Toronto Queens Quay & Water's Edge Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

I gotta say, though, Sugar Beach and Corus Quay and all the places along Queens Quay with the new signature granite pavers are one of the few places that stand to the test.

I wish the same could be said about the architecture of those areas.
 
I wish the same could be said about the architecture of those areas.

Uh-huh. Just to poke the hornet's nest: What don't you like about Waterlink, Corus, GBC, Sherbourne Commons? I think they've done a great job of making functional and beautiful spaces for live, work, schooling, and play out of an extremely tough to redevelop brownfield.

The water's edge from Sugar to Sherbourne, in particular, is spectacular on a summer's day.
 
Uh-huh. Just to poke the hornet's nest: What don't you like about Waterlink, Corus, GBC, Sherbourne Commons? I think they've done a great job of making functional and beautiful spaces for live, work, schooling, and play out of an extremely tough to redevelop brownfield.

The water's edge from Sugar to Sherbourne, in particular, is spectacular on a summer's day.

Except QQ itself is dominated by questionable buildings - Waterview, Rivera, the Huang & Danczkay Harbour Point and Maple Leaf Quay atrocities, World Trade Centre, Aqua, The Westin complex, etc. It's not just a QQ problem either - all the landscaping (issues with it aside) can't distract from the distinctively mediocre architecture along Bloor/Yorkville.

AoD
 
Except QQ itself is dominated by questionable buildings - Waterview, Rivera, the Huang & Danczkay Harbour Point and Maple Leaf Quay atrocities, World Trade Centre, Aqua, The Westin complex, etc. It's not just a QQ problem either - all the landscaping (issues with it aside) can't distract from the distinctively mediocre architecture along Bloor/Yorkville.

AoD

Sure -- but I don't think, given the Sugar conversation, that was the architecture in question. The bottom of Yonge is a bit of an atrocity, but QQT/Power Plant/Harbourfront/Pier 4 aren't bad at all. Then you get HTO and the condo, but then things get considerably better again with Music Garden. It's the north side that sucks donkeys -- particularly Maple Leaf Quay.
 
509 streetcars will return to service by the end of October and about the same time that traffic will be using the new north road in both direction.
 
.. they started to pour the concrete base for the road tonite at robinson crescent and are working towards simcoe. They are not using any rebar - just one giant slab of concrete it looks like.
 
.. they started to pour the concrete base for the road tonite at robinson crescent and are working towards simcoe. They are not using any rebar - just one giant slab of concrete it looks like.
They seldom (if ever) seem to use rebar in road foundations. I guess salt would eventually get to it and ....
 
From Yonge Street looking West. Are these the new street curbs they're pouring?

Correction, it's from Bay looking west :). Thanks DSC!

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From Yonge Street looking West. Are these the new street curbs they're pouring?
It's actually west from Bay and they certainly seem to be the curbs. (Actually I think all curbs will be granite so this most likely the BASE for the curbs etc. Take a look at the photos west of York where they are much further advanced.
 
509 streetcars will return to service by the end of October and about the same time that traffic will be using the new north road in both direction.

Based on what I've seen of how they're staging the construction, my unscientific guess is that the streetcars will only be able to return a few weeks after the north side road construction is complete for the whole length of the project and all the vehicle traffic is back there.

On each segment, they've periodically shifted between having one-way vehicle traffic on the north and south of the RoW as various stages of work get completed. On the most advanced segments that I've seen --- where the tracks are fully in place and the concrete cured --- they've shifted the traffic detour directly on top of the streetcar RoW down the middle of the street, with the north side cordoned off for final road construction and the south side cordoned off for the early stages of the Martin Goodman Trail now getting underway, along with the streetcar platforms on both sides.

I assume the next staging configuration for each segment sees the traffic shift onto the finished final alignment road to the north, and only then will they be able to get the equipment back onto the streetcar RoW to start stringing overhead. And while they've been good at making progress where they can segment by segment so far, at a certain point in the whole streetcar reintroduction process they'll basically be stuck waiting for the slowest segment to be ready before they can go any further.
 
Just started a new job that will take me from 33 Bloor East (right beside 1 Bloor) down to 10 Bay which is the pink building on the north-west corner of this intersection. From one construction project to another.

But really looking forward to seeing this whole sorry area transformed into something amazing. I worked here back in 1999. Wow, talk about change! No more Captain John's (soon.) No more parking lot to the west of the building (now RBC.) No more streetcar down the middle of the road. No more Jack Layton (now a ferry terminal named in his honour. ) No more long cold walk down Bay from Union station (PATH correct?)

Can't wait!
 
well they are updating the signage stating eastbound traffic is now coming back in December.. I've also heard November for when streetcar service resumes.
 

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