Second section of Bus Rapid Transit line from Scarborough to Oshawa to begin Monday

Construction of the second segment of Durham-Scarborough Bus Rapid Transit line (BRT) that will eventually take passengers on a 36-km route from Scarborough Town Centre to Oshawa will get under Monday with work along Kingston Road in Ajax from Rotherglen Road to just west of Harwood Avenue.

The $11 million section is expected to be complete by next summer.

Construction has been slow since the BRT was first given the go-ahead 15 years ago, but the first phase of the $1 billion-plus project, from just west of Harwood Avenue to Galea Drive in Ajax, got underway in August. Work included the construction of dedicated median bus lanes, median transit stop platforms and shelters, road reconstruction, traffic signals with dedicated bus movements, dedicated in-boulevard cycle tracks with crossrides, sidewalks with accessibility improvements, watermain and sanitary sewer installation, street lighting and landscaping.

The anticipated completion of this section is also the summer of 2027.

Lane shifts and lane restrictions will be in place during off-peak times on Kingston Road starting next week from Rotherglen Road to approximately 300 metres west of Harwood Avenue.

Kingston Road will also be reduced to one lane in each direction this fall for longer durations to facilitate construction of the new median transit stop platforms.

Bus routes, bus stops, sidewalks and businesses will remain open for the duration of construction.

Durham Region officials said in a new release they recognize there may be “potential impacts” during the work and will make “every effort” to complete the work as quickly and efficiently as possible. Drivers are asked to exercise caution for the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and work crews.

The project will also expand into Pickering this year, with construction planned for the section of the transit line from Steeple Hill to Merritton Road (currently in the pre-tender stage, with contract documents being finalized) and from Dixie Road to Bainbridge Drive – scheduled to advance into tender once the first package moves forward.

Those two sections carry an estimated cost of $11 million and $28 million, respectively.

Construction timing is still to be determined for Altona Road to Steeple Hill and from Merritton Road to Dixie Road in Pickering and from Bainbridge Drive to Notion Road at the Ajax border.

The Durham-Scarborough BRT project is expected to create seamless connections with local transit networks along the high-demand Highway 2-Ellesmere corridor, providing residents of Durham Region and Toronto more flexibility and choice to get where they need to go faster.

The need for such a transit service is urgent, with 43,000 new residents and 26,000 new jobs expected within a ten-minute walk of the corridor over the next couple of decades.

High-traffic segments on the west side of Durham’s portion have already got funding in place through the Canada Infrastructure Program and are part of the first phase, starting with the $12 million Harwood-to-Galea section.

Spur lines to Durham College/Ontario Tech University from the Oshawa Central GO station are also in the works.

The current end point for the dedicated rapid bus line that will travel from Scarborough Town Centre through Pickering, Ajax and Whitby and into Oshawa on the Highway 2 corridor, is downtown Oshawa, with connections to the new Central Oshawa GO station coming to the old Knob Hill Farms site.

Work this year will include:

• Construction of dedicated bus rapid transit lanes for fast, efficient and reliable transit—along with four new median bus stop platforms at Kingston Road intersections at Harwood Avenue and Salem Road to support increased ridership along the corridor.
• Modifications to the existing traffic signals and crosswalks, including accessibility improvements, dedicated transit signals and bicycle track signals.
• Upgrades to the sewer systems to ensure cleaner water, healthier living, and support sustainable development.
• New watermains to improve water pressure and reduce the risk of breaks.
• Rebuilt roads and intersections for smoother driving and safer travel.
• Enhanced streetscaping, including landscaping for tree and shrub plantings, median and boulevard decorative planting beds, patterned concrete and interlocked boulevards.
• Dedicated in-boulevard cycle tracks with crossrides, sidewalks with accessibility improvements and street lighting.

Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, is transit infrastructure and service with buses running in their own exclusive right-of-way. The buses are fully separated from traffic with longer spacing between stops than regular bus routes to maintain higher average speeds and ensure reliability of the service.

The BRT will provide riders frequent five-minute service during peak service by 2030, along with 10-to-30-minute service during off-peak times, saving 20 minutes commute time along the corridor.\

To view a live interactive map of current construction projects and up-to-date traffic information visit durham.ca/TrafficWatch.