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Cycling: West Toronto Railpath (City of Toronto, Phase II Proposed)

smably said:
Not as far as I know -- at this point, all the budget and staff resources are being dedicated to the southern extension.
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Thats what I thought.

Im not even sure if a feasibility study of the northern section has been done; with 4 tracks for GO and 1 track for CP it's awfully cramped. Not sure if it's even possible anymore.
 
West Toronto Railpath Extension Public Meeting

Wednesday, February 26
6:30-8:30 PM
Museum of Contemporary Art, 158 Sterling Road
 
Are all access points to the railpath accessible to bicycles? Are there steps? Will they use "runnels" on the steps?

From link.

Roll your bike up the staircase

example-runnel-in-action.jpg

Cyclist using a runnel

If you’ve ever carried your bike up a public stairway or clunk-clunked it along the steps–or avoided a trip by bike entirely because of that steep hill–we’ve got good news for you.

Some newer staircases in Seattle are sporting a simple design feature: a runnel, which is a narrow ledge along the side which allows you to push your bike up or down the staircase. It’s exciting how a small design tweak like this can expand the value of a community asset. A staircase that normally would just serve people on foot now provides a connection for folks when they’re riding their bikes.
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wood-runnel-close-up-w-bike2.jpg

Wooden runnel at Admiral Way SW

SDOT recently installed a pilot wooden runnel on a stairway connecting the Alki Trail and the West Seattle Bridge Trail with the buffered bike lane on Admiral Way SW. Based on the positive feedback on that design, we’re including a permanent runnel as part of a staircase replacement this summer at SW Spokane Street between SW 60th and SW 61st Streets, just a few blocks from the Alki Point Lighthouse. Other types of runnels exist on the state’s Galer Street Pedestrian Bridge over SR 99 in Queen Anne and on the privately-owned “double helix” bridge connecting Amgen to Elliot Ave W in Interbay.
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Many of SDOT’s public stairways are made of rails and concrete slabs salvaged in the 1940’s when the city converted from trolleys to buses. (We have a nice tradition of reusing resources instead of throwing them away.) Many of these old staircases will be replaced thanks to the Bridging the Gap transportation initiative approved by Seattle voters. Stay tuned for runnels on some of the new staircases which connect important bicycle routes.
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amgen-bridge-zoom-out.jpg

Bridge at Amgen includes runnels
 
mickael said:
Most exits look like they have stairs, no ramps?
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I think all new connections will be accessible, though some like Queen have a staircase and ramp in slightly different locations. I wish there was more details about those connections in the slides though.

Dundas/Sterling is already a ramp, and one or two more access points being added on the south side of Dundas. There's a park going in there.

Lansdowne / No Frills getting a path/ramp.

Shirley, Northern, St. Clarens, Delaney.... I think these are all basically at-grade.

Queen/Dufferin already has a ramp built. Adding staircase, and maybe another ramp?

-Vic
 
salsa said:
Materials from the latest public meeting has been posted on the project website. The design is finalized and construction is expected to start in 2021/2022.


Presentation: https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/u...ting-2_Presentation-Slides_2020.02.26-WEB.pdf

Info panels (part 1): https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/u...2-26-Public-Meeting-Panel_Final_WEB_1of2r.pdf

Info panels (part 2): https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/u...2-26-Public-Meeting-Panel_Final_WEB_2of2r.pdf
Click to expand...

Some takeaways: its nice to see them mention the railpath that will be going along the Barrie Line and the Green Line.

Barrie double tracking complete in 2021 and Kitchener 4th track in 2023? Just for some new tracks. Man things move at glacial pace here.
 
mickael said:
Most exits look like they have stairs, no ramps?
Click to expand...

It's unfortunate that no high-resolution maps were uploaded, so for now we only have the slides to rely on. However ramps do in fact exist, even though none of the renderings show them. For example, with the Dundas rendering you only see the view that I marked with the red arrow below. But as you can see on the map, there will be a ramp there as well.


1582816612733.png


1582816782783.png





And at Queen & Dufferin, the ramp is already built at Dufferin street (seen on the far-left of the map). What the rendering shows is just the connection at Queen street (where the red arrow is).

1582818472346.png


1582818039867.png



The two people sitting on the bench are looking at the Gladstone hotel that is directly across the street, and probably admiring the view.

1582818611656.png


This is what the site currently looks like:

1582818764012.png
 
robmausser said:
Some takeaways: its nice to see them mention the railpath that will be going along the Barrie Line and the Green Line.

Barrie double tracking complete in 2021 and Kitchener 4th track in 2023? Just for some new tracks. Man things move at glacial pace here.
Click to expand...
Barrie double tracking is NOT complete in 2021, but rather only the early works part (ie, grading and noise walls)
 
The most likely reasons for delay are around property acquisition -- I believe the city is actively negotiating with Metrolinx for the property required to complete this project. Once the terms of the land transfer are decided and the final budget determined, this can go to council to get the necessary funding. Given that the project reportedly has the support of the mayor, that will hopefully not be too much of a hurdle. Whether the funding will be in place before or after Metrolinx has completed the preparatory work in the corridor (clearing, grubbing, and noisewall construction) in 2021 is unknown at this point.

But once the money is available and Metrolinx turns the land over to the city, I hope we'll see shovels in the ground pretty quickly. The construction work itself doesn't seem wildly complicated, so I'm hopeful that that part won't drag on too long. There's certainly a critical mass of organizations pushing to get this constructed quickly, so the pressure will be on the city and Metrolinx.
 
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