Community Presentation on Sounds Walls along Georgetown Corridor
Message from Ward 18 Councillor Ana Bailão, with meeting poster attached:
Dear Neighbours,
As you are aware, Metrolinx has been active making infrastructure upgrades to the Georgetown Rail Corridor. Among the upgrades are new sound walls which will run along various parts of the corridor and our neighbourhoods.
As there are a number of options for material and design of these sound walls, I have organized a public meeting for community groups to be informed about these options and be involved in this process.
I encourage anyone interested to attend a presentation by Metrolinx staff on April 30th to hear about available options and provide input into the final design.
Public Meeting
Date: April 30rd
Start Time: 6:30pm
Location: Shirley St. Public School, Gym
38 Shirley Street, TorontoAna Bailão
City Councillor
Ward 18, Davenport
councillor_bailao@toronto.ca (416) 392-7012 www.AnaBailao.ca
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| 2012-04-30_BailaoMetrolinxSoundWalls.pdf | 204.58 KB |
Comments
5 Metres High
Sadly this meeting was poorly attended and like most Metrolinx events is a form of adult day care where Metrolinx comes with their minds made up, puts in enough time to make it look like they listen, and then they take their slide show home. Good to see the 2 GO 4 door trucks in the parking lot. Nothing like reducing cars on the road. Junction Triangle was well represented though.
Metrolinx only sees diesel even though the ground is shifting politically and technically about why electric trains are just a better commuter/taxpayer option. So they are proceeding with a sound mitigation plan that will basically put 5 metre walls along the entire rail corridor on both sides. That is higher than the Berlin wall by the way.
Whether diesel or electric, there will be noise issues for some people along the route. The question though is how much of the wall structures would be needed if the system was electric ? Why spend money that may not be needed? As usual MX did not include the difference between diesel and electric sound mitigation in their study. This even though the Province is making noises about electrification.( MX is leaving space in the corridor for future electrification needs.)
Why should people care? Well not only is it your tax money being spent on walls that may or may not be needed but 5 metres is 16 feet high and that will have a huge impact on Railpath and the feel of communities along the line. Sound mitigation is an important issue but I would suggest that so to is doing thorough planning and research. Something that MX is a bit sketchy on.
Community Meet Wall
If you wish to get a sense of the scope of this project here are MX's drawings. In general they are talking about 16 foot walls along the corridor. Its is sad that this material has taken so long to be presented to the public and many will recall from the original "consultations" that this aspect was played down at the time.
http://www.gotransit.com/gts/en/docs/GTS_Operational_Noise_and_Vibration...
******NOTE that the first section of photos is "Opening Day" and followed by another set that is "Full Build Out" so look at both sets.
For those who live at the Co-op on Perth note that there is a special marking next to your building saying that more "investigation is required to determine mitigation requirements". This is due to the fact that there will be diesel trains stopping and slowly braking and accelerating at Bloor Station. It would stand to reason that sound, vibration, and pollution mitigation will become a big issue here.