[sunnyraytoronto]

Anyone remember that song from the 1980's,.... "I gotta feeling somebody's watching me,....." Huh? Nobody remembers it???? Wow, now I feel old!!!

Anyways,.... This is on top of the traffic signal pole on the northwest corner of Yonge & Poyntz/Anndale,.... right in front of EmeraldPark TTC subway entrance & Presotea,.... I'm guessing they installed this within the last few weeks,....

It's a traffic camera to watch over the intersection of Yonge & Poyntz/Anndale,.... since it's been identified as a problematic intersection by WestLansingHomeownersAssociation, YongeCorridorCondominiumAssociation, local Councillor and City Transportation Services. This is interesting in that this camera seems to be a permanent traffic camera (very small compared to those huge MTO highway traffic cameras),..... not to be confused with the temporary data collection traffic camera that are temporarily attached to light post throughout the Yonge corridor for the city to collect further data for ReImagining Yonge Street study - those ones look more like a white horn on top with lunch box size metal box on sidewalk.

 

[AHK]

.......this camera seems to be a permanent traffic camera (very small compared to those huge MTO highway traffic cameras),..... not to be confused with the temporary data collection traffic camera that are temporarily attached to light post throughout the Yonge corridor for the city to collect further data for ReImagining Yonge Street study - those ones look more like a white horn on top with lunch box size metal box on sidewalk.

Those 'huge MTO highway traffic cameras' have been progressively replaced by the much smaller modern technology cameras like the one shown in the photo. I cannot remember when I last saw one of the old style MTO cameras which would swivel visibly away from the sun, facing west in the morning, and east in the afternoon. I presume the modern replacement cameras would swivel as well, but as they are much smaller - the rotating components would be contained completely within the clear, presumably plastic housing.

 

[11th]

..
Currently, the city is considering adding wide protected cycle track along Yonge Street in North York Centre, 3 concerns for EmeraldPark Retail, Office tenants and residents:
- the wide cycle track would shave off part of or eliminate the new in-ground tree planters in the pedestrian sidewalk on Yonge Street in front of EmeraldPark
- based on the retail customer, office and residential demographic of EmeraldPark which does not seem to cycle much, the reduction of vehicular traffic lanes from 6 down to 4 on Yonge Street north of Sheppard will adversely affect customers driving to EmeraldPark by way of increasing the level of local traffic congestion
- elimination of left turns from northbound Yonge to westbound Bogert Ave and also to westbound Sheppard Ave will make it more difficult for cars going to EmeraldPark...

Not just from northbound Yonge, but also southbound. Unless they can find a way to divert the left turning traffic efficiently, it's going to be a disaster. The only solution I can think of is to loop around Bogert+Beecroft and Greenfield+Doris.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Not just from northbound Yonge, but also southbound. Unless they can find a way to divert the left turning traffic efficiently, it's going to be a disaster. The only solution I can think of is to loop around Bogert+Beecroft and Greenfield+Doris.

From my personal observations, during PM PeakTime: For northbound Yonge Street to westbound Sheppard Ave West left turn, during a signal cycle the duration of the left turn only signal will allow 4 vehicles to make their left turn and another 2 during the yellow signal phase. During the same traffic signal cycle, another 4 left turning cars are able to sneak in their left turns at northbound Yonge to westbound Bogert Ave and use this as a detour. Under the ReImagining Yonge Street Study proposal, both of these left turns will be closed via tree lined centre medians. Given today's traffic situation, that means 10 left turning cars here will need to find alternative routes. Of these 10 left turning cars per signal cycle, about 3/4 continue westbound on Sheppard and about 1/4 will go northbound on Beecroft.

11th, I think I understand what you're saying,.... instead of doing the left turn at the desired intersection; go straight through that intersection and then do 3 consecutive right turns. Thus, instead of doing the left turn from northbound Yonge Street to westbound Sheppard Ave West; go northbound straight through the intersection of Yonge & Sheppard, then do a right turn onto eastbound Greenfield Ave, then do a right turn onto southbound Doris Ave, then do a right turn onto westbound Sheppard Ave West, then as you pass by Yonge & Sheppard intersection again you're finally going westbound on Sheppard Ave which is what you wanted to do,.... Note: this method requires you to drive southbound on Doris Ave,.... but the geniuses at the city are currently considering making Doris Ave and Beecroft Road one way streets to improve the flow of traffic on the service roads when lane reduction happens on Yonge Street; it'll most likely northbound Doris Ave and southbound Beecroft Road,... since this will promote the easier right turns from and onto Yonge Street between the critical Highway 401 and Sheppard area. Of course, that means if you live in a condo in NorthYorkCentre, you'll need to use Doris Ave for northbound and then go almost half a kilometre away to Beecroft Road for southbound,....

