Toronto Eaton Centre (Ongoing Renewal) | ?m | ?s | Cadillac Fairview | Zeidler

[interchange42]

Will they be sprucing up the Queen entrance for Eaton Centre? It looks pretty shabby looking..

Yes, it's getting new doors à la Trinity Way ones which were put in south of Nordstrom last year.

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[Skeezix]

Hi Group,
The Plus 15 as Such is a Welcome Addition to Toronto..These are More Common in Calgary and parts of Edmonton as well. Lets hope it will B a Trend that Catches on in future Bldg Developements in the DT Core.

Thanks,
Operater.

I think there is a lot of debate over that. The City of Toronto isn't all that keen on them, and allows them only in certain spots. If this one hadn't been built in the 1970s, I don't know that the City would be permitting it today, given the location.

 

[JasonParis]

They are also a bit redundant in Toronto with our equivalent of the Plus 15 system operating just below ground as The Path. They are however, quite common in SouthCore for a variety of reasons.

 

[alklay]

And these bridges are known to suck life off the streets. The less we have of them, the better.

 

[Skeezix]

And these bridges are known to suck life off the streets. The less we have of them, the better.

I don't think they suck the life off the street any more than the underground PATH system does. But they do have adverse impacts on the outdoor public realm which an underground walkway system does not.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I don't think they suck the life off the street any more than the underground PATH system does. But they do have adverse impacts on the outdoor public realm which an underground walkway system does not.

Not if it is properly designed and maintained - there is something visually arresting about bridges that can be a net positive. Also oftentimes it isn't the bridge itself that is the problem - but how the ground floor is handled.

AoD

 

[alklay]

You have no argument from me that the PATH also sucks life from the streets. I am just not in favour of even more street sucking urban forms.

In this particular context (the Eaton Centre), I do not believe that it does much harm to the urban realm. But they are generally considered street destroyers by contemporary urban planners.

 

[Skeezix]

Not if it is properly designed and maintained - there is something visually arresting about bridges that can be a net positive. Also oftentimes it isn't the bridge itself that is the problem - but how the ground floor is handled.

AoD

You're never going to get a +15 system where all the links are "visually arresting". If one did, more likely to be cloying than anything else. Except for a few exceptions, at best they are just view corridor clutter. There are some places where they are fairly innocuous - the one across Shuter at St. Mike's is a good example, where is blessedly blocks views of Eaton Centre billboards (good), but also compromises some views of Massey Hall (bad). The one under the Gardiner actually improves that space. But imagine other PATH links transformed into skywalks - hello, Financial District, here is some crap. In some cases (e.g. looking up Bay Street), they would actually inflict damage on the public realm.

 

[animatronic]

You have no argument from me that the PATH also sucks life from the streets. I am just not in favour of even more street sucking urban forms.

In this particular context (the Eaton Centre), I do not believe that it does much harm to the urban realm. But they are generally considered street destroyers by contemporary urban planners.

Downtown sidewalks would be far too narrow to accommodate all the foot traffic if we didn't have the PATH.

 

[animatronic]

It's one of the reasons for no streetcars on Queen Street for the entire summer. They have to take down the old one first plus the Streetcar wires and probably all of the lights around it for the crosswalk below it. Its not a simple as lifting in a new ugly bridge.

It's not on the critical path for construction. Cancelling the bridge wouldn't open Queen street any earlier.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

Anything involving the TTC seems to take a summer and then another one. Stop blaming the bridge for one's inefficiency.

AoD

I'm not I'm saying it;'s one of few projects the other is more work on the wtermains in the same section from last summer as well, plus there is the work in the west end on the bridge on thee queensway and the full replacement of the track from there to Long Branch loop. The TTC is not going to be running the queen car for the duration of the summer and replacing it with buses instead.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

Yes, it's getting new doors à la Trinity Way ones which were put in south of Nordstrom last year.

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They should also replace the doors to the Queen Street TTC entrance on the lower level as well as they are relly hard to open and don't leave much space for someone to walk through.

 

[deerparker]

The Queen TTC entrance appears to have been forgotten. I used it today. It was dark, had missing ceiling panels, and was strewn with newspapers.

 

[kotsy]

The Queen TTC entrance appears to have been forgotten. I used it today. It was dark, had missing ceiling panels, and was strewn with newspapers.

The sign above the Queen St entrance needs to be fixed too. All it says is "Queen Street" with no TTC logo or route declaration. This is completely inadequate even after you take into account the TTC sign hanging from a post on the sidewalk 20 feet away.

 

[DSC]

The sign above the Queen St entrance needs to be fixed too. All it says is "Queen Street" with no TTC logo or route declaration. This is completely inadequate even after you take into account the TTC sign hanging from a post on the sidewalk 20 feet away.

Chris Upfold told me the other day that the TTC hope to replace all the exterior subway station signage downtown this year with their new black signs (as at Osgood Station (Four Seasons.)