TTC: St. Clair Streetcar Right Of Way

[drum118]

In terms of the new underpass and cycling, presumably it'll be less intimidating than cycling through the current underpass with one traffic lane. You've got to have some confidence to do that. I've taken the lane. It's a fairly wide lane, but with the dark underpass, you don't know what to expect in terms of how cars behind you will share the lane. It's not pleasant to walk through the underpass since it's dark during the day and the concrete structure is in bad shape. It's also worth considering the situation for truckers and even TTC buses which struggle to make right turns from Old Weston Road onto St. Clair (westbound where it has a single lane) without hitting poles or the streetcar platform shelter. Also, I don't it's fair to this community not to replace the underpass. The city cut it short when they decided to simply demolish the Old Weston Road bridge over West Toronto Diamond without anything to replace it in the 1980s--a situation that seems quite strange in retrospect. So the city already saved some money via blatant infrastructure neglect in this area. It doesn't deserve any more of that.

The city was very short sighted in not building the Keele underpass as well that housing development into the rail corridor.

The Old Weston Rd bridge needs to be rebuilt.

I have walked and ridden under worse underpass than this one.

 

[Paolo]

i think what they did to saint clair was great, it was long over due, it looks more modern now

 

[drum118]

I should note that my comment on the Keele Underpass is taking Keele north of St Clair to connect with Keele at Roger Rd, just like the Dufferin Jog issue.

Overall, the street is better off today than what it look like as well operate.

 

[Johnny Au]

Problem: A residential development was constructed a few years ago where the Keele straightening would have happened.

 

[drum118]

Problem: A residential development was constructed a few years ago where the Keele straightening would have happened.

That is why I stated "The city was very short sighted in not building the Keele underpass, as well that housing development into the rail corridor."

The land was there before this development surface.

The city knew decades ago that this road was need and should had plan for it, as well banking money for it. Never did.

 

[Neil]

Agreed on the lack of foresight. A Keele underpass could still be fit in though where the ABC Lumberyard currently is. It would meet Weston Rd. and form an intersection with Gunn's Rd.

 

[Fred.S]

Agreed on the lack of foresight. A Keele underpass could still be fit in though where the ABC Lumberyard currently is. It would meet Weston Rd. and form an intersection with Gunn's Rd.

That would be great to relieve the traffic jams on Weston south of Rogers.

Bringing back the old Weston Rd bridge would also be good. Everything bottlenecks onto Keele. Add some bike lanes, and you have cycling connections between Dupont/Antette, Davenport and the Railpath.

 

[Palma]

Agreed on the lack of foresight. A Keele underpass could still be fit in though where the ABC Lumberyard currently is. It would meet Weston Rd. and form an intersection with Gunn's Rd.

I say continue, and somehow remove that jog at keele and (north) of Eglinton

 

[EnviroTO]

Due to the lack of continuous north-south and east-west routes there is definitely a lot more congestion in the area than there needs to be. Dupont and Dundas merge to Keele where a Weston Road option may have existed in the past, Old Weston and Rogers Road merge to Keele with Old Weston carrying more traffic than need be due to Davenport ending at Old Weston and Keele not running straight through. I wonder how a traffic circle with Weston North, Keele North and South, Davenport East, and St.Clair East and West would have worked.

 

[UD2]

would it be easier for them to build a bridge over the railway instead?

 

[Neil]

would it be easier for them to build a bridge over the railway instead?

Yes it would though the incline on the Weston Rd. side might be a bit steep because of the clearance requirements of the rail corridor.

 

[BurlOak]

Yes it would though the incline on the Weston Rd. side might be a bit steep because of the clearance requirements of the rail corridor.

The railway clearance required is about 7.2m. Add in about 1.5m to 2m for the depth of a multispan bridge over the railway, and you need to rise about 9m. Currently the tracks are about 100m away - maybe 150 if you go on a bee-line from the Gunns/West intersection. Even this is 6% which is too steep.

PS. If the road goes under the railway, the clearance required is only 4.7m, and the bridge spans could be less so the bridge depth could be up to a metre less. Thus, the new road would have to drop about 5.5m, which is much more feasible.

The cost of a subway (road under rail) is more expensive, probably about $40M. It looks like there is plenty of room in the corridor to accomodate the shifting of tracks that would be required during construction.

 

[UD2]

If the city can acquire the land owned by the business at the west side of the intersection, I think they may have enough land to build a descent loop like the York Street Exit from Gardiner. This could do away with the requirement to move any railway tracks. Townhouses next door may not like it though.

 

[W. K. Lis]

West of Gunns Road, the city planted tree saplings in the wide green boulevard. Looks like someone at city hall does not want the St. Clair streetcar extended westward.

Or it could be another "gravy" project, should they have to be removed when they do extend the St. Clair streetcar.

 

[the lemur]

If the city can buy up part of the parking lot at the bingo hall east of the underpass and the tire place west of it, there might be a way to widen St Clair under the tracks by making it dip south of its current alignment there, but it wouldn't be a very elegant solution.

The area around the tracks north of St Clair to Rogers presents several opportunities for connectivity: Keele to Weston and/or Union St, Gunns Rd east to Union and perhaps on to Old Weston, even just connecting Northland Ave to Lavender Rd seems obvious. These things take time and money and political will, however.