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

Been so long since we had so much sunshine. These bridges contrast wonderfully against the blue sky.

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I see today's progress has already been well documented, so I won't add my photos to the pile. I do have a question about the curious presence of noticeably larger rocks on the riverbed. They stick out of the water like a proverbial sore thumb, and it seems their presence isn't a random accident. Anyone know if they serve a particular function? Something to do with turbulent water flow? Anchors for plants? Habitats for wildlife?

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Can't have a bare riverbed if you want biodiversity. Those bigger rocks will be hiding places for small animals and fish, they actually should have added more
 
Can't have a bare riverbed if you want biodiversity. Those bigger rocks will be hiding places for small animals and fish, they actually should have added more
Exactly, they want to create what will seem like a natural river and they have small rocks, large rocks, tree trunks etc. Of course real rivers sometimes also have shopping carts but I think WT will avoid them :->
 
Looks like the first image show the beginning of the new bicycle/pedestrian bridge on the north side of Lake Shore Blvd.......does anyone know if this is the case? It is too bad that Lake Shore couldn't be realigned to "pull" it a little further north of the Keating Channel to create more of a continuous and wider promenade along the north side of the channel and over to the east side of the Don. Only if the hybrid Gardiner option could've been timed differently to allow a slightly different Lake Shore alignment. Can't have everything, I guess.
I posted a few night shots back a few pages as well up on my site of the pier for the pedestrian/cycles bridge is in place on the westside that long beam. The piers will support 3 beams to go south of that long beam. That beam has 27 conduct ducting in it.
 
The river creates a really nice framing for the Hearn. Gives it so much more prominence. I hope one day it will be reinvigorated like the Battersea Power Station.
I'd prefer more like the Tate Modern...unless we want the hyper dense development that followered Battersea.
 
Looking at this image below curtesy of this UT news story.

A few questions.

On the north east portion of the site there is seemingly a double bridge , is that replaced with a single bridge at this point ?
Is there still work required to connect the new inlet with the Keating channel and don river, same site as the double bridge, or is water slowly filling up there as well ?

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Basically the second bridges would be for future streetcar service along Commissioners and Cherry. As the current streetcar extension is only as far as Villers Island - they've only built one bridge over the new channels. If streetcar service was extended along Commissioners and Cherry, you'd need more bridges. I'm unsure to the level of passive provision in place other than leaving the land available.
 
I see today's progress has already been well documented, so I won't add my photos to the pile. I do have a question about the curious presence of noticeably larger rocks on the riverbed. They stick out of the water like a proverbial sore thumb, and it seems their presence isn't a random accident. Anyone know if they serve a particular function? Something to do with turbulent water flow? Anchors for plants? Habitats for wildlife?
They're designed to create what are called "pools" and "riffles". The large rocks will help create additional areas of high and low water flow as refuge for fish and other species. They don't place them everywhere because you still want a decent amount of fast moving areas for fish that require faster moving waters.
 
They're designed to create what are called "pools" and "riffles".
Thanks, super interesting! Yeah, I figured it had something to do with breaking up the flow of water to better support animal and plant life with differing preferences and requirements. Also makes for a good water level marker in the meantime.

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