[44 North]

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John English makes a good point about the south side idea. But at what cost? If it's "fully fenced in" and under ATC signalling that'd mean nobody can cross it. It'd seal off that section of the roadway to the valley south of it. Not in a bollard that one can hop over fashion, but in a true subway-style with high chainlink and barbed wire. For what, a kilometre or thereabouts? Ultimate would be a separate bridge away from the roadway allowing continuous unhindered travel between Laird and Don Mills.

With regards to the capacity issue. This is an LRT line with surface sections. People are now wanting full grade-separation out to the airport, but this is not that kind of system. Yes it will eventually get over-capacity. But that's a worry in a few decades. If people want to get hung up on overcapacity issues look at Spadina/Harbourfront LRTs and Union Loop. That was undercapacity. So are the future plans for the waterfront LRT which is a single unit LRV (streetcar).

 

[Coolstar]

So much for thinking ML will do something about the BS Toronto has been doing. So Finch west would just be another St Clair.

I guess I'll have to just the subway crowd and support grade separated transit with this crap.

Eglinton West extension is starting to look good at this point.

 

[pw20]

Does anyone now the cost of rebuilding the Laird to Don Mills portion? I'm assuming once the Ontario Line is built to Don Mills the need for ATC signaling between Don Mills and Laird will become acute. I suppose they could just roll the cost into the Ontario Line cost...

 

[W. K. Lis]

Almost 300 trees are being cut down in a Toronto neighbourhood and residents aren't happy

Construction on the Crosstown LRT will stop for nothing — not a pandemic, and certainly not a ravine filled with trees. Over the past week, scores o…

www.blogto.com

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Thoughts?

I don't think this is as big of an issue as the article editorializes.

Likely there was a consultation meeting about the plans a year or more ago, which some didn't attend or didn't notice. Likely those who loathed the trees and didn't like the "varmints" the trees bring, so those were the ones who made their voices heard.

 

[Voltz]

Does anyone now the cost of rebuilding the Laird to Don Mills portion? I'm assuming once the Ontario Line is built to Don Mills the need for ATC signaling between Don Mills and Laird will become acute. I suppose they could just roll the cost into the Ontario Line cost...

I don't think it would cost that much in the grand scheme, but the best way to get the funding would be to roll it into the Ontario Line budget, which would require the need to be recognized.

Best way I could think of to rebuild would be to raise the eastbound lanes of Eglinton at Leslie, with a bridge built over the LRT and the westbound lanes to Leslie, so there would be no vehicles crossing the tracks, allowing for full service to Don Mills.

 

[Tuck]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This effing city. 15 years &amp; billions of dollars in the making and the Crosstown is only going to have &quot;limited signal priority.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/30wWPkRnEQ">https://t.co/30wWPkRnEQ</a></p>&mdash; John Michael McGrath (@jm_mcgrath) <a href="

https://twitter.com/x/status/1252700245110280193

">April 21, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Something we fear the most...glorified streetcar

Transportation planners in this city really love taking the word "rapid" out of "rapid transit."

What a joke. Light rail transit is wasted on this city.

 

[Tunafish13]

Just a quick update from walking by.

They are installing more shelters at the Pharmacy stop, no pictures yet but maybe later. I saw 3 shelters similar to the completed one on the north side of the rails, only the one completed one on the south side still. 2 of the 3 look slightly different than the completed one, they didnt have a backing (maybe it just hasnt been installed yet, but Im not sure)

Hopefully I can get pictures at some point

 

[Rasho]

Typical City of Toronto planning: no imagination, never change the status quo.

It doesn't surprise me whatsoever, like I said before; it's completely up to Toronto Transportation Services as to whether there will be signal priority activated on the corridor or not. If we had a somewhat visionary mayor, he/she would easily force their hand to make them activate it. But seeing as we have Tory in charge, dont hold your breath on it.

1st step of cripping the LRT has now been almost officially achieved. The next step: having the TTC cripple service by implementing their asinine stop and proceed procedure at switches, and slowing trains to 10km/r at all signalized intersections.

Is 10km/h operating speed at intersections official TTC operating policy for all streetcar routes?

 

[junctionist]

It's hard to believe that we're spending billions of dollars on the Crosstown only to have the status quo in terms of signal priority. All the LRT supporters said that it would be efficient with signal priority. And yet, here we are having a handful of left-turning vehicles get priority over a multi-billion dollar LRT line vehicle carrying dozens or hundreds of people at any given time.

 

[Amare]

Is 10km/h operating speed at intersections official TTC operating policy for all streetcar routes?

Seems to be how operators are being trained these days unfortunately. Old school operators are privy enough to know it's still safe to operate above that speed limit at signalized intersections. Other operators will literally take that policy and treat it like one of the Ten Commandments.

