[Therion]

It's been a terrible month for construction. It apparently rained 25 of 31 days in October.

 

[vz64]

Nov 17:

Hullmark Centre at the back:

 

[vz64]

Fall 2013? It would be good if they finish podium by then... I would say late 14-early 15.

 

[NYk Drne]

They recently completed adding the extra lane on Poyntz Avenue.

Here is a picture from a couple of weeks ago when the lines and the turn arrows were just being added.

The extra lane on the north side has required re-alignment of the pedestrian cross walk from the east side of Yonge at the south end of Hullmark. The crosswalk is now diagonal, without full pedestrian walk signals for those trying to cross from east to west.

Moreover, Hullmark construction (subway entrance?) on the east side has forced closing of the east sidewalk from the P&G driveway to Sheppard. People are supposed to cross to the west side of Yonge and then proceed north to the Sheppard intersection to cross back to the east side. People on the east, coming south have the same problem when coming from Sheppard. If they are on the east side, they need to cross to the west, walk down two blocks to Poyntz and then cross back to the east side.

Of course many are just walking along the east lane of Yonge Street, with cars, large trucks and buses passing just inches from them.

 

[vz64]

Good view! Here is a couple of shots from the street level, east and west sides accordingly:

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

They recently completed adding the extra lane on Poyntz Avenue.

Here is a picture from a couple of weeks ago when the lines and the turn arrows were just being added.

The extra lane on the north side has required re-alignment of the pedestrian cross walk from the east side of Yonge at the south end of Hullmark. The crosswalk is now diagonal, without full pedestrian walk signals for those trying to cross from east to west.

NYk Drne,.... the lane configuration on Poyntz between Yonge and Beecroft is temporary.

The following still needs to be redone,... again!
- the corner of Poyntz and Beecroft still needs to be rebuilt with more of a curve
- the north side of Poyntz just west of Yonge still needs another lane of traffic added so it will align with the new Annedale extension south of Tridel-Hullmark Centre
- the north side sidwalk on Poyntz near Yonge will need to be redone and shifted another 10-15 feet north.

All this was supposed to be done earlier this past Fall,.... but Bazis EmeraldPark is too far behind schedule and still needed a lot of that space for their equipement as you can see in your photo. The city already scheduled the road construction for this past fall,.... so they basically just did what they could,.... and will have to return again next year to finish it off (Bazis will be paying for the extra road construction,... or at least they should). This is why the traffic lighting in the area is still of the temporary type instead of fixed permanent type.

BTW,.... people at the city also hates working with Bazis,.... Bazis can't keep a schedule or their word. You really need to dot all the I's, cross all the T's and double check and triple check everything!

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Moreover, Hullmark construction (subway entrance?) on the east side has forced closing of the east sidewalk from the P&G driveway to Sheppard. People are supposed to cross to the west side of Yonge and then proceed north to the Sheppard intersection to cross back to the east side. People on the east, coming south have the same problem when coming from Sheppard. If they are on the east side, they need to cross to the west, walk down two blocks to Poyntz and then cross back to the east side.

Of course many are just walking along the east lane of Yonge Street, with cars, large trucks and buses passing just inches from them.

Subway entrance,... not quite,.... it was for the subway ventilation shaft work. Notice, there used to be a construction gate on Yonge in front of the South tower,... now that's closed off,... it used to have wood plates on the sidewalk and metal plates on the curb lane,... that's been patched up with concrete sidewalk and asphalt on the road,.... That was one of the sites for subway ventilation work,.... it took them about a year,.... city-TTC scheduled it nicely with the Tridel-HullmarkCentre construction,.... can't really complain,... Remember when Finch station had its subway ventilation system upgraded,... it took over 2 years and northbound Yonge traffic was reduced to about 1 or 2 lanes,.... that was a huge hassle,.....

When the city and developer-construction companies work together,... things usually run more smoothly for the community,....

 

[NYk Drne]

NYk Drne,.... the lane configuration on Poyntz between Yonge and Beecroft is temporary.

The following still needs to be redone,... again!
- the corner of Poyntz and Beecroft still needs to be rebuilt with more of a curve
- the north side of Poyntz just west of Yonge still needs another lane of traffic added so it will align with the new Annedale extension south of Tridel-Hullmark Centre
- the north side sidwalk on Poyntz near Yonge will need to be redone and shifted another 10-15 feet north.

Where did you get your information; only thing I could find on this was a hard to read map on the West Lansing Homeowners Association website, Traffic updates section, http://www.westlansing.ca/Development-Updates/Traffic-Updates.aspx, the map at the end of that posting is too small to really see and number of lanes is hard to make out.

 

[NYk Drne]

...Remember when Finch station had its subway ventilation system upgraded,... it took over 2 years and northbound Yonge traffic was reduced to about 1 or 2 lanes,.... that was a huge hassle,.....

I remember that only too well; added 10 to 15 minutes to everyone's commute.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Where did you get your information; only thing I could find on this was a hard to read map on the West Lansing Homeowners Association website, Traffic updates section, http://www.westlansing.ca/Development-Updates/Traffic-Updates.aspx, the map at the end of that posting is too small to really see and number of lanes is hard to make out.

