Pushing Beecroft 2 more blocks south will NOT help traffic,.... if that was done then the Beecroft traffic at Florence-Avondale right turn to southbound Yonge street will have to compete with the very heavy left turn from westbound Avondale to southbound Yonge Street which already have a double left turn lane. This is to server all the heavy traffic from the Avondale condo community,.... as you've noted the condo development on the west side of Yonge street is alot lighter than that on the east side of Yonge Street,.... so priority should be given to the heavier traffic from the east side,.... The Avondale-Florence-Yonge intersection is such a pain,.... the city have already widened Avondale,.... and now they're looking at widening Avondale even more,... pretty soon Avondale will be wider than Yonge Street!
As for more development on the west side of Yonge street "to balance" things out,.... it doesn't work that way. The city is really against tearing up "established" neighbourhoods. Plus, the homeowners association on the west side of Yonge Street fights tooth and nail against all unfavourable condo development,.... and they have a very strong winning record!
Actually, the city should have extended the North York service ring road, including both Beecroft Road and Doris/Tradewind, down to a direct connection to highway 401. That's what North York City was planning to do many years ago,... but that plan was halted and the city of Toronto has no plans to extend Beecroft south beyond Poyntz. The city is really anal when it comes to putting in new streets in "established neighbourhoods",... of course that didn't stop Beecroft from extending northward to Finch. At the south end, Beecroft will only connect to Annedale (southern point of Tridel Hullmark Center) and they're currently doing some of that road work now!
When old Maclean-Hunter warehouse was torn down to build the Avondale condo community about 15 years ago, that's when they should have extended Doris-Tradewind southward for a direct connection to Hwy 401. Now it's too late and now during AM rushhour it takes some drivers from Avondale condos 30 minutes to drive out of their parking spot to to corner of Avondale and Yonge!
The city is currently considering how to improve the Yonge-401 interchange as in they have hired consultants to come up with recommendations and to examine suggestions (including mine) but there is technically NO FUNDING for any projects,.... thus whatever the consultants recommends,... there's still no gurantee that anything will ever get done.
To get a real sense of how bad the traffic really is at the current Yonge-401 interchange, Yonge street between 401 and Sheppard was #2 on the city's top ten worst traffic congestion spots,... I'm still bewildered as how it didn't get the #1 spot.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/06/07/city-looks-at-easing-congestion-in-worst-areas
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1211295--toronto-s-10-worst-streets-for-traffic-gridlock?bn=1
The #1 worst was Sheppard & Bayview intersection, just north of Bayview & 401 interchange. #5 was Leslie between Sheppard and 401. Why are these intersections so congested? If you look at both of these intersections, they both have double left turn lanes from northbound Bayview/Leslie to westbound Sheppard. What's immediately to the west of these intersections? At Bayview & Sheppard, there's only 2 mid-rise condos to the west of the intersection,.... a post-war neighbourhood of bungalows to the south-west of the intersection and neighbourhood of McMansions to the north-west. At Leslie & Sheppard intersection, it's similar in that there's only a handful of condos to the west of it (large Concord-Alex developement is still under development). Question,... why are there so many cars doing northbound to westbound left turns at Bayview & Sheppard and at Leslie & Sheppard??? These cars are coming from westbound 401 and going to Yonge-401 area,... but its too congested. These cars are coming off the 401,... which is already backed up at the Yonge-401 interchange,.. so these cars get off an exit or two early to avoid the traffic congestion at Yonge-401,.... and try their luck on street traffic.
BTW,... Tridel-Hullmark Centre has applied to the city for a left turn entrance from westbound Sheppard Ave West to southbound onto their private north-south roadway running along the east side of Tridel-Hullmark Centre. Anyone already familiar with the traffic in this area will know that this left turn into Tridel-Hullmark Centre will greatly interfere with the heavy left turn traffic from westbound Sheppard Ave West to southbound Yonge Street,... especially during AM rushhour when drivers from condos along Doris use this left turn to get onto Yonge Street as they head towards highway 401.