Notice, the three northbound Yonge traffic lanes become 2 traffic lanes just north of Sheppard,.... thus creating a bottleneck for northbound Yonge Street traffic. Doing the right turn from northbound Yonge to eastbound Greenfield Ave,.... notice how they widen the pedestrian sidewalk along Greenfield,... at the cost of narrowing the roadway of Greenfield Ave,..... this shorten the distance for pedestrian crossing Greenfield Ave but it makes it much more difficult to make a right turn onto Greenfield Ave. Anyone familiar with this intersection knows there's a very heavy westbound Greenfield Ave to southbound Yonge left turn here.

In addition, the geniuses at the city are hoping to build this ReImagining Yonge Street Study proposal with Yonge Street lane reduction and redirection of traffic onto Beecroft and Doris in 2018,... problem is Doris Ave extension south of Sheppard to Avondale Ave won't be completed until 2019 at earliest but more likely 2021 - since the city still need to acquire 1 more property along the proposed extension.

 

[amnesiajune]

Of course, that means if you live in a condo in NorthYorkCentre, you'll need to use Doris Ave for northbound and then go almost half a kilometre away to Beecroft Road for southbound

Every other major city in the world seems to do fine with this.

Notice, the three northbound Yonge traffic lanes become 2 traffic lanes just north of Sheppard,.... thus creating a bottleneck for northbound Yonge Street traffic.

One of the three lanes is a right turn lane, which should help manage traffic a bit. Just two things that the city should do IMO - (1) change the configuration at the corner to something like SB Yonge @ Finch, possibly with a raised/separated bike lane, so that it's safer for bikes, faster for cars and people don't "cheat" the right turn lane, and (2) improve the left turn at Doris, possibly adding a second left turn lane and dedicated signal on Sheppard.

Anyone familiar with this intersection knows there's a very heavy westbound Greenfield Ave to southbound Yonge left turn here.

It looks like they're going to make Greenfield a one-way, one-lane road eastbound. If the road widths are to scale then there's definitely no room for two-way traffic.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

One of the three lanes is a right turn lane, which should help manage traffic a bit. Just two things that the city should do IMO - (1) change the configuration at the corner to something like SB Yonge @ Finch, possibly with a raised/separated bike lane, so that it's safer for bikes, faster for cars and people don't "cheat" the right turn lane, and (2) improve the left turn at Doris, possibly adding a second left turn lane and dedicated signal on Sheppard.

Why do you think the vehicular traffic is so heavy for southbound Doris Ave to eastbound Sheppard Ave East left turn? It's because many of the drivers from the condos in the Yonge Corridor of NorthYorkCentre have given up on Yonge Street when going onto Highway 401,.... so they would rather travel an extra 2km east on Sheppard Ave to use the Bayview - Highway 401 interchange. And that makes Bayview-Sheppard-401 the worst intersection in Toronto,.... 2nd is Yonge-Sheppard-401
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...fies_top_10_most_congested_intersections.html

Anyways,.... as for your idea of adding double dedicated left turn lanes for southbound Doris Ave to eastbound Sheppard Ave East left turn,.... sure, I'll forward that idea,... oh, already did! And to be executed in the Doris Ave extension south of Sheppard to Avondale project,.... which should be built in 2019-2021. Option B (skewed intersection) was the selected design: http://www.slideshare.net/TorontoPCU/nyc-service-rdslides20150527e

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Every other major city in the world seems to do fine with this.

Actually,... many of your "every other major city in the world" with one way streets,.... have been converting back to 2 way streets!

"The call for conversions, which began in earnest two decades ago, has only become louder, and other cities around the world, including St. Catharines, San Francisco, Denver and Calgary, to name just a few, have made similar conversions a priority."
http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/6205093-the-spectator-s-view-too-many-one-way-streets/

Why?

One way streets are a "hindrance to this city's economic health."
"Urban experts everywhere decry one-way streets, as do many businesses located on them."
"Those who promote so-called Smart Cities, or envision the cities of tomorrow, know one-way streets defy logic. They may attract traffic to thoroughfares, but they do not necessarily lessen a city's traffic congestion on the whole, as modern studies have shown. They do, however, discourage people, pedestrians, shoppers, urban dwellers …"
"One-way streets dampen vibrancy, are difficult to navigate, and cost money for businesses and taxpayers and tourist outlets. They may look environmentally responsible, but they are not."
"They are debatably less safe, because it is generally agreed that motorists drive faster on one-way streets. "
http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/6205093-the-spectator-s-view-too-many-one-way-streets/

"This is no longer in doubt: our one-way streets are strangling the lower city. Every single expert who comes to Hamilton tells us the same thing!"
https://raisethehammer.org/article/1957/
The above article gets into more technical details of why one-way streets are so terrible from a traffic engineering and urban planning point of view.


