[Toronto - West]

possible St. Clair ROW extension west of Gunn's Loop

I remember hearing that there are/were plans to extend the St. Clair ROW west of Gunn's Loop as far as Jane St for the purpose of continuity as the extension would be able to feed Jane St with streetcars. The northeast corner of Jane St. and St. Clair was a vacant lot up until a few months ago when 4 houses were built.

Does anybody out there have information concerning this possible extension?

 

[CDL.TO]

I remember hearing that there are/were plans to extend the St. Clair ROW west of Gunn's Loop as far as Jane St for the purpose of continuity as the extension would be able to feed Jane St with streetcars. The northeast corner of Jane St. and St. Clair was a vacant lot up until a few months ago when 4 houses were built.

Does anybody out there have information concerning this possible extension?

Apparently they're waiting until the ROW is completed before considering the extension, but it is still planned and was included in Transit City.

 

[Toronto - West]

I stumbled upon this report, which answered my own question, but at the same time raised another.

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/pw/bgrd/backgroundfile-11853.pdf

"Given that the city has the intention of extending the St. Clair Ave. W. Streetcar right-of-way sometime in the future, staff believe that it would be prudent to take title to the top 3.5 metres of the lands in question...."

It sounds like the city is actively considering extending the St. Clair ROW to Jane St. as 3.5 meters of land is wide enough for an ROW, but room for a turning circle is not mentioned. Realistically, this will allow the St. Clair ROW to turn south at Jane St. and run all the way to the Jane St. subway.

 

[W. K. Lis]

It sounds like the city is actively considering extending the St. Clair ROW to Jane St. as 3.5 meters of land is wide enough for an ROW, but room for a turning circle is not mentioned. Realistically, this will allow the St. Clair ROW to turn south at Jane St. and run all the way to the Jane St. subway.

My third preference would be that the provision of a loop (or turning circle) at Jane and St. Clair maybe redundant if double-ended LRV's are used on St. Clair, when they become available. Then a cross-over at Jane and St. Clair is all that is needed.

However, my second preference would be joining the underground Jane LRT tunnel at St. Clair on the way down to Jane and Bloor. Or my first preference would have the St. Clair LRT continue down to Bloor via an underground Jane tunnel, but the Jane LRT would continue via the railway as part of the Downtown Relief Line.

 

[drum118]

Don't blame me for the jumpiness of the videos as they were shot on
Orion V5 6600's buses and prove steel wheels are better than rubber
wheels. No shock or suspension system and a rough ride the whole route.

Centre poles are going up east of Caledonia Rd and can been seen in
the videos.

Work is moving a lot slower than last year and the contractor has
about haft the crew they had last working on the sidewalks. Concrete
top coat is underway at Dufferin St and surprise they have not proceed
far since I saw them close 2 weeks ago.

Will post photo's later

From the front window.
Lansdowne Loop rebuilt May 6-08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMhpoL2GV0A

Bus ride from Caledonia Rd to Dufferin aboard a bumpy 6600's bus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmOxA4w_fE

From Keele to Caledonia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz8DThIwU7U

From Dufferin to St Clair W
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXk-Vnogwyo

 

[junctionist]

What is the plan for St. Clair west of Old Weston Road, where it narrows? Without widening the road and reconstructing the railway bridge, drivers and cyclists will have a single lane at that point until the Gunns loop.

 

[drum118]

What is the plan for St. Clair west of Old Weston Road, where it narrows? Without widening the road and reconstructing the railway bridge, drivers and cyclists will have a single lane at that point until the Gunns loop.

Nothing as it stands now other than a single lane.

Road can handle more room west of Weston/Keele Rd as it will be needed for that plan big box development on the north-west corner of the intersection.

Would require building a new bridge, but the city sold off the land along with CN where tracks could be relocated during construction of the first haft of the bridge.

The other problem is, GO is starting to build the grade separation for the junctions.

 

[Jonny5]

Don't blame me for the jumpiness of the videos as they were shot on
Orion V5 6600's buses and prove steel wheels are better than rubber
wheels. No shock or suspension system and a rough ride the whole route.