NYk Drne,... you know what they say,... "Sorry, but I can't reveal my sources"

If you noticed,... on that West Lansing Homeowner's Association website you're refering to,... Phase 1 was supposed to be completed in summer of 2012,... but didn't even start until September and finished only a couple of weeks ago. Why? EmeraldPark is way behind schedule,... constant delay and stalling the city,.... this kept getting pushed back until it was basically at the end of the road construction season! Phase two for aligning the new Anndale extension and Poyntz Ave (widening Poyntz another 10-15 feet north along the north side close to Yonge) is relatively simple and should have been done with the Phase 1 work on Poyntz,... originally scheduled for this fall or early 2013,... looks more like Fall 2013 now,... again, EmeraldPark is way behind schedule,... their east tower should have been way above ground level by now,... like HullmarkCentre's south tower,... look at the land for Anndale extension just south of HullmarkCentre, its been ready for road work since last Spring,... but on paper Tridel still owns that property until they officially hand it over to the city next year. Problem with Poyntz is that its a live road with everyday traffic whereas Anndale extension not. BTW, anyone remember Bazis president & CEO saying he'll pull all the stops (overtime, weekend work, extra pay, etc,...) to aggressively build EmeraldPark quickly,...

That diagram you refer to on the West Lansing Homeowner's website, basically show what it looks like now,... with regards to Poyntz,.... the north side of Poyntz at Yonge Street needs to be widen another 10-15 feet north,... so that traffic from Anndale won't hit the sidewalk! And the north-east corner of Poyntz and Beecroft will be more of a gentle curve instead of the current sharp 90 degree turn,... These were 2 of the main traffic issues raised by the city and EmeraldPark had to give up some of their property at these areas so that the city can widen the north side of Poyntz close to Yonge and build a gentle road curve at Poyntz and Beecroft.

The 3rd phase is basically street cosmetics,... the centre median south of Poyntz/Anndale is still up for debate,... there's suggestion of it extending to Anndale/Florence and eliminating the left turn lanes on Yonge onto Johnston/Glendora,... but I think a better idea is instead of a centre median, shift southbound/northbound Yonge traffic closer to the centre and use the extra room for bike lanes.


BTW, on the West Lansing Homeowner's Association website,.... that Double Crossover Diamond with Overpass-Underpass Crossovers for the Yonge-401 interchange seems very innovative. The consultants the city hired to examine and make recommendation for the Yonge-401 interchange should be coming out with their recommendations right about now,... or at least that was the schedule from last Spring. I think the city is favouring a Double Crossover Diamond with signalized intersections at the crossovers,... but that would have stop and go traffic and only give about half the performance of the Double Crossover Diamond with Overpass-Underpass Crossovers.

With the Double Crossover Diamond with Overpass-Underpass crossover high performance solution all the on ramps and off ramps are free flowing (thus clearing the southbound Yonge to Eastbound 401 traffic and also Westbound 401 to northbound & southbound Yonge),... it eliminates two signalize intersections,.... there's no traffic lights between Avondale/Florence and WilliamCarson. You see how that clever shared centre sidewalk in the middle of Yonge Street under the 401 overpass,.... pedestrian traffic from both side of Yonge Streets merge at the shared centre sidewalk and once they're at the other side of teh 401 overpass, they can continue on their original side of Yonge Street or the other side - thereby crossing Yonge Street without a signalized intersection,.. so cars don't have to stop!

Anyways, that insane southbound Yonge to eastbound 401 flyover idea to build a flyover over all 16 lanes of the 401 is basically dead,.... it's way too expensive, city thinking maybe $35 million,... MTO thinks it'll be closer to $50 million,... they don't want to spend that kind of money on just one ramp!

Anyways,... officially, on paper, there's currently no funding for any improvement to the Yonge-401 interchange,.... there's just money for the consultant report,... from there the city and MTO will need to find the money.... they basically already agreed to split the cost.

 

[NYk Drne]

NYk Drne,... you know what they say,... "Sorry, but I can't reveal my sources"

If you noticed,... on that West Lansing Homeowner's Association website you're refering to,... Phase 1 was supposed to be completed in summer of 2012,... but didn't even start until September and finished only a couple of weeks ago. Why? EmeraldPark is way behind schedule,... constant delay and stalling the city,.... this kept getting pushed back until it was basically at the end of the road construction season!

Phase two for aligning the new Anndale extension and Poyntz Ave (widening Poyntz another 10-15 feet north along the north side close to Yonge) is relatively simple and should have been done with the Phase 1 work on Poyntz,... originally scheduled for this fall or early 2013,... looks more like Fall 2013 now,... again, EmeraldPark is way behind schedule,... their east tower should have been way above ground level by now,...

Wow--a lot of info Sunnyray; I did not think you could reveal your sources, but it was worth a try.

There have been many comments on this thread about the delay for this project, but it does seem to be moving pretty well now. The west tower is almost to ground, but the east is well behind.

