In Paris, Amsterdam and Hamburg, light rail vehicles travel along ribbons of green. Grass, sedum and other plants grow along the tracks, creating the look of linear parks in dozens of cities from Kenosha, Wis., to Berlin.

That’s what planners want to see on Toronto’s new LRT lines on Sheppard East and Finch West and on the Eglinton Crosstown, where the light rail transit emerges from a central tunnel to run on the road between Brentcliffe Rd. and Kennedy Station.

“The objective is to make this portion of Eglinton very user friendly — a place, as opposed to a street,” said chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat, who believes green tracks are viable and cost-effective to maintain in Toronto.

“It’s esthetically pleasing. It’s also a really important part of greening the corridor,” said Keesmaat.

The soft surface mitigates the heat-island effect and muffles street noise, making it a more attractive place for pedestrians.

The problem: It takes green to make green.

A city consultant estimated the cost at about $8,400 per linear metre of double track for a green trackway, compared with about $4,700 for gravel ballast similar to that used on GO Transit lines. The green trackway requires a concrete base, drainage and irrigation pipes, and a mixture of sand and organic fill for the sedums to grow in, which accounts for the higher cost estimate.

Metrolinx estimates a green trackway would cost about 22 per cent more than gravel or asphalt. It has not specified the kind of trackway Crosstown project bidders are to incorporate in their designs.

The city’s executive committee adopted a report Wednesday that, if approved by council, would urge Metrolinx to score bids higher for incorporating creative ideas for greening the trackway.

Bidders will look at the entire Crosstown route where the LRT runs on a separated lane on the surface, to see where they can add more green track, said Metrolinx spokesperson Jamie Robinson.

“This is a really important issue to the city. We’re happy to support it,” he said.

But that support would be within the $70 million Metrolinx has given Toronto for street improvements such as buffered bike lanes and large tree-planting cells.

Toronto’s priority for a green trackway on Eglinton would be between Victoria Park and Birchmount Rd., where Keesmaat says it “would be most transformative.”

Planting grass along all the LRT tracks isn’t straightforward in all locations, said Robinson.

“How do you maintain that over a 30-year period? What’s the impact of all the salt that goes on the roads, how do you cut the grass when you’ve got an LRT that’s going up and down there all the time?” he said.

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In Hamburg they let the grass grow wild and it stays maintained by the activity on the track,” said Keesmaat, adding that many ground cover plants are extremely resilient.

On the Queensway, where the TTC streetcar runs down a track bordered by grass, salt damage “is negligible,” according to the city. The TTC weeds the track, but the city cuts the grass.

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