Toronto Lower Don Lands Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

[Northern Light]

@achender

Your post had me inventorying my pics, including those not posted here.

Is this the building that came down:

 

[Lenser]

Went to the (current) dead end on Commissioner to look towards downtown and catch the new bridges from that angle; when the street is once again open it's going to be a nice gateway to all that new terraforming and river naturalization work. I noted in passing that the Pinewood expansion is well along. Didn't step onto the property to see if they're also building new studio and construction units, but the big building I did see looks like it's additional production office space. Very impressive, considering that there's going to be yet more production facilities a little further east, along Basin Street. A sign of new concentration and purposefulness for television and film here in the east end, very encouraging to se

 

[achender]

I think this is the building that was demolished. Can't quite tell if the photo above is the same building.

Post #2 of my walk from yesterday. We left off looking north from Villiers at the new Valley wall. Again, my preference is to post pics in the order that I took them, so be patient and scroll....

Photos taken October 23rd, 2022:

Villiers looks like a bit of wasteland at the moment; but WT has opted to place giant pictures of the work site in the former median of the road:

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[tstormers]

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The CN Tower will be blocked from this view in a few years by the Pinnacle 'Sky Tower'

 

[leslievillecyclist]

I recently saw that the reopening of Commisioners St has been pushed back from January 31 to March 31 (and probably will again). Once it reopens, does anyone know if the temporary cycling route of Villiers -> Saulter -> Commisioners will switch fully to Commisioners? The section on Villiers is constantly unrideable due to giant deep puddles and mud, with jersey barriers that trap you in.

 

[kotsy]

The CN Tower will be blocked from this view in a few years by the Pinnacle 'Sky Tower'

This is very upsetting! I'll have to make sure opportunities are seized before Sky Tower grows enough to block the view.

 

[DSC]

I recently saw that the reopening of Commisioners St has been pushed back from January 31 to March 31 (and probably will again). Once it reopens, does anyone know if the temporary cycling route of Villiers -> Saulter -> Commisioners will switch fully to Commisioners? The section on Villiers is constantly unrideable due to giant deep puddles and mud, with jersey barriers that trap you in.

Yes, it Villiers very muddy and will, of course, be rebuilt. New ommissioners will be a vast improvement and there are plans, or hopes, to have bike tracks on it from New Cherry to Leslie.

 

[drum118]

Ongoing Work​

Overnight Lane Shifts on Lake Shore Boulevard East between Saulter Street and Logan Avenue: Scheduled to be complete by early November To facilitate utility connections for the future Lake Shore Boulevard East, there have been nightly lane shifts at four intersections along Lake Shore Boulevard since July. The work is complete at Saulter and Morse Streets. WHAT TO EXPECT Lane closures along Lake Shore Boulevard East, between Saulter Street and Logan Avenue until early November. Lane closures will be marked with traffic barrels Traffic will be directed into the remaining open lanes Road plates will be present in the work area during the day Work includes excavation, compaction, and road reconstruction Watermain Testing along Lake Shore Boulevard between Saulter Street and Logan Avenue: November Once utilities work on Lake Shore Boulevard is complete, crews will begin testing and commissioning the new watermain. The testing will take place during the evening for approximately one week and is scheduled to start in mid November. WHAT TO EXPECT Rolling disruptions to water service during testing will affect businesses in the area bound by Lake Shore Boulevard East in the north, Logan Avenue in the east, Commissioners Street in the south, and Saulter Street in the west. Affected businesses will be notified directly closer to the start of the work. Residential properties will not be affected.

Traffic Update​

Logan Avenue closed south of Lake Shore Boulevard Intersection: November To facilitate utility work, for 3-4 weeks in November, there will be no access from Lake Shore Boulevard East to southbound Logan Avenue, or from Logan Avenue northbound to Lake Shore Boulevard East. There will be no impact to lanes on Lake Shore Boulevard East. WHAT TO EXPECT No access to southbound Logan Avenue from Lake Shore Boulevard East Northbound traffic on Logan Avenue from Commissioners Street will be restricted to local traffic only. There will be no access to Lake Shore Boulevard via Logan Avenue Access to the Mayfair Racquet Club will be via northbound Logan Avenue, coming from Commissioners Street. There will be no access to Lake Shore Boulevard East from Logan Avenue Saulter Street Closed between Lake Shore Boulevard and Villiers Street: Starting November 7 To facilitate utility work, Saulter Street will be closed between Lake Shore Boulevard East and Villiers Street. There will be no access to Saulter Street southbound from Lake Shore and there will be no access to Lake Shore Boulevard East from northbound Saulter Street. Work in the area is expected to last two weeks starting as soon as November 7. Some pre-construction work will take place in the roadway starting as soon as October 31; traffic will be controlled by flag persons. WHAT TO EXPECT No access to southbound Saulter Street from Lake Shore Boulevard East for approximately 2 weeks starting as soon as November 7 685 Lake Shore Boulevard will be accessible on Saulter Street via Bouchette Street and Commissioners Street or Villiers Street Access to Saulter Street south of Villiers Street will be maintained via Bouchette Street and Commissioners Street Access to Lake Shore Boulevard East will be maintained via Villiers Street and Cherry Street Cyclist and pedestrian routes will not be affected

