Toronto CityPlace Puente de Luz Bridge | ?m | ?s | Concord Adex | Francisco Gazitua

There will come a time when land values are so high down there that development will finally come to the corridor. However that will be many decades from now.
 
I was contemplating posting a selection of the world's greatest bridges until I came across this more realistic example from England. It's not great, but considering our current situation...

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3Dementia said:
Imagine if a portion of that yawning GO train parking lot on the north side of the corridor could be reclaimed... a shorter, clear span bridge and some 3-4 storey mixed used along the south side of Front Street.
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I believe that such a question was asked at the last public meeting, and GO said no.

They also want an anti-suicide fence on the bridge as well - probably for all those weary of GO delays in the winter.
 
Re bridges: remember that astonishing late 50s bowstring over at RCYC on the Islands...
 
Interesting article on Posted Toronto today:

A bridge not nearly far enough
Posted: April 06, 2009, 7:16 PM by Rob Roberts

When Li Ka Shing, the Hong Kong developer, won the bid to build condos on the railway lands around what was then SkyDome, his company agreed to fund and build a pedestrian bridge over the tracks, to link Front Street to Lake Ontario.

The CityPlace builders promise a bridge that is sublime. But design conditions imposed by GO Transit and Canadian National Railways appear to be pushing the project closer to the ridiculous.

In fact, says Councillor Adam Vaughan (Trinity-Spadina), not one to mince words: “GO Transit are being absolute f---ing a--holes.”

The walking bridge is to be built over the tracks south of Front between Spadina and Bathurst. City planners designed Dan Leckie Way, coming north from Lake Ontario, to line up with Portland Street, which ends at Front, with the bridge linking them.

However, according to a city report discussed at city council yesterday, GO pushed the bridge a half-block eastward, to a spot where GO could tolerate a suppport pier in the railway corridor. “This is the only location acceptable to GO Transit,” the report notes.

That was only the beginning. GO also required that the bridge be 11.7 metres up from the tracks, to protect its signal sight lines -- a much higher bridge than planned. To reach that height, the wheelchair ramps, leading up to the bridge on either side, must now be 36.5-metres long.

And, in a Kafkaesque twist, the span is now so high that it encroaches into what CN claims are its air rights above the 16 sets of tracks. CN is asking that the city cough up $700,000 to put the bridge through its space. City legal staff were not amused, and wrote back as much.

“The city ... submits that for a variety of reasons, including the lack of any real development potential, ‘nil’ would be an appropriate valuation in lieu of the $700,000 asserted by CN Rail.”

City lawyers threaten to appeal to the Canadian Transportation Agency to push through the bridge if CN maintains its position. CN spokesman Frank Binder says, “All of us are working with the City of Toronto to try and resolve this issue, and get the construction going.”

I wish the sad and sordid saga ended there, but alas, it does not. GO is also asking that the new bridge be fully enclosed. “The trend is that future bridges be contained, to prevent suicides and people throwing projectiles,” says Vanessa Thomas, a spokeswoman for GO Transit.

“For some reason they’re asking us for a barrier,” says a bewildered Alan Vihant, vice-president of development at Concord Adex, the developers of CityPlace. “It drives up costs, it drives up the weight of the bridge, and [the bridge] won’t feel as safe.” His firm remains committed to the bridge, which he estimates will cost $2.5-million.

Years ago, when the city allowed the railways to rezone their lands here and flip them for condos, they made these barons agree to the pedestrian bridges. Granted, the bridges shouldn’t impede the trains. As Ms. Thomas notes: “We operate dozens of trains per day. Each train contains 1,600 to 1,900 people. Safety is our number one priority.” Yesterday as I stood on the Bathurst bridge for 20 minutes, three GO trains, a VIA train and a 150-car CNR freight train rumbled under me.

But Mr. Vaughan has his own compelling point: he’s trying to connect the city with the new park that Douglas Coupland is designing, at the southern foot of the new walking bridge, and with the lake.

“All we’re trying to do is build a friggin’ bridge, but GO doesn’t answer to anyone,” he says. “You have the right to cross a railway track in this country.”

CN should beware making claims about air rights, Mr. Vaughan warns. “If that’s what the air rights are really worth, we’re going to send you [CN] a tax bill for the air rights above the whole train shed.”

That may be threat enough to get even mighty CN to play nice.
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http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...009/04/06/a-bridge-not-nearly-far-enough.aspx
 
Wow, Adam seems to be showing some real spine here - good news for those of us who are trying to do something about this!

CN wants AIR RIGHT money? I like the 'nil' phrasing in the refusal report, very cheeky.
 
Why doesnt Go put a set of signals on the bridge or just before the bridge that are a duplicate of the ones that would be blocked? There, problem solved..
 
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