[Duck]

If Toronto is convinced that "Bombardier won't make new trains for the rt, so we have to replace it" (which I don't buy - anyone will build anything, for the right price... Toronto's new streetcars are essentially a totally customized mishmash of existing vehicle components, with lots of new ones, like the car ends)... another option would be to take the same Flexity Freedom trains that will run on the Eglinton Crosstown/Waterloo's ion, remove the pantograph, and build each train with a bolt-on current collector so it can use the existing 3rd and 4th rail power pickup. If you want to keep the trains as identical as possible, rebuild the racks just in each station by removing them and building them up ~half a metre with a lead in/lead out at the entrance/exit to each station. Just rails with a steel frame under them, so the lower floors of the LRV's line up with the existing platform. You can even leave the reaction rail down the centre. So simple.

This would cost a fraction of all of the other options being pursued!

I'd also recommend they paint them in the exact same colour scheme as the existing rt vehicles, though.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I know I can't wait to for a great view of the industrial plants and parking lots! Bring on the elevated park!

Like the view the bicyclists get on the Toronto Railpath?

Guess you can't have that in Scarborough. It is a "city" after all, not like old Toronto.

 

[M II A II R II K]

A bicycle and bus corridor would put it to good use.

 

[JayBeeGooner]

Like the view the bicyclists get on the Toronto Railpath?

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Guess you can't have that in Scarborough. It is a "city" after all, not like old Toronto.

The linear park is planned to be much than just a bike path. A simple bike path would a good use in the SRT corridor. GDB wants a "cultural icon" to attract tourists. Like tourists will want a view of industry and parking lots.

 

[LNahid2000]

Like the view the bicyclists get on the Toronto Railpath?

Guess you can't have that in Scarborough. It is a "city" after all, not like old Toronto.

If you walk up that bridge there actually is a really nice view, unlike the view (and smell) of garbage trucks that you'd get from being on the SRT tracks.

 

[salsa]

Like the view the bicyclists get on the Toronto Railpath?

Guess you can't have that in Scarborough. It is a "city" after all, not like old Toronto.

Is this some sort of joke? The railpath is actually very interesting if not charming, and whatever industrial buildings still remain are rapidly being razed, redeveloped, converted to condos, or getting heritage designations. How about you go on youtube and watch a cab ride of the SRT, and tell us how great it would be to walk there.

A few more from Glen Murry's twitter feed.

This is McCrappy Road. Not even a sidewalk!

The view from Midland station. What a stark contrast to Bloor street or Dupont.

If anyone wants to get a taste of what an industrial park trail looks like, please check out the Finch Hydro Corridor between Dufferin and Keele. It's pretty much exactly like in Scarborough, except there's more greenspace and the corridor is wider. Maybe you like that environment, but for most people it's supremely ugly.

And also, how are cyclists supposed to access the Scarborough Highline? The Railpath has many easy access points such as Wallace, Cariboo, Osler, Sterling, Ruskin, Randolph, and Perth. In Scarborough you have an elevated structure, and south of Ellesmere there are no side streets that intersect the corridor until you get to the Gatineau hydro corridor. It's very poorly connected to the city. An extension of the railpath or the creation of the Greenline would be a much better investment, and one that people will actually use.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I'll be a cynic and say perhaps the people who choose to make their home amongst the same grass, industrial parks, and random subdivisions.

Please don't mistake my gripes for subway envy but I get a very real feeling a lot of people in Toronto don't want the former Scarborough to develop into a more agreeable environment. Maybe it makes some of Toronto feel better about itself to have Scarberia-the-bad image out there where the polluting cars, brown people and big box stores live and (fortunately) they don't.

I'm not sure why you referenced "brown people" in your comment. I don't think you meant to suggest that people who oppose this have racist motivations, but that's how it could come across.

 

[ehlow]

There's nothing wrong with building a linear park or jogging trail in Scarborough. Sure the view is of ugly industrial parks, but so what? People who live there still need a place to walk their dog or bike.