Construction Update​

Above: The Cherry Street South Bridge opened to the public in October, 2022. It includes a fully separated bike lane and sidewalk

Above: The newly opened section of Commissioners Street and Cherry Street currently traverses an area with little landscaping, for now.

Above: Planting started in May and continued through until the fall. During planting seasons, 18,000 – 22,000 plants are delivered weekly to the construction site.

Above: After a wetland is planted, we string up wires with colourful ribbon on them to discourage birds from disturbing the plants before they have had time to establish

Above: The view from the newly opened Cherry South Bridge: Excavation along the water’s edge in future Promontory Park South.

Questions?​ To learn more about this project, please visit the Port Lands Flood Protection project website.

 

[leslievillecyclist]

Yes, it Villiers very muddy and will, of course, be rebuilt. New ommissioners will be a vast improvement and there are plans, or hopes, to have bike tracks on it from New Cherry to Leslie.

Thank you. Good to know because that one stretch being horrible ruins the entire temporary route. Now lets hope Commissioners actually reopens by spring 2023...

 

[DSC]

Thank you. Good to know because that one stretch being horrible ruins the entire temporary route. Now lets hope Commissioners actually reopens by spring 2023...

Don't forget that the tracks on Villiers & Commissioners are really ALL temporary diversion tracks from the track along north side of Lake Shore Blvd from Don River to Logan ( and further east) which is unavailable while they work on LSE. When the work on LS is finished (late 2023??) the track there will be vastly better but, even so, a good track on Commissioners from New Cherry to Leslie would be great and it IS in the plans.

 

[yattuh]

Post #3 (I think the final one) from my walk of the Portlands yesterday.

We left off having visited the newly open bridge on Cherry Street, next we will look at some views from that bridge, of Promontory Park under construction and of the more Northerly Cherry Street bridges.

Photos taken October 23rd, 2022:

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Here's a view of those Commissioner Street bridges from the 1st post; but now looking back from the west, to the east. Note the hirises in the background, a very long way away (5.5km from the bridges, and about 6.3km from where the photo is taken:

View attachment 434535

Cherry Street North Bridges, looking north from the Cherry Street Diversion:

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Cherry North bridges from existing Cherry bridge across Keating Channel:

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Finally, Cherry North Bridges, look from the north-west to the south east (from Lake Shore Blvd)

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The only problem I'm seeing with the view from the cherry street south bridge is that I feel the view of the CN tower might get disrupted. As you walk along the bridge the atlas crane blocks a chunk of the view albeit it will be a very good addition to the spot. So as you walk along the bridge to get the atlas crane out of the view, there is a very nice view of the skyline. However, I feel this might be short-lived. After the highest pinnacle one yonge building is up, it will block the CN tower partially. Without the atlas crane the view of the skyline would be spectacular even with the new building so it is quite the dilemma

 

[Northern Light]

From the WT October Newsletter an update on those very old seeds that were found deep in the muck:

Coyote Willow is not a common name with which I am familiar.

So I looked it up..........it's Salix exigua

I would call this (as would most here) Sandbar Willow.

It's a relatively common species here along shorelines and riverbanks.

Nothing wrong w/that; though whether its as old as a deep seebank or not is an open question (since its seed would already be in the area anyways.)

****

I asked around, and the research team is still actively growing samples from the area.

There are yet some potential points of interest; that require further research.

 

[DSC]

Some posts by Rocky the Ripper on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TheRockRipper
https://twitter.com/TheRockRipper
https://twitter.com/TheRockRipper
https://twitter.com/TheRockRipper

https://twitter.com/TheRockRipper
Rocky

@TheRockRipper
·
Nov 2

Reinforcing the east abutment of the Lake Shore Bridge by installing sheet pile walls in front of the existing dockwall. On the west side of the bridge, they're removing the existing abutment & will be building new piers to support the longer bridge

and:

Rocky

@TheRockRipper
·
Nov 1

Now that we moved that one section of Cherry Street, we can start digging again! Move over little plants, it’s Rocky’s time to shine! We have to dig out this whole area so that the water can eventually flow under the yellow bridge.

 

[Northern Light]

I particularly like the call out of a particular UT member by Rocky, here:

Ahem @Undead

 

[Undead]

I cannot confirm or deny anything.