The bigger threat is the lost of parking on Yonge Street,... since many of the retail establishments along Yonge Street from Florence/Avondale to FinchHydroCorridor where ReImagining Yonge Street Study focuses on are ethnic retailer,... specifically, Korean, Persian and Chinese,.... their customer base come from a much larger geographical area,... and visit multiple stores per trip loading up on their ethnic groceries and other items,... hence, many drive and require parking,... if they can't find convenient on-street parking they'll go elsewhere,.... as we're seeing in KoreaTown on Bloor where many of those Korean businesses have seen a 40% drop in business due to the lost of on-street parking.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...-concerned-about-bloor-bike-lanes-impact.html

The lost of on-street parking will essentially result in the ethnic-cleansing of the retailers in KoreaTown on Bloor,... and KoreaTownNorth on Yonge,... the Persian and Chinese businesses on Yonge in NorthYorkCentre will also suffer too,.... and without these ethnic retailers - Yonge Street will lose it's vibrancy,.... so a city project, ReImagining Yonge Street Study, which was supposed to improve the streetscape and improve vibrancy in the area,... will have the opposite effect!


Thus, one way streets and lost of on-street parking won't help the economic survival of the retailers on Yonge including those within EmeraldPark.

 

[amnesiajune]

"This is no longer in doubt: our one-way streets are strangling the lower city. Every single expert who comes to Hamilton tells us the same thing!"

FFS, Hamilton is one fifth the size of Toronto. What major city is being "stangled" because their road network uses one-way streets extensively? Montreal? New York City? Washington DC? Chicago? Seattle? San Francisco? Dublin, London, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, Oslo, Stockholm? Can you name one major city in the world - not a decaying rust belt city - that's trying to turn its one-way streets into two-way streets?

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

FFS, Hamilton is one fifth the size of Toronto. What major city is being "stangled" because their road network uses one-way streets extensively? Montreal? New York City? Washington DC? Chicago? Seattle? San Francisco? Dublin, London, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, Oslo, Stockholm? Can you name one major city in the world - not a decaying rust belt city - that's trying to turn its one-way streets into two-way streets?

I already did! I already named "one major city in the world" out of your list of major cities in the world: "Montreal? New York City? Washington DC? Chicago? Seattle? San Francisco? Dublin, London, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, Oslo, Stockholm?",.... "that's trying to turn its one-way streets into two-way streets",.... and that would be SanFrancisco!

Actually,... many of your "every other major city in the world" with one way streets,.... have been converting back to 2 way streets!

"The call for conversions, which began in earnest two decades ago, has only become louder, and other cities around the world, including St. Catharines, San Francisco, Denver and Calgary, to name just a few, have made similar conversions a priority."
http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/6205093-the-spectator-s-view-too-many-one-way-streets/

 

[amnesiajune]

I already did! I already named "one major city in the world" out of your list of major cities in the world: "Montreal? New York City? Washington DC? Chicago? Seattle? San Francisco? Dublin, London, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, Oslo, Stockholm?",.... "that's trying to turn its one-way streets into two-way streets",.... and that would be SanFrancisco!

You mean this San Francisco?

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

You mean this San Francisco?

Read the articles I linked to in previous posts,.... the movement in SanFrancisco and elsewhere is to get rid of those one way streets,.... as in Hamilton, it's a slow process,.... but it's happening.

 

[pipolchap]

based on the retail customer, office and residential demographic of EmeraldPark which does not seem to cycle much, the reduction of vehicular traffic lanes from 6 down to 4 on Yonge Street north of Sheppard will adversely affect customers driving to EmeraldPark by way of increasing the level of local traffic congestion

Really? Please stick to facts and don't make things up. Does 16 lanes of the 401 south of it not bring enough people? Have you checked out World on Yonge up at Doncaster? It's deserted! Do you really think people north of Finch are EmeraldPark's target consumers? Why don't you ask Bill123?

Don't know about Emerald Park itself, but much of the area supports cycle tracks based on the REImaging Yonge study! Too bad for the others that like to treat this area as a freeway rather than contributing to the area. Hope they use Bathurst and Bayview more to get to the 401!

 

[amnesiajune]

Read the articles I linked to in previous posts,.... the movement in SanFrancisco and elsewhere is to get rid of those one way streets,.... as in Hamilton, it's a slow process,.... but it's happening.

