Weston Road Bridge

[jremazki]

I found this photo on the archives. Overview shot of the bridge in it's prime.

I live in the area North of St. Clair and East of Old Weston. The traffic congestion that is around the area has been exasperated by the fact that the Streetcar ROW took one lane away from the West side of St. Clair through to Keele. really bad move by the city considering the amount of big box stores (and more soon to come). I think rebuilding the Weston bridge would help connect the area to the Junction and west Junction Triangle. As well it would relieve the congestion problems.

The police division that is in the Junction (11 Division) is relocating to Davenport - just east of Old Weston. I hope that once they move in they realize the traffic problems in the area and move to petition for a new Weston bridge.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Another problem is the traffic on Dundas Street West between Dupont Street and Keele Street is very congested. Cars are using that roadway to gain access to Keele Street, which in turn is congested until Rogers Road. If the Old Weston Road bridge was made available, it would reroute some of the traffic in the area.

Such a bridge would also have to include the section between Junction Road and Davenport Road, which were and are controlled by crossing arms.

 

[Lone Primate]

Another problem is the traffic on Dundas Street West between Dupont Street and Keele Street is very congested. Cars are using that roadway to gain access to Keele Street, which in turn is congested until Rogers Road. If the Old Weston Road bridge was made available, it would reroute some of the traffic in the area.

Such a bridge would also have to include the section between Junction Road and Davenport Road, which were and are controlled by crossing arms.

I don't know what brought me back to this... oh, wait, yes I do, the Annette Street discussion... anyway, it's an intriguing idea to rebuild the bridge and take the pressure off Keele. The only complication I can see (other than the financing) is that the intersection in the Junction is already nuts. Reopening the Old Weston traffic conduit would probably make it nearly unmanageable. I'd go so far as to speculate that's at least part of the reason they closed it in the 1970s. Can anything think of another way that wouldn't involve putting the traffic off the rebuilt bridge right into that hopper, but would still serve the purpose of alleviating Keele Street?

 

[the lemur]

I was just thinking the other day that the Dundas/Dupont/Annette intersection needs to be rebuilt into more of a regular four-way intersection without any of the roads being split as they are now. If Dupont and Annette met each other straight on and Dundas then intersected with them just south of the north end of the current parkette island thing, a reconnected Old Weston Rd could connect to create a more 'conventional' six-points intersection (or dare I say it ... a roundabout?).

The only other thing I can think of is to try connecting Weston to Old Weston across the tracks, or connecting the stump of Keele south of Rogers with Weston north of St Clair. Not sure how that would work with the residential and industrial uses of the land there though.

 

[vic]

Fantasy: A big underground roundabout with a park on top. Pedestrians and cyclists, of course, would remain above-ground.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I was just thinking the other day that the Dundas/Dupont/Annette intersection needs to be rebuilt into more of a regular four-way intersection without any of the roads being split as they are now. If Dupont and Annette met each other straight on and Dundas then intersected with them just south of the north end of the current parkette island thing, a reconnected Old Weston Rd could connect to create a more 'conventional' six-points intersection (or dare I say it ... a roundabout?).

The only other thing I can think of is to try connecting Weston to Old Weston across the tracks, or connecting the stump of Keele south of Rogers with Weston north of St Clair. Not sure how that would work with the residential and industrial uses of the land there though.

Maybe rebuild it as a round-about or traffic circle?

 

[W. K. Lis]

 

[Lone Primate]

Maybe rebuild it as a round-about or traffic circle?

All interesting ideas. I wasn't big on round-abouts when they started popping up west of Toronto in recent years, but I'm starting to come around.

 

[Towered]

I'm not sure a roundabout would be a great idea here with the railway underpass.

 

[Lone Primate]

I'm not sure a roundabout would be a great idea here with the railway underpass.

Oh, pshah, you just have to yield as the train goes around the turn. Either that or race it...

 

[W. K. Lis]

Demolished in 1983, the Old Weston Road Bridge connected Dundas Street West at Annette Ave. on the south side of the railway line to Old Weston Road on the north, avoiding the congestion of the Keele/Dundas intersection and underpass that exists today. The two-lane, bi-way bridge comprised ramps at each end and a center steel truss which spanned the railway line.

The bridge was along the original route for Weston Road.

From link.

If the city will not construct a traffic bridge, why doesn't the city instead construct a cycling and pedestrian bridge over the same route? Make it strong enough for fire trucks in the process, so that emergency vehicles could use it to bypass the traffic congestion caused by all the single-occupant motor vehicles on Keele Street north of Dundas Street West.

From link.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I'm assuming that the Weston Road section between Keele Street and Rogers Road was orginally built to ease the "congestion" caused by the traffic crossing using the narrow Old Weston Road bridge and railway crossings.

 

[adma]

I'm assuming that the Weston Road section between Keele Street and Rogers Road was orginally built to ease the "congestion" caused by the traffic crossing using the narrow Old Weston Road bridge and railway crossings.

At what point did "new" Weston Road materialize? I might also imagine that the initiation of the Toronto Stock Yards in 1902 could have been a factor...