Centre poles are going up east of Caledonia Rd and can been seen in
the videos.

Work is moving a lot slower than last year and the contractor has
about haft the crew they had last working on the sidewalks. Concrete
top coat is underway at Dufferin St and surprise they have not proceed
far since I saw them close 2 weeks ago.

Will post photo's later

From the front window.
Lansdowne Loop rebuilt May 6-08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMhpoL2GV0A

Bus ride from Caledonia Rd to Dufferin aboard a bumpy 6600's bus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmOxA4w_fE

From Keele to Caledonia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz8DThIwU7U

From Dufferin to St Clair W
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXk-Vnogwyo

Good video's, despite the bumpy ride. Did you get the older woman operator who makes rambling 5 minute long announcements about the 2-hour transfer? I seem to get her twice a day. I can almost repeat her speech word for word now. I think Joe Mihevic asked the TTC to do a publicity blitz about it as there are posters all over St. Clair about it and I have seen him handing out flyers about it to people at St. Clair West at rush hour.

Note if you're driving along here, the rain and temperature change over the past few days seems to have opened up some more nasty potholes in the old concrete. I saw a nasty one between Winona and Oakwood in the westbound side this morning.

It will probably be strange and frustrating for people in the sections now under construction to have it all finished up yet no streetcar service for many months afterwards. They can't actually even do a test run as all the overhead west of Oakwood is gone now!

 

[CharmAlarm]

It will probably be strange and frustrating for people in the sections now under construction to have it all finished up yet no streetcar service for many months afterwards. They can't actually even do a test run as all the overhead west of Oakwood is gone now!

>>>Many months... more likely a couple of years; they're not plannning on starting work west of Caledonia until spring of NEXT year.

 

[drum118]

>>>Many months... more likely a couple of years; they're not plannning on starting work west of Caledonia until spring of NEXT year.

At least you will get to ride the streetcar as far as Lansdowne starting early Feb 2009.

I guess the city will bit the bullet and repave/rebuild the exist road to deal with the current condition. Only the intersections were to be rebuilt under the plan last year.

2011 is a real date for it to be finish 100%

 

[Toronto - West]

I have a question that was likely answered somewhere in this thread, but i'll ask it again.

What is the "life-span" of these tracks? 20 years before they have to be rebuilt?

I assume Phase 1 is finished, but the final phase will not be finished for another few years. Therefore, will it only be another 15 or so years before St. Clair is ripped up once again?

I realize that for the second time around, work will only be done on the tracks (which will reduce the construction time).

 

[RedRocket191]

20 to 25 years using the latest construction methods, and assuming no nasty surprises like sinkholes or a really bad winter.

 

[Voltz]

I remember reading somewhere that when the tracks need to be replaced in 20 -25 years, that only the top layer of concrete would need to be ripped up and repaved, the other layers would just stay there,

 

[Chris84]

What is the plan for St. Clair west of Old Weston Road, where it narrows?

The only plans I have seen for this part of the project date back to the '04 EA. These plans show road widening on both sides of the underpass but only a single traffic lane goes under: http://www.toronto.ca/wes/techservi...port/alt6_design_plates_nov11_final-part1.pdf (page 2)

It's discouraging to hear that the project completion date keeps getting pushed off further into the future. I wonder how quickly it could be finished if there were more manpower and resources devoted to it? Has the hydro undergrounding held back each stage of the project?
I hope Toronot's next LRT ROW doesn't get built at this pace (1 to 2 km per year).
As for Phase 1, I guess it's done, just not really finished. There are still redundant poles and some overhead wires. Is Hydro coming back to this? And why the heck are so many of the streetlights on all day?
The cables that close in the area under the platform railings have been vandalized at many of the stops. I have been advised that the cables will be replaced with steel tubing but for now they just remain as the vandals left them.

 

[junctionist]

Hopefully, the bottleneck won't that much of issue, but realistically there will probably be large backups at peak hours. Aesthetically, that bridge is grim too. It's dark and crumbling.