What I find ridiculous though are the grandiose claims comparing it to the High Line in midtown Manhattan or saying it'll be a "world class attraction" or something.

If there was a linear park where the Gardiner is through downtown it would be quite an attraction. I'm sorry but the SRT trail going through Scarborough would be a nice park for those who live there, but people aren't going to fly here from Paris to see it.

West Toronto Railpath is excellent, and in my opinion, more scenic and cooler than the Scarborough thing would be, but that's my personal subjective opinion, I like that area's old warehouse & rail style more than I like the SRT route. With the UPX and possibly future ST/GO RER stations there, and several fairly large tech companies setting up big offices there in the old warehouses, the area is likely on an upswing.

Finch Hydro corridor is good. Sure it's not as scenic as other parks, but it's a good use of that space and people who live there will enjoy it.

I'm going to show some midtown neighbourhood pride here: the Belt Line trail is a really great former rail line turned park. Go from just north of Eg West station through Mt Pleasant Cemetary and down into the Don Valley & Evergreen Brickworks. You can continue on the Don trail all the way to the lake, then the beaches.

It would be amazing if there were a long continuous trail along the Scarborough Bluffs as well, from the east beaches eastwards along the shoreline. Now THAT would be quite an amazing attraction. Currently it's beautiful but disconnected at some points. If we're talking natural attractions in Scarborough, the bluffs is where it's at.

 

[nfitz]

There's nothing wrong with building a linear park or jogging trail in Scarborough. Sure the view is of ugly industrial parks, but so what? People who live there still need a place to walk their dog or bike.

Sure, nothing wrong at all.

But an elevated linear park, is going to cost the parks department real $ to maintain the concrete structure. And is the cost of that, worth the benefit.

Might it not be better, to take down the structure, and then have a liner park at ground surface from West Highland Creek (west of Midland station) to Scarborough Centre, with pedestrian crossings at Borough Drive, Brimely, and Midland?

 

[WislaHD]

If there was a linear park where the Gardiner is through downtown it would be quite an attraction. I'm sorry but the SRT trail going through Scarborough would be a nice park for those who live there, but people aren't going to fly here from Paris to see it.

Hmm, now I want the replace option for the Gardiner to include a linear park.

 

[ehlow]

Hmm, now I want the replace option for the Gardiner to include a linear park.

Once you've biked along the Gardiner (Ride for Heart), or even from driving along it, you'll know how incredible it would be as a High Line style park. Or even if it had a small walkway on the side or something.

I doubt it'll ever happen, but the views are incredible, especially now that there are towers sprouting all around it.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

There's nothing wrong with building a linear park or jogging trail in Scarborough. Sure the view is of ugly industrial parks, but so what? People who live there still need a place to walk their dog or bike.

I agree completely. I'm 100% in support of tearing down the elevated structure and installing a bike trail or whatever to replace it. But spending money to maintain an elevated park in that location just seems like a huge waste of money.

 

[Johnny Au]

The Scarborough RT path would pass by the Atlantic Packaging factory, which does not have the most pleasant smell.

It is said that Midland RT station is the worst smelling station in Toronto for this reason.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Once you've biked along the Gardiner (Ride for Heart), or even from driving along it, you'll know how incredible it would be as a High Line style park. Or even if it had a small walkway on the side or something.

I doubt it'll ever happen, but the views are incredible, especially now that there are towers sprouting all around it.

Oh my gosh, yes. I really do recommend that UTers take a walk on the Gardiner when it's next possible. The views there are amazing.

 

[ehlow]

The Scarborough RT path would pass by the Atlantic Packaging factory, which does not have the most pleasant smell.

It is said that Midland RT station is the worst smelling station in Toronto for this reason.

Crother's woods, a great mountain biking trail in the Don Valley, is near a sewage facility.

On a related note, Waterloo's mountain biking trails (which are really great) are near a garbage dump.