Saxe and Manahan offer insights on transit project delays

UTTRI associated faculty Professor Shoshanna Saxe and UTTRI Advisory Board member Andy Manahan, Executive Director of the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) are two of those interviewed in “COVID-19 likely to force long delays in major GTA transit projects, experts warn” by Ben Spurr, Toronto Star, March 25, 2020.

The article examines the major impacts likely to be felt across the GTA as transit projects are slowed, halted or postponed due to pandemic-related issues.

Andy Manahan sums up contributing factors:

… in the short-term, projects are likely to be delayed by health precautions that prevent construction crews from working normally, and in the long-term could be affected by disruptions to global construction supply chains and government funding constraints caused by the economic downturn that’s already started to grip the province.

Looking ahead, Professor Saxe stresses the importance of prioritizing GTA transit projects to safeguard the future prosperity of the region:

While the region’s transit plans look to be facing serious headwinds, Shoshanna Saxe, an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto who studies transit infrastructure delivery, cautioned that when the province emerges from the crisis, it will need to double down on expanding the GTA’s network, not shy away from it.

“At the end, be it six weeks, six months, or a year and a half from now, we’re going to go back to a city that has major infrastructure deficits. And we need to invest in that,” she said.

Saxe argued that new transit will be needed more than ever in a post-pandemic GTA. “In an economy that needs stimulus, investing in large infrastructure projects,” particularly ones that would improve transit access for thousands, “have historically proven to be a really good thing to do,” she said.