Toronto Lower Simcoe Ramp | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto

[Panontario]

As a temporary measure during the transition this is an excellent idea.....it will, initially, anger people (the thought of losing a lane) but they will quickly see that facilitating a smoother merge actually improves things.....we saw it on the WB gardiner during the construction where the rightmost lane was closed nearing the Jameson/Lakeshore onramp to facilitate a smoother/easier merge there and prevent those people from having to shift over to the left immediately....it was a much smoother traffic flow in general.

Thanks. Hope the city thought of that already.

 

[Tuscani01]

As a temporary measure during the transition this is an excellent idea.....it will, initially, anger people (the thought of losing a lane) but they will quickly see that facilitating a smoother merge actually improves things.....we saw it on the WB gardiner during the construction where the rightmost lane was closed nearing the Jameson/Lakeshore onramp to facilitate a smoother/easier merge there and prevent those people from having to shift over to the left immediately....it was a much smoother traffic flow in general.

To make things even better, they can also make the right lane from Bathurst to Dan Leckie Way a Right-turn only lane, leading towards Queens Quay. That eliminates the third lane, helps distribute traffic, and allows for the ramp traffic to take over the left lane without any merging required. Traffic continuing Eastbound past Dan Leckie in the two remaining through lanes can then takeover the two right-most lanes.

Or better yet, paint a new left-turn lane heading North onto Dan Leckie, since the current one is so small and always backs up anyway. This would also eliminate a lane before the ramp.

 

[Kitsune]

To make things even better, they can also make the right lane from Bathurst to Dan Leckie Way a Right-turn only lane, leading towards Queens Quay. That eliminates the third lane, helps distribute traffic, and allows for the ramp traffic to take over the left lane without any merging required. Traffic continuing Eastbound past Dan Leckie in the two remaining through lanes can then takeover the two right-most lanes.

Or better yet, paint a new left-turn lane heading North onto Dan Leckie, since the current one is so small and always backs up anyway. This would also eliminate a lane before the ramp.

That wouldnt quite work as there is still another entry point onto Lake Shore East just after Dan Leckie from Lake Shore West just as it's exiting from under the Gardiner. And with how jammed those three lanes can get in the morning + how jammed the spadina exit is + how jammed the loop can get it's going to be interesting to see how they manage it. Might be an idea not to allow any thorough traffic on Spadina through the intersection during the morning rush although that could upset people who rely on the 510 during the morning.

 

[interchange42]

Here's how far they've gotten with the new columns, and how crappy the old ones are. These first two are from Simcoe…

…while these three are from halfway along the length of the new ramp.

42

 

[TOareaFan]

here is a bit of a hint as to what to expect on the roads during the ramp closure for construction.

 

[Christopher Brown]

Question one. What on earth are they going to do with all the material generated by the demolition? That's a huge amount of steel and concrete.

Question two. Does anyone else anticipate the removal of this elevated section will lead to the City's reconsideration of maintaining the stretch of Gardiner east of Jarvis? I always thought it was a dumb idea to trash it, but with my now positive expectations of the Bay/York ramp removal coupled with the apparent low levels of actual traffic on the Lake Shore east of Jarvis, perhaps it too should drop down and open the vista to the lake? Especially with all the massive development taking place south to the Boulevard.

 

[TOareaFan]

Question one. What on earth are they going to do with all the material generated by the demolition? That's a huge amount of steel and concrete.

Question two. Does anyone else anticipate the removal of this elevated section will lead to the City's reconsideration of maintaining the stretch of Gardiner east of Jarvis? I always thought it was a dumb idea to trash it, but with my now positive expectations of the Bay/York ramp removal coupled with the apparent low levels of actual traffic on the Lake Shore east of Jarvis, perhaps it too should drop down and open the vista to the lake? Especially with all the massive development taking place south to the Boulevard.

re: #2....they are not removing an elevated section....they are just changing how vehicles get down from that elevated section to the streets below.

 

[DSC]

Question one. What on earth are they going to do with all the material generated by the demolition? That's a huge amount of steel and concrete.