The road re-alignments are quite complicated; it will be interesting to see what finally comes about--in particular what you said about the final report on the transportation study coming out soon.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

If you recall,... both Bazis EmeraldPark and Tridel HullmarkCentre came to market at the same time,... they had competing condo sales offices basically right across Yonge Street from each other,... and now with construction well underway, Bazis EmeraldPark finish date is at least a year behind Tridel HullmarkCentre. What happened? It comes down to experience and people,... Bazis is still very green in the Toronto scene,... If you walk around both construction sites, you'll see even Tridel construction workers look more like professional construction workers,... Tridel goes after and hires better people,... On any project the developer needs to work with city staff (planners, inspectors, etc,..),... Tridel knows which city staff knows their stuff and Tridel will actually steal them from the city! Remember all the city cut backs, some of these city employees took their nice package and the next day they're working for Tridel!

Vaughan and Markham, cities in expansion mode, has also been poaching Toronto city staff,... the end result, is most city department are now short staff and generally unmotivated,... Some of the well experienced staff that took their packages, get hired back as "consultants",... at consultant rates! They were already short staff before Mayor Ford,... Miller was implimenting lefty idiology at the cost of the city's core services (Who cares about crap like plastic bag tax,... just focus on delivering core city services and do it properly),... Ford came in to cut expenses and was cutting across the board,... Anyways, end result now,.. it takes forever to get the proper permits.

As for the roads,... it'll always be a mess especially on Yonge between Sheppard and 401,... they should have expanded both Doris-Tradewind and Beecroft right to the 401.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

I'll probably get a lot of disagreement on this but I've long thought that when Beecroft and Doris were extended to Finch that both of them should have been uni-directional: Beecroft southbound, Doris northbound.

 

[CityPlaceN1]

Yonge is a mess already. Making the ring roads a mess would make things even worse. Need more side streets that are accessible to Yonge and to Sheppard and Finch.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

I'll probably get a lot of disagreement on this but I've long thought that when Beecroft and Doris were extended to Finch that both of them should have been uni-directional: Beecroft southbound, Doris northbound.

Don't worry about disagreements,.... these forums are an avenue to exchange and debate ideas.

On the HullmarkCentre thread, in post# 941 ReaperExpress has a similar view,.... NYCC Service Roads should be one way with Doris northbound and Beecroft southbound.
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showth...e-(NYCC-Tridel-Hullmark-44-35s-Kirkor)/page63


I can certainly see the logic in having Doris northbound and Beecroft southbound,.... the simpler right turns at Yonge between 401 and Sheppard,.... basically (after getting off Hwy 401) northbound Yonge traffic would make a right turn onto eastbound Avondale or Anndale (when that extension is open next year) then a left onto Tradewind/Doris (when they become connected),.. likewise, southbound Beecroft traffic at Poyntz and Yonge would make a simple right turn onto southbound Yonge. This avoids problematic left turn at Yonge which would lead to more traffic congestion.

The problem is practicality,.... if you walk around NYCC, you'll notice that most of the high density condos are to the east of Yonge (more offices are on west side of Yonge in NYCC),... between Yonge and Doris Ave,... and in morning rush hour, many of these condo dwellers want to head south to get on Hwy 401. But Doris Ave would be northbound! Thus, they'll have to drive north on Doris a bit to Greenfield/Elmhurst or Elmwood/NorthYorkBlvd or Empress/ParkHome or Church/Churchhill or Finch, etc,... to drive another half km to get to the southbound Beecroft,... but halfway there, they come across southbound Yonge,... hmmmm,... tempting! Why drive another 250m west to Beecroft to travel a few 100m south on Beecroft when eventually you'll need to backtrack another 250m east to get back onto Yonge?!?!? Compound this with the office traffic coming into NYCC,... off Hwy 401 to northbound Yonge then northbound Doris and since most offices in NYCC are on the west side they'll also need to go westward along Greenfield/Elmhurst or Elmwood/NorthYorkBlvd or Empress/ParkHome or Church/Churchhill or Finch. Thus in AM peak time, both local condo dwellers AND office traffic are going westward along these small streets! Who's going eastbound? It's heavy unbalanced traffic,.... this heavy westbound traffic will need longer green signal light at Yonge,... and thus longe red signal for Yonge traffic causing futher delay for Yonge traffic.

The one way street idea would work a bit better in the after noon rush hour since more of the northbound Yonge traffic are diverted to northbound Doris to the condos on the east side,.... and traffic from the office on the west side of Yonge will do south on Beecroft towards Yonge then Hwy 401. But the AM peak time traffic is much more critcal than PM peak time traffic,... since people have to get to work on time in the AM,.... PM rush hour traffic is more spread out.

It's very tough to make a oneway street network work efficiently. Hamilton downtown is basically all oneway streets,... but its downtown retail is basically dead since nobody stops to shop. Westbound Richmond and Eastbound Adelaide in downtown Toronto work well as one way streets because they run the length of the downtown core and have direct access to the DVP. In addition, there's no major artery between them - King and Queen Streets are clogged with streetcars. These are issues with making Beecroft and Doris oneway streets,... they don't have direct connection to Hwy 401 and Yonge Street is right between them,... promoting even more traffic onto Yonge Street,... the NYCC Service Ring Roads were suposed to get local traffic off Yonge Street!