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

bridge access

the lemur said:
I can only imagine it's because the idea is that pedestrians going north on the bridge will want to continue onto Portland or use the sidewalk on the north side of Front, but just because there isn't a sidewalk on the south side doesn't mean there won't be one in the future. Seems like a lack of foresight.
Click to expand...

Alas the ramps could only go one way as there were issues about where they could be built. We just had to operate in the real and highly restrictive world of budgets, ownership of land, access- all of which had an impact and imposes restrictions on what can be done. The sad alternative is to wait another 40 years for the "Ideal". This coming week we will see the samples of the mesh on the bridge which will allow that element to progress. And if I might add- it is not a banana yellow colour. The tone is called "mellow" yellow and was selected from about 200 samples all based on how they had a subtle glow during snowy or foggy or rainy days.
 
bridge

RC8 said:
Do you know when the bridge is slated to open? It would make my commute (and that of so many others I'm sure) so much easier.
Click to expand...
Not sure of public opening but the dedication (which pretty well implies public is allowed) is late Oct. Kindly remember there are a lot of people who have to sign off on things- Concord is moving things along as quickly as possible. PALady
 
publicartlady said:
Alas the ramps could only go one way as there were issues about where they could be built. We just had to operate in the real and highly restrictive world of budgets, ownership of land, access- all of which had an impact and imposes restrictions on what can be done. The sad alternative is to wait another 40 years for the "Ideal". This coming week we will see the samples of the mesh on the bridge which will allow that element to progress. And if I might add- it is not a banana yellow colour. The tone is called "mellow" yellow and was selected from about 200 samples all based on how they had a subtle glow during snowy or foggy or rainy days.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't it be easy to just add stairs? The bridge seems to be built for people living west of the bridge. People on the east side of the bridge have to walk west to access it. It seems to be playing favoritism.
 
I'm hoping the linear park and whatever issues are left can be sorted out soon. I am really looking forward to making this part of my commute in combination with the pedestrian underpass under Spadina.

I may have been the one who called it banana yellow, but it does seem like a banana pudding colour rather than banana peel, or maybe a vanilla custard ...

I get that the ramps are for accessibility and scale although since the north ramp is angled to line up with the end of Portland, I would have thought the south ramp could point the other way to balance it visually. People coming south on the bridge would be just as likely to head east as west on the other side.
 
The point is to connect Portland St. with Dan Leckie Way. The bridge provides a shortcut to the lake for people going down Portland St. For people going east to Spadina or west to Bathurst, well, they can just go to Spadina or Bathurst along any of the many east-west streets north of the tracks.
 
bridge ramps

AKS said:
Wouldn't it be easy to just add stairs? The bridge seems to be built for people living west of the bridge. People on the east side of the bridge have to walk west to access it. It seems to be playing favoritism.
Click to expand...

Stairs would have been much easier (and less costly!) but they don"t work on the universal accessibility side- people in wheelchairs or with other mobility issues cannot use stairs. Perhaps you can start to get a sense of all the things that went into just the planning and ultimately the design of the piece. Land ownership, accessibility and then the actual capacity of the site to receive this "thing"...weight, loading on retaining walls.....and so on.
 
Land ownership and simply the space available ruled that out alas. Believe me- no favouritism anywhere. I like you term vanilla custard as a colour description. The paint chip was called Mellow Yellow (shades of the 60's). I will herein refer to it as vanilla custard. :)
 
publicartlady said:
Stairs would have been much easier (and less costly!) but they don"t work on the universal accessibility side- people in wheelchairs or with other mobility issues cannot use stairs. Perhaps you can start to get a sense of all the things that went into just the planning and ultimately the design of the piece. Land ownership, accessibility and then the actual capacity of the site to receive this "thing"...weight, loading on retaining walls.....and so on.
Click to expand...

We keep hearing about the accessibility reason, however just a bit East of the bridge is the Spadina underpass, where both a ramp and stairs provide access from both the east and west. If stairs were able to work here, there is absolutely no reason why they couldn't also work on the bridge. They aren't even overbuilt stairs, simply a basic metal staircase that provides convenience to those who are crossing under Spadina coming from the East. I don't think anyone is asking for the ramp to be replaced with stairs, simply that stairs also be built on the opposite side of the ramp to open the bridge up to more people and more usage.
 
Last edited:
access

Tuscani01 said:
We keep hearing about the accessibility reason, however just a bit East of the bridge is the Spadina underpass, where both a ramp and stairs provide access from both the east and west. If stairs were able to work here, there is absolutely no reason why they couldn't also work on the bridge. They aren't even overbuilt stairs, simply a basic metal staircase that provides convenience to those who are crossing under Spadina coming from the East.
Click to expand...

Concord had control of that land. They did not have same control or ability to access land on Front...anyway, for me, walking a few extra yards will be good for me.
 
publicartlady said:
Concord had control of that land. They did not have same control or ability to access land on Front...anyway, for me, walking a few extra yards will be good for me.
Click to expand...

The ramp on Front alone is fine, as there is currently no sidewalk on Front or really any reason to walk East on that side of Front. Its south of the rail line, within CityPlace where I think it was short sighted to only provided access to the bridge from one direction. If Concord had control of the land, then why wasn't this considered? (It's ok to say cost was the reason, and if that is the case, I think pushing the City to provide some funds to build a staircase is absolutely fine, and something I would be willing to do!) I just don't see any legal, technical or any other reason why this wasn't included besides cost.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top