As with all building demolitions the concrete and steel will be separated out, the steel will be saved and sent for recycling and the concrete will either be crushed and turned into new concrete (lots of this going on at foot of Leslie Street) or dumped on the Leslie Spit or dumped elsewhere. It really is not a huge amount of material considering how many buildings are demolished around here every week.

 

[Christopher Brown]

re: #2....they are not removing an elevated section....they are just changing how vehicles get down from that elevated section to the streets below.

I thought the elevated section beginning well west of Simcoe is coming down

 

[coopEng]

I thought the elevated section beginning well west of Simcoe is coming down

Just the elevated ramp which leads to Bay and spirals to York will be removed. As the photos above show, it will be replaced with a new ramp that will drop down and meet Lower Simcoe.

 

[Toffy]

Question one. What on earth are they going to do with all the material generated by the demolition? That's a huge amount of steel and concrete.

Like someone else said, it all gets seperated and recycled in one form or another. In Mississauga there's a huge infill project going on called the Lakeview Waterfront Connection and the Region of Peel is currently accepting materials suitable for the project and simply charging a tipping fee just like they do at aggregate recycling yards. The parkade at Oakville Place that is being demolished currently is ending up at the Lakeview infill project.

I'm not quite sure what the guidelines are for concrete, but for highway asphalt jobs the MTO will accept up to 30% recycled material in the mix so long as the mix holds up.

Besides much more material is generated from road resurfacing projects, along with all the concrete work from curbs and sidewalks.

 

[wmedia]

While in Kuala Lumpur recently, I noticed they put ad wraps on their pillars. Could be one solution for improving the look of some of busted up old ones.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

While in Kuala Lumpur recently, I noticed they put ad wraps on their pillars. Could be one solution for improving the look of some of busted up old ones.

It could, though we already have a better example in the form of Underpass Park. Having said that, the issue with the Gardiner relative to this isn't the conditions of the columns, but the width of the deck.

AoD

 

[muller877]

I thought the elevated section beginning well west of Simcoe is coming down

The off-ramp for Yonge/Bay/York begins 1 block west of Simcoe (at Rees St)...a very long block but 1 street away.

The ramp currently goes 4 blocks...from Rees all the way to Bay. All of it will be demo'ed.

Based on the current ppt's that I have seen the Simcoe St ramp will begin at the same spot...at Rees St. It will be at street level within one block at Simcoe St. It will be about 33% steeper than the Spadina ramp and 50% shorter (rough estimates).

We know how well the longer off-ramp at Spadina works (the traffic jam is sometimes all the way back to Bathurst). I'd expect the same or worse on this ramp in the future. I'm just plain going to avoid it. I will get off on Jarvis and come back via Front/Wellington to get to the business district.

 

[coopEng]

The off-ramp for Yonge/Bay/York begins 1 block west of Simcoe (at Rees St)...a very long block but 1 street away.

The ramp currently goes 4 blocks...from Rees all the way to Bay. All of it will be demo'ed.

Based on the current ppt's that I have seen the Simcoe St ramp will begin at the same spot...at Rees St. It will be at street level within one block at Simcoe St. It will be about 33% steeper than the Spadina ramp and 50% shorter (rough estimates).

We know how well the longer off-ramp at Spadina works (the traffic jam is sometimes all the way back to Bathurst). I'd expect the same or worse on this ramp in the future. I'm just plain going to avoid it. I will get off on Jarvis and come back via Front/Wellington to get to the business district.

There are few factors here that we will have to wait and see how they play out:
- the existing ramp is slow to get to York Street - one lane wrapping around and coming to a traffic light - this backs up almost to the off ramp on the Gardner often
- Jarvis is bad now as is - it is always backed up onto the Gardner (and always backs up my access point up at Ress)

The question will be can the new ramp provide faster through routing at Simcoe and then the turn onto York and then Bay. Its an interesting decision to use Lakeshore to hold the traffic instead of the ramp and I think the result will be all 3 exits will be a mess which is often the case now anyway. My guess is the left at Lakeshore and York will be the problem - especially with the crosswalk there.