A long-talked-about westward expansion of the Sheppard subway line has been given medium priority in a new Metrolinx report ranking unfunded transit projects.

The report, entitled “Advancing Transit Priorities: Frequent Rapid Transit Network Prioritization” seeks to evaluate unfunded rapid transit projects in order to establish the sequencing of any business case analysis to be undertaken by the provincial agency.

According to the report, the Sheppard West subway extension ranks in the medium scoring group when evaluated using three fundamental criteria: value for money, optimizing network connectivity, and readiness for implementation.

This places it behind nine high-scoring projects such as bus rapid transit along Steeles from Jane Street to McCowan Road, and an extension of the Finch West LRT eastward from Finch West Station to Finch Station.

The Sheppard West subway extension, if built, would stretch 4.3 kilometres along Sheppard Avenue from Sheppard Station to Sheppard West Station. Though it has been talked about since the opening of the five-stop Sheppard Line in 2002, it was not included on the future transit map unveiled by the province as part of their $28.5 billion transit expansion, which prioritized the Ontario line, which would run from the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place, and a westward extension of the Eglinton Crosstown.

“The line will provide a connection between the two branches of TTC’s Line 1 in the north part of the city, improving connectivity to North York Centre. This connection will allow for more routes between the north parts of the city and downtown, increasing the resilience of the network,” said the Metrolinx report about a westward Sheppard line extension.

The report notes that North York Centre is Toronto’s largest centre outside of downtown, with over 40,000 jobs recorded in the 2017 Toronto Employment Survey, and that nearly 10,000 jobs were recorded in the Downsview area. It notes that the project would encourage a mix of land use and transit supportive scales of development around subway stations as outlined in the 2017 Downsview Area Secondary Plan, as well as work towards a major objective in the 2017 North York Centre Secondary Plan to reduce the reliance on automobiles.

“By connecting to some of the city’s largest office nodes and employment areas to subway service, this project will help to achieve the Toronto Official Plan objectives of serving high concentrations of jobs with rapid transit stations and investing in improved levels of service to employment areas,” said the report.

“This line will also improve access to Downsview Park, helping to meet Toronto Official Plan objectives of improving public access to green spaces.”

Councillor James Pasternak (Ward 9 – York Centre) said he has fought vigorously to have the line constructed since coming to city hall 10 years ago, calling the extension a vital transportation link.

“It connects both north-south subway lines and re-connects tens of thousands of York University students living east of Bathurst Street with their campus and connects with the Sheppard subway east of Yonge Street,” said Pasternak. “Sheppard Avenue is traffic gridlock now and we must give people the option to get out of their cars and into high level transit.”

“At one time Sheppard Avenue West did not have the density and congestion to support a subway — well it does now,” said Pasternak.

According to the report, although the line achieved high scores with regards to optimizing network connectivity, and a population density that suggests the line is ready for implementation, the high cost of the project gives it a preliminary cost-benefit ratio much lower than projects ranked higher on the priority list.