TTC: Cherry Street reconstruction and streetcar trackage (City of Toronto/TTC, U/C)

[hawc]

Well that's frustrating. It would be so nice if you could drive down/up Cherry from the Lakeshore to King like you used to be able to do. I'm so tired of these road closures as nothing at all is happening, it's just fenced off as a big FU to cyclists/motorists. This morning looking south from Eastern.

 

[nfitz]

They've been dismantling the Pan Am stuff. They've also been working on the streetcar overhead.

They've been saying for months that it will open September 30th (or is it October 1st).

 

[W. K. Lis]

I think it will open in 2015. That general enough?

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

I think it will open in 2015. That general enough?

I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't open until sometime next year.

 

[nfitz]

There's three dates. One is when they power it up. Two is when they start using it for short turns. Three is when there is regularly scheduled service.

 

[DSC]

They've been dismantling the Pan Am stuff. They've also been working on the streetcar overhead.

They've been saying for months that it will open September 30th (or is it October 1st).

They said "closed until September 30" Today is 1 October and both Cherry Street and Front Street (to Cherry) are open again.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

They said "closed until September 30" Today is 1 October and both Cherry Street and Front Street (to Cherry) are open again.

But, but... how are we supposed to feign faux outrage if they're not even ONE DAY LATE! This 'reliability' thing better not catch on, or we'll have to close down the whole site...

 

[nfitz]

Progress continues on the Cherry overhead.

304 and 504 streetcars have been diverting around Sumach/King along Queen last night and tonight for overheard work. Going through today some new wire up. Still lots of work to go, and I haven't seen anything down at the loop yet (I only see the ends, not sure how far work has progressed).

 

[Napoleon]

They said "closed until September 30" Today is 1 October and both Cherry Street and Front Street (to Cherry) are open again.

I did a bike ride a few weeks ago, and its fantastic that Cherry Street is open. Unfortunately, the connection to the Don Trail is still closed. It's even more frustrating because cyclists can cross under the bridge there to the newly opened part of the Pan Am Village, but then a fence surrounding a parking lot blocks them from connecting to Cherry Street. I watched while chatting with some cops who had wandered over to see the new area as cyclist after cyclist made a disappointed U-Turn.

It will do wonders for cycling infrastructure to have a direct connection to the Don Trail that doesn't involve trails or the never ending mess of a detour.

 

[DSC]

I did a bike ride a few weeks ago, and its fantastic that Cherry Street is open. Unfortunately, the connection to the Don Trail is still closed. It's even more frustrating because cyclists can cross under the bridge there to the newly opened part of the Pan Am Village, but then a fence surrounding a parking lot blocks them from connecting to Cherry Street. I watched while chatting with some cops who had wandered over to see the new area as cyclist after cyclist made a disappointed U-Turn.

It will do wonders for cycling infrastructure to have a direct connection to the Don Trail that doesn't involve trails or the never ending mess of a detour.

It will be better when there is a direct connection along Mill or Front BUT it is really not too hard now. You can go south and link up along north side of Lake Shore or go north, along Old Eastern Avenue to Corktown Common and get to the Don Trail that way. It will be more of an annoyance (though understandable) when the Don Trail itself is closed next spring as they improve the ghastly and dangerous Bala Underpass 'tunnel". Now, back to Cherry Street!

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

It will be better when there is a direct connection along Mill or Front BUT it is really not too hard now. You can go south and link up along north side of Lake Shore or go north, along Old Eastern Avenue to Corktown Common and get to the Don Trail that way. It will be more of an annoyance (though understandable) when the Don Trail itself is closed next spring as they improve the ghastly and dangerous Bala Underpass 'tunnel". Now, back to Cherry Street!

Umm... Sorry -- what's ghastly and dangerous about the Bala Underpass? That's the tunnel under the rail tracks from Don Trail to Corktown Commons, right? It's never seemed ghastly to me at all. Boring, maybe, but apparently they've painted it crazy geometric patterns.

 

[the lemur]

Umm... Sorry -- what's ghastly and dangerous about the Bala Underpass? That's the tunnel under the rail tracks from Don Trail to Corktown Commons, right? It's never seemed ghastly to me at all. Boring, maybe, but apparently they've painted it crazy geometric patterns.

No, the Bala Underpass is the one that's almost at a right angle to the trail, north of there, around Rosedale Valley Rd. It's basically a blind corner from both directions:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.6709961,-79.3587411,3a,75y,237.77h,79.85t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s-I2Qp5alsTno/U54C68O6HzI/AAAAAAAAAAA/oJznmXE7Q54!2e4!3e11!7i9728!8i4864

ETA: No, you're right: the Bala is at Corktown Common. The dangerous one being realigned is the Belleville underpass:

http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=f54bbe65c6595410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

 

[Napoleon]

ETA: No, you're right: the Bala is at Corktown Common. The dangerous one being realigned is the Belleville underpass:

http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=f54bbe65c6595410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

I can't imagine who ever decided that would be a good idea on a pedestrian/cycle trail. It looks more like a culvert for homeless people to urinate in than trail infrastructure.

 

[the lemur]

I can't imagine who ever decided that would be a good idea on a pedestrian/cycle trail. It looks more like a culvert for homeless people to urinate in than trail infrastructure.

It was probably the cheapest and easiest way of doing it at the time. It's not the creepiest such tunnel in Toronto, though, IMO ... https://goo.gl/maps/dTVvXtLmibL2

 

[44 North]

I can't imagine who ever decided that would be a good idea on a pedestrian/cycle trail. It looks more like a culvert for homeless people to urinate in than trail infrastructure.

Believe it or not, but that used to be the tunnel for Don Mills Rd back when it snaked up the valley from Winchester Street. I'll try to find a pic later.