Engineering giants Jacobs and Stantec have been chosen to provide program control services for Ontario’s four priority transit projects in the Greater Toronto Area.

The firms announced on December 21 that their joint venture—360 Transit Alliance—had been selected by Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx to provide oversight on the new Ontario Line, the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Yonge Street North Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West LRT extension. The projects have a total estimated capital value of $28.5 billion, and the firms’ scope of work includes scheduling, risk management and quality assurance.

"Increasing access to transit and improving quality of life by reducing daily travel time is important to creating connectivity throughout the Greater Toronto area," says Jacobs senior vice president and north regional director, building & infrastructure Americas Gary Morris. "We can help implement faster and more reliable transit service in all directions across the metro area."

The new Ontario Line will span nearly 16 kilometres and add 15 new stations across the city, from Exhibition Place in the southwest to the Ontario Science Centre in the northeast. The Scarborough Subway Extension will add three stops over 7.8 kilometers to bring the Toronto Transit Commission's existing Line 2 subway service even further into Scarborough. The Eglinton Crosstown West Extension will add seven stops over 9.2 kilometers west of the Crosstown's Mount Dennis Station. The Yonge Street North Subway Extension will also bring the Toronto Transit Commission's existing Line 1 subway service to the cities of Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill.

"This is one of Canada's largest and most technically complex programs and we're pleased that Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx have put their faith in us," said Stantec senior principal and lead program controls manager Tom Baginski. "Once complete, these four projects will positively impact millions of people and will be critical connectors for North America's fastest growing metro region."