with glass panelling.
Photo of the secondary entrance of Avenue station under construction

Avenue is an underground light rail transit (LRT) station under construction on Line 5 Eglinton, a new line that is part of the Toronto subway system. The station is located in North Toronto on Eglinton Avenue between Avenue Road and Highbourne Road. It is the deepest underground station on the line.[2] Destinations include the Chaplin Estates neighbourhood, Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School, the Eglinton Theatre, and Eglinton Park. The station is scheduled to open in 2024.[1]

The main entrance to this underground station will be located on the northwest corner of Eglinton and Avenue Road; the second entrance will be located approximately 80 metres (260 ft) east on the north side of Eglinton. Retail spaces will be available at both entrances at street level. The station will have on-street connections to TTC buses and outdoor parking for 50 bicycles.[3] There is a third centre track on the east side of the station between the eastbound and westbound tracks either to store a train or to allow a train to change direction due to an emergency or a change in service.[4][5]

Avenue station was one of four underground stations that was "mined" (built using the sequential excavation method)[6] rather than being built using the cut-and-cover method like most of the other underground stations.[7][2] Both the station platform and the centre-track structure are part of a single circular tube, and there are no support columns between the three tracks. Shops were demolished to construct the two station entrances.[8][9]

In a report to the TTC Board on November 23, 2015, it was recommended that stations on Line 5 Eglinton should be given unique names.[10] Metrolinx initially proposed that the station be named "Avenue", for Avenue Road. Later, Metrolinx changed the proposed name to "Oriole Park". However, by January 2016, the proposed station name had been changed back to "Avenue" because "Oriole Park" was too similar to the name of another transit station within Toronto, namely Oriole GO Station on GO Transit's Richmond Hill line.[11]

  1. ^ a b Spurr, Ben (December 30, 2019). "Eglinton Crosstown LRT could be $330 million over budget and open seven months late, internal documents warn". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Kennedy, David (October 23, 2018). "32 metres beneath Toronto: A look underground at the Eglinton Crosstown's deepest station". On-Site. Retrieved January 17, 2020. One of three stations being built using what's known as the new Austrian tunneling method, or simply the "mining" method, Avenue Station reaches a depth of 32 metres (105 feet) underground at its northwest corner—the deepest point of any station in the system.
  3. ^ "Avenue Station". Eglinton Crosstown. October 13, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  4. ^ "Eglinton Crosstown LRT Updates - July 2017". Metrolinx. July 14, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  5. ^ "Vehicle Ride: Laird Station to EMSF". Metrolinx. November 30, 2021. p. 2:12.
  6. ^ Crosstown. "Sequential Excavation Method (also known as the New Austrian Tunnelling Method) will be used at Avenue station". Twitter. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  7. ^ "Eglinton Crosstown LRT Update". Metrolinx. October 13, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017. Among 15 underground stations of Eglinton Crosstown LRT, eleven will be built using a "cut-and-cover" method and four, including Avenue Station, are going to be "mined".
  8. ^ "319 Eglinton Ave W". Google Maps. September 2014.
  9. ^ "263 Eglinton Ave W". Google Maps. May 2015.
  10. ^ "Line 5 Eglinton Station Names" (PDF). Board Presentation. Toronto Transit Commission. November 23, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 26, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2015. TTC staff evaluated the initial report and the proposed names and provided feedback and recommendations. A primary TTC concern was to avoid replication and redundancy with existing TTC station names. The proposed names are unique and are not likely to be confused with existing station names.
  11. ^ Marshall, Sean (January 14, 2016). "Metrolinx Finalizes Eglinton Crosstown Station Names". The Torontoist. Retrieved May 8, 2017. Oriole Park was renamed back to "Avenue"