Metrolinx has unveiled new renderings for an elevated rail bridge that would be about half as long as the originally proposed overpass and feature a lighter, greener look at street level north of Bloor St. near Davenport.

The latest design, revealed to city planners and councillors Monday, has two separate, parallel guideways that would allow light to pass between them. Walls of the guideways would be stainless steel to reflect the buildings near the tracks and the length of the structure has been downsized to about 600 metres from 1.5 km, said a Metrolinx spokeswoman.

Residents, who have dubbed the proposed overpass “a Gardiner Expressway for GO trains,” will get a closer look at the new designs at a public meeting Jan. 18.

But Sam Barbieri of the residents’ group, Options for Davenport, said he’s skeptical. “It’s still going to be an elevated expressway going through a neighbourhood,” he said.

“They haven’t shown any renderings of what it looks like when it comes within metres of a home. This is still unprecedented. It’s still going to be a huge bridge,” said Barbieri.

Metrolinx says that the greener features, including more pathways, more park space and greenery growing up the sides of the structure, will raise the cost of the project from about $140 million to about $200 million. The agency’s Anne Marie Aikins said it is committed to picking up the tab for public realm improvements.

It is also still considering two new stations on the Barrie GO line near Bloor St. and St. Clair Ave., that could offer more transit to that community.

The city asked Metrolinx to delay the environmental assessment (EA) for the structure until it could further evaluate the potential of a tunnel for the trains. But Metrolinx is moving ahead on that EA this month, saying that its GO expansion schedule won’t permit further delay.

It says the bridge is necessary to eliminate the Davenport Diamond, where the Barrie GO trains intersect with the CP freight corridor.

“The overpass is still the most economical and the one with the most potential for public realm and the least impact on people,” said Aikins.

The bridge construction would affect about 3,900 people compared to about 6,600 for a tunnel, said Metrolinx. It would also take about two years to build, about half the time it would take to tunnel.

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