Residents in The Junction are hoping a new city project will finally connect the neighbourhood as one, years after it was supposed to happen.
Metrolinx was supposed to take down a fence that divides Lappin Avenue and Antler Street, but they quietly abandoned the project and what should now be a two-minute walk remains a 20 minute detour.
“You have hundreds of people in this complex and thousands over there, all of whom are taxpayers, who were promised this link and didn’t get it,” said Barry Stevens, a neighbourhood resident.
It’s been a frustrating fight for residents who protested and pleaded with Metrolinx for years to make good on their promise to build a pathway that this neighbourhood considered their reward for putting up with years of construction as the province raised the Barrie GO line tracks.
“There was a tremendous amount of noise, a tremendous amount of smoke and disruption, and the carrot at the end of that was that we would get access to the beautiful park they’re building and the park beyond, and then they just left the fence there and they wouldn’t do it,” said Stevens.
The ends of Lappin and Antler are about 20 metres away from each other, separating residents from the park, schools, the library and more.
“We see the traffic, we see the bridge, we hear the noise and it continues to remind us, the fence is still there because we see that too,” said Jeff Packman, another area resident.
“We walk right down the street, and say, ‘Well it’d be nice if we could walk straight through, but no.we have to walk all the way down.’”
Packman said the divide even led to he and his wife choosing a different school for their daughter. “The way it was set up, that detour to get all the way down to Perth [Avenue Junior Public School], because of this, would have cost us a fair bit of time.”
“It’s bigger than just the schools … it’s sort of a community cohesion kind of thing,” he added.
Now, more than a decade after this project was proposed, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
“It’s in the capital budget, $2.5 million to move this project forward. Metrolinx walked away and abandoned the community, the provincial government said no after making this promise, but the City of Toronto has stepped in,” said Councillor Alejandra Bravo
Bravo, whose ward includes The Junction neighbourhood, worked with city staff to set aside funds in this years budget to make this happen. For Bravo, this project is personal.
“Campbell Avenue is where I grew up, I spent my youth there. I know these streets like the back of my hand, and I cannot wait to see the opening. It’s not going happen immediately but we’re on our way to doing right by this neighbourhood, and it’s about time.”
She added she understands the frustration of neighbourhood residents which is what drove them to continue to push for these funds.
“This is really important for community safety, for people to live in a walkable neighbourhood, for people to get to school, to a park, to a library in their community,” said Bravo. “The promise that was made to this community was not kept..”
If approved, project funds wouldn’t actually be made available until 2027 or 2028.
“We’re committed to it. We’re going to put money into it … so now, it’s time to studying what has to get done, looking at design and then actually building it,” explained Bravo.
