Union Station: Northwest PATH Expansion

[spaced]

I guess this is the official PATH thread?
Nat.Post has an interesting article on the PATH that ridiculously relates it to Vatican City. Even stranger considering the current controversy in the catholic church, but anyways:

Like Vatican City, Toronto's PATH has its own pulse. Also, lots of money

Reading such articles makes me wonder what toronto's street life, especially the financial district, would look and feel like without the PATH. Having Harry Rosen and specially bakeries instead of Winners and Tim's and having shoe shiners on the street and/or subways stations would definitely change the atmosphere. Maybe one day some of this 'money' will flow upwards. I think that the PATH will always make this city feel smaller than it is. Not a criticism, just an observation.

 

[urbandreamer]

Having just read the article, I guess a city-in-a-city is the point being made.

 

[grey]

Reading such articles makes me wonder what toronto's street life, especially the financial district, would look and feel like without the PATH. Having Harry Rosen and specially bakeries instead of Winners and Tim's and having shoe shiners on the street and/or subways stations would definitely change the atmosphere. Maybe one day some of this 'money' will flow upwards. I think that the PATH will always make this city feel smaller than it is. Not a criticism, just an observation.

It would be nice, but highly unlikely, considering our climate. A weather-controlled underground environment clearly wins.

 

[Ramako]

http://www.dailycommercialnews.com/...e438b1433cf5&projectid=9050523&region=ontario

RETAIL ADDN Proj: 9050523-15
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON PREPARING PLANS
Northwest PATH Connection, Union Station to York St to Wellington St, M5G
$65,000,000

Start: July, 2010 Complete: November, 2012
Note: Preliminary engineering design is underway at the Owner. Owner will issue a Request For Proposals (RFP) for Civil Engineers to complete Detailed design May, 2010. An award is anticipated Summer, 2010. Schedules for design will be set upon award. Tender for Const Mgr will be issued Fall/Winter, 2010. Construction of the first section will proceed in 2011/2012. Construction of the second section will proceed in 2013/2014. Further update Summer, 2010.
Project: proposed extension of the underground PATH concourse from Union Station, under York St to Wellington St. The project will include construction of new retail space along the expansion. The expansion will increase the underground pedestrian tunnels and retail space by 1500 meters. Construction will proceed in two sections; the first section will proceed under York St across Front street from the south side to the north side, the second section will proceed Under York St to Wellington Ave.
Development: Addition
Category: Retail, wholesale services; Tunnels, subways

First report Mon Aug 28, 2006. Last report Wed Dec 23, 2009.
This report Fri Apr 23, 2010.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

^^^ Another useful addition to the PATH network. The crowds of people at Front/York and Front/Simcoe show the need for this.

 

[Uncle Teddy]

Yes this will certainly help relieve the crowds at the existing bottlenecks.

 

[interchange42]

And the above would this route from the Star article earlier this month (previous page in the thread).

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[threnody]

Does anyone know what the plan is for the connections from the Four Seasons Centre to the Hilton and the Sheraton? It's been shown as a "future walkway" on the PATH map for quite a while now and it would fill in a pretty big gap.

 

[DSC]

Another serious gap is under Front Street from CBC Building to Convention Centre - but I understand nobody wants to pay for that either.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

There's an app. for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad called "Map the Path" (MTP) which helps one navigate through the PATH system to find shops, stores and services by mapping them. It's free and works really well on the iPhone, I can't speak to it's functionality on the iPad or iPod Touch. A Blackberry version is in development.

Their website: http://www.mapthepath.com/

 

[khris]

Oooh! Sweet! Downloading that.

 

[Ramako]

FYI, google maps now shows the PATH system.

 

[interchange42]

Does anyone know what the plan is for the connections from the Four Seasons Centre to the Hilton and the Sheraton? It's been shown as a "future walkway" on the PATH map for quite a while now and it would fill in a pretty big gap.

It's all about money to build it... and nobody has any for that section yet. I would assume that it will be a very long time before those links were built.

The only reason they are showing up on maps now would be that specific provisions were made for them when the 4S Centre was built, like reserving the space to run them, and building knockout panels where they would connect to existing open spaces.

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[khris]

FYI, google maps now shows the PATH system.

I just saw that a few minutes ago, and kind of scratched my head. I never noticed it before, and now I know why.

 

[DSC]

The City is calling for tenders (closing mid-July) for the new PATH connection,

Scope of work:
1 The following is included to provide the respondent with a general understanding of the City’s intent for this project
a. To establish and confirm precise location, both vertically and horizontally of all existing utilities and under ground structures within the ROW and within the anticipated new N-W PATH Tunnel (PATH Tunnel) alignment across the Front Street R.O.W. and northward on York Street to the north side of the Wellington Street R.O.W.
b. Confirm the location both horizontally and vertically via a ‘hydro-vac’ method, or an alternate approved locating procedure, of locating all underground utilities , chambers, vaults, tunnels, duct banks and any unknown buried items in the alignment ‘footprint’ of the new PATH Tunnel.
c. Provide design and tender, documentation for the relocation of all utilities and underground structures that are required to be relocated in order for the construction and installation of the new North-West PATH Tunnel between the north-west corner of the Union Station moat and Wellington Street immediately east of York Street
d Provide a new PATH Tunnel concourse exiting from the North-West Corner of the Union
Station Moat and connecting to the existing PATH facility beneath Wellington Street immediately east of York Street.
e New PATH Tunnel to provide for lateral connections to appropriate and approved properties
adjacent to the PATH Tunnel along the existing York Street ROW as confirmed by the City of
Toronto. Possible connections include for the Royal York Hotel, the condominium at 33 University
Ave., the PATH connection at Wellington Street, west of York Street and others locations as
to be confirmed later.
f Provide for egress and ingress to the PATH Tunnel from grade locations along York
Street which will also be utilized as emergency exits from the PATH Tunnel as determined
by code and requirements of design as generally set out in the ESR.
g. The base PATH tunnel construction is to be of the following procedure:
- open cut and installation across Front Street and tunneling the remainder
from the north side of Front Street to Wellington, northward on York Street;
this will be inclusive of this PATH Tunnel being constructed over the
existing subway tunnel
h. Options that may be considered by the City after award of the contract to the successful proponent based on the base construction method will be either:
- tunneling the entire alignment inclusive of over/under the TTC Subway on
Front Street; or
- open cut and installation for the entire alignment of the new tunnel,
inclusive of over/under the TTC subway tunnel;