I've long dreamed of decking the corridor (linear park) but if you read the report and see how much hassle is involved in plunking down a pier... nevermind the ridiculous demand for $700,000 for the favour... decking the corridor seems an impossible dream in this town.

BTW, the Langkawi skybridge spans a greater distance than the rail corridor with a single support column. A heftier, but still all steel version for the corridor could have sub-assembly near the site (modular construction) with final assembly done after hours.

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Its time that the city starts talking tough with these railway companys that seem to own the place and bully the city around.
It seems that some of these 9-5 politicians that at the moment live at City Hall have very little vision and no balls regarding this issue.

It takes more than vision and balls to address building over a railway. You just may want to take a closer look at the Melbourne photo; specifically the tracks. The biggest issue for Toronto, exhaust, is a non-issue there.

P.S. Thanks for the reminder of just how bad Australian architectural design has become.
 
Craigieburn Bypass Pedestrian Bridge (Australia)

Design Team: Peter Tonkin, Neil Mackenzie, Heidi Pronk, Kon Vourtzoumis, Richard Healey-Finlay; Landscape Architecture: Taylor Cullity Lethlean; Artist: Robert Owen
Client: VicRoads
Cost of Construction: $16 million (AUD)

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It takes more than vision and balls to address building over a railway. You just may want to take a closer look at the Melbourne photo; specifically the tracks. The biggest issue for Toronto, exhaust, is a non-issue there.

P.S. Thanks for the reminder of just how bad Australian architectural design has become.

I do realize that most of the modern world have electrified their rail systems.

Regarding Exhaust. Where there is a will there is a way.

PS. Please look around :eek: before you start bad mouthing other countries architectural designs.
 
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I'm all for getting this bridge redesigned into something less ugly-duckling. All those pictures that have been posted have made me very jealous that we have no bridges that measure up.

I don't really have any skills that could help this along however. All I can do is add my voice and support.
 
Concord's Preliminary Rendering

Great to see this topic pop up while I was away!
This is Concord's starting point. They obviously are not willing to spend alot of money on this and are crossing fingers that the City chips in some dough.

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Almost exactly one year ago, Shawn Micallef wrote the following article in Spacing Magazine. While a dramatic re-design of the Bathurst Street bridge seems too ambitious to hope for (it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep cynicism at bay), his call to action seems perfectly suited to the much smaller project being discussed here. Give the article a read (link below).

Let’s build the Bathurst Bridge Toronto deserves
Posted by Shawn Micallef


"This is an important project for two reasons.

First, Toronto has the chance to build a real landmark. In the past, Toronto has built great pieces of public infrastructure in a manner this city deserves. Think of the RC Harris Filtration Plant in the Beach, or the Prince Edward Viaduct leaping across the Don Valley. These are iconic bits of city building that have come to define Toronto in our imaginations but have also become part of our lives, as familiar as our own living rooms. More recently, the pedestrian and cycling bridge over the mouth of the Humber River has achieved this status — Spacing even uses a photo of it on our promotional postcards. It is almost impossible to imagine Toronto without any of these structures now.

Great cities will often use bridge building as an excuse to construct something that reflects their collective civic pride — leaps of faith in themselves. Ten years ago London built a pedestrian bridge from the Tate Modern across the Thames to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The “Millennium Bridge,†with its bold and unique design by famed architect Sir Norman Foster (same fellow who did the Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building at University and College), has become as familiar and beloved a London landmark as the historic Tower Bridge just down the river.

For Toronto, Bathurst is an ideal location to engage in this kind of heroic city building. The current workaday bridge passes by and over Fort York, the birthplace of the city and one of our most sacred of civic spaces. As I wrote in The Toronto Star back in September, the land underneath the bridge is also the location of the original mouth of Garrison Creek and contains multiple layers of archeological heritage (read the article for more history of the bridge). This location deserves a striking landmark — one that would not only mark and respect this important area, but also create a welcoming and important new link to the waterfront, something Torontonians often express a desire for. Build this bridge well, and suddenly Toronto has a grand avenue leading to the lake the likes of which few cities could match.

LINK TO THE ENTIRE ARTICLE INCLUDING IMAGES:
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgu...ce+Toronto+pedestrian+bridge&gbv=2&hl=en&sa=G
 
I do realize that most of the modern world have electrified their rail systems.

And most of the modern world fits inside of Ontario with 40x the population. Anyhow, correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't that Melbourne's version of a subway hub?

Regarding Exhaust. Where there is a will there is a way.

Of course but, I can think of dozens of better uses for the money. It's not as if it won't ever be profitable to deck it over either.

PS. Please look around before you start bad mouthing other countries architectural designs.

Not exactly sure why this offends you so but, I don't need to look further to realize the home grown stuff in Australia is gawd awful with few exceptions.
 
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And most of the modern world fits inside of Ontario with 40x the population.

Where the heck you getting these figures.
Since we are talking about Down Under
Let me see, Australia is the 5th largest country in the world and about 5 times larger than Ontario with a little over double the population.:confused:
 
Here are some photos of mine of Millennium Bridge from back in October. There are so many places to take pictures of from on the bridge, Bankside and and the Tate, St. Pauls, Tower Bridge, The City, and soon enough the Shard which will have an amazing view from this bridge. The last one is in Canary Wharf.

A bridge should be more than just A-B, it should add to the aesthetic of the city and present new vantage points, and even outright become an attraction on its own. Box truss looks like a crane was laid across the tracks.

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Why stop there, that was only London....(all pictures mine)

An oldie but a goodie, Charles Bridge in Prague.

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How about this new gem in Venice. Apparently it caused quite the uproar with locals to do its modern nature. It lights up at night unlike the other areas of Venice.

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Why not tack some retail on there? Florence did.

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How about Barcelona? The bridge is only a few feet off the water, but look at the wave design, remind you of something? Look how packed it is!

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Who can forget Paris? I didn't keep my eye out for pedestrian only bridges but I did spot this one. Between the Louvre and D'orsay. Again, like the Charles bridge it's old but has some flavour to it. The nice wood planks, the light standards, and more.

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Look at what we would be missing out on. I think that travel should be a requirement for any city planner, they would realize there is more to it then 'just a bridge'.

Hopefully those examples show enough variety of what we could possibly do.
 
^^^

The difference is that all those bridges are above beautiful rivers or bodies of water. Nobody's going to stop and gaze over the train tracks.

Though I do think we need something better than what's been proposed, this is no place for a landmark bridge. Now, a bridge to the island on the other hand...
 

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