 

[salsa]

It's hard to believe that we're spending billions of dollars on the Crosstown only to have the status quo in terms of signal priority. All the LRT supporters said that it would be efficient with signal priority. And yet, here we are having a handful of left-turning vehicles get priority over a multi-billion dollar LRT line vehicle carrying dozens or hundreds of people at any given time.

It's the same thing also with the Viva BRT, where a bunch of money was spent on fancy bus infrastructure and yet the buses are not allowed to have priority unless it's running behind schedule. So perhaps it's not just the Toronto transportation heads that are the problem.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

It's hard to believe that we're spending billions of dollars on the Crosstown only to have the status quo in terms of signal priority. All the LRT supporters said that it would be efficient with signal priority. And yet, here we are having a handful of left-turning vehicles get priority over a multi-billion dollar LRT line vehicle carrying dozens or hundreds of people at any given time.

I mean this wasn't some mystery.

You can go eight years back in this thread and see people decrying over how 1 single car could hold up the Crosstown line at Leslie. Heaven forbid if there is ever a traffic accident at that intersection, the Crosstown would get shut down for an hour or more.

Not to mention the sheer idiocy of short turning trains at Laird Station, when anyone planning transit in the region could see that Eglinton and Don Mills is the obvious short-turning location.

How does one build a brand new massive infrastructure project and not future proof it for simple simple things, I do not know. Granted, these are the same people who are building twenty-five 1-storey subway station structures during a housing crisis and a planning regime that prioritizes housing at rapid transit stations.

 

[Towered]

It's hard to believe that we're spending billions of dollars on the Crosstown only to have the status quo in terms of signal priority. All the LRT supporters said that it would be efficient with signal priority. And yet, here we are having a handful of left-turning vehicles get priority over a multi-billion dollar LRT line vehicle carrying dozens or hundreds of people at any given time.

It's just Toronto being its usual self. It'll never change.

 

[junctionist]

I think we also have to question the merits of our current transportation department if they can't come with the most efficient ways to move people. It's clear that there are people with a lot of authority who are stuck with outmoded ways of thinking that every single transportation decision has to either prioritize drivers or achieve a totally even compromise with drivers. The latter goal might seem noble, but not when you're spending literally billions of dollars to try to achieve the most efficient transit system for moving people across longer distances.

With the streetcar ROW projects, the city could hide behind excuses that streetcars are local surface routes, and that they're increasing capacity and reliability with the ROW. But these excuses are not good enough when you're spending billions on LRT megaprojects billed as rational alternatives to subways for crosstown transportation. Without signal priority, these LRT projects are wasteful excesses that don't move the needle far enough in terms of transit improvements to justify their cost. It comes down to transportation department policies that are too pro-driver, ironically at the expense of efficient transportation in the city as a whole.

 

[drum118]

This is going to make a lot of people life a lot better

Decking Removal at Kennedy Station Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue East Mid-May 2020

WHAT WORK IS TAKING PLACE? Kennedy Station has advanced to a state to allow the temporary traffic deck to be removed from the roadway. The removal will take place in two stages. Crews will begin with the removals on the east side of the intersection. The first stage (depicted below) will begin mid-May 2020 and continue for approximately two (2) months. The removal of the decking will improve road surface quality. WORK AREA MAP HOURS OF WORK • Work is expected to begin mid-May for approximately two (2) months. • Construction works may occur between 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Monday to Sunday. • The contractor may not always work during the permitted hours but may do so at its discretion. • This traffic change and related construction activities may be delayed or rescheduled due to inclement weather or unforeseen circumstances. WHAT TO EXPECT • Crews will be removing traffic decking from the intersection using the crane and excavators. • Upon removal of the decking, backfill to the underside of utilities will follow, along with utility restoration. • Crews will then backfill to final subgrade. TRAFFIC IMPACTS • North-south traffic will be shifted to the west side of the intersection. • One northbound through-lane, left turn lane and right turn lane will be available. • One southbound shared through and right turn lane and left turn lane will be available. • One eastbound through-lane, right turn lane and left turn lane will be available. • One westbound through-lane, shared through and right turn lane and left turn lane will be available. PEDESTRIAN IMPACTS • The east north-south crosswalk will be closed for the duration of the works. TRANSIT INFORMATION • There will be no impacts to existing transit stops. • Relocation and re-routing of bus stops and buses is done in consultation with the TTC to ensure construction can continue safely while minimizing impact on the community and customers. • Visit www.ttc.ca for more information TRAVELLING SMART DURING CONSTRUCTION • Travel delays are expected with construction. Please allow extra time for your journey. • Traffic will be extra heavy at peak periods during the Eglinton Crosstown LRT construction. • Download the free ‘aCrosstown’ traffic app to get real-time traffic and transit information for Eglinton Avenue.