In San Francisco, the "movement" is only happening in low-density residential neighbourhoods, where all traffic should be local. Streets like Kenneth and Dudley, not Doris and Beecroft. In Montreal, those areas have been getting one-way streets that change direction every few blocks for similar reasons. They're still very happy with extensive use of one-way streets in commercial and high-density areas.

 

[UD2]

Really? Please stick to facts and don't make things up. Does 16 lanes of the 401 south of it not bring enough people? Have you checked out World on Yonge up at Doncaster? It's deserted! Do you really think people north of Finch are EmeraldPark's target consumers? Why don't you ask Bill123?

Don't know about Emerald Park itself, but much of the area supports cycle tracks based on the REImaging Yonge study! Too bad for the others that like to treat this area as a freeway rather than contributing to the area. Hope they use Bathurst and Bayview more to get to the 401!

I don't think Yonge at any point can be treated as a freeway to the 401. Most people would love to avoid Yonge but the problem is the next on-ramp west of Yonge is at the Allen, which is adds 20 minutes to the drive along Sheppard, while driving east to Bayview along Sheppard is just as congested as driving south on Yonge. As of this point, Yonge street should be focused on car traffic first, and bike lanes should be sent to the ring roads on either side. It's not preferred, but a necessity due to real life.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Really? Please stick to facts and don't make things up. Does 16 lanes of the 401 south of it not bring enough people? Have you checked out World on Yonge up at Doncaster? It's deserted! Do you really think people north of Finch are EmeraldPark's target consumers? Why don't you ask Bill123?

What you're missing is that these are ethnic stores,.... ethnic stores in an ethnic market place,.... and they can't be treated like regular non-ethnic Canadian stores,... because many of the customers they rely on come from further distance.

Since you brought it up,.... WorldOnYonge is a prime example. All the retailers at WorldOnYonge can't just rely on the residents from the development within WorldOnYonge; nor can they just rely on the locals in the communities within walking and cycling distance of WorldOnYonge. Why???

Likewise, all the retailers here at EmeraldPark can't just rely on the residents of the 565(+18) condo units from the development within EmeraldPark; nor can they just rely on the locals in the communities within walking and cycling distance of EmeraldPark,... again, Why???? If they could the retail area of EmeraldPark would be packed by now full of open stores and customers,....

Now, I'm assuming you've been to an ethnic market area of town like Chinatown at Dundas & Spadina, or ChinatownEast, or LittleIndia, KoreaTown, KoreaTownNorth, etc,.... watch the people, watch the shoppers,... how to they get there, where are the places they go shopping, how many bags do they leave with, how do they leave,.... most of them aren't locals within walking and cycling distance of these ethnic market places,.... many of them take transit or drive there,... these ethnic market place relies on customers from outside the local walking and cycling distance,.... many of the customers from these ethnic market places come from a much greater distance and thus requires transit and cars,.... these customers coming from a greater distance won't just buy one dinky thing and then go back home; they've already committed more time and money to get to that ethnic market place so in order for that trip to make sense they have to purchase more! Visit more stores and buy more items,... good luck walking all those items home or carrying them on your bike!

What will happen when ReImagining Yonge Street Study proposal eliminate the on-street parking on Yonge Street in NorthYorkCentre? The supply of local parking spaces go down,... the private supplier of parking spaces can start charging more,... the end result is not good for the ethnic stores along Yonge Street,... as we're seeing in KoreaTown on Bloor Street now where many of the Korea business reported about 40% lost in business due to the lost of on-street parking on Bloor Street,...
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...-concerned-about-bloor-bike-lanes-impact.html

The ReImagining Yonge Street Study proposal will result in the ethnic cleansing of the ethnic retailers on Yonge Street in NorthYorkCentre,.....


Right now, the only non-ethnic Canadian retailer that will be opening at EmeraldPark is the TimHortons! Metro who purchased the entire 2nd floor retail space seems to have bailed and thus their LCBO and Starbucks is up in the air,... even though the LCBO store construction has be completed for 1.5 years already!

Right now, EmeraldPark retailers isn't one specific ethnic group but they make up a variety of ethnicities generally selling ethnic food or targeting an ethnic market,.... there's currently 2 clothing alteration places within the EmeraldPark mall (both of which used to be in SheppardCentre Mall but moved due to that malls renovation and won't be back since RioCAN jacked up rent for after SheppardCentre mall renovation since they don't care about the small retailers) - Pearl Cleaners owned by Korean and Fancy Dry Cleaners and Alterations (formerly Woodbine) owned by Persian,... guess what, the Persian customers tend to go to the Persian alteration place and the Asian customers tend to go to the Korean alteration place.