They've finally got a machine on site. Still no substantial work yet though.

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From walking by here recently I've noticed that interestingly the corner lot nearby where the Coffee Time was has been closed up and completely fenced off. Does anyone know what's going on there? I don't think there's another thread for it, but I hope that this development (Junction House) and further intensification around the nearby intersection can help improve the streetscape in this area which is a bit of a challenging to cross, desolate, buffer zone.

I live in the Junction Triangle and that intersection, in particular the pedestrian/cycling experience, is extremely hostile. The train tracks + the difficult to cross intersection without any real buildings around it are a bit of dead spot in the city-fabric — windswept, endless, and dangerous in the winter; scorching, brutal, and dangerous in the summer. As a result I feel like it introduces a bit of a barrier between the great pedestrian/local neighbourhood areas on Dundas in the Junction and on Dupont in the Junction Triangle. Development on that corner definitely has promise and with Junction House bringing in a bunch of new residents it will shift the centre of gravity of the Junction a bit west which will be helpful in tying it together with the Junction Triangle as well. Looking forward to it.

(P.S. There really should be another traffic light between Dundas/Dupont/Annette and Dundas/Keele too and I hope more people living around here might lead to that happening. The South side of the street which has a bunch of nice storefronts (that, as a result of the design of the street, I barely ever go to) is particularly hard to get to since you have to be on the north to go under the train tracks, and crossing at Dupont takes a long time, requires a double cross and feels dangerous and even that crosswalk doesn't feel super safe with this stretch of the street being full of fast moving cars on a blind turn.)
 
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Here's a photo below of the former Coffee Time mentioned, although there's been no details about what's happening there yet in the future.

Change is gradually happening for that intersection, as Gairloch also have a development in the works for the Active Green + Ross auto centre at 2639 Dundas West. The ongoing expansion of office, creative work space, and eventual plans for a market at the 1655 Dupont will also bring in more employment and commercial usage for the area.

I do agree that currently the Dupont/Annette/Dundas intersection is terribly hostile to navigate as a pedestrian. The under-utilized lots of the Coffee Time, Cash Money, and the auto centre create a comprehensively dead street scape. The north side pedestrian crossing over the side street, Old Weston Rd/Hook Ave, is confusing. The north-south crossing on Annette over Dundas is just an awkwardly long wait. While walking on the south side of Dupont under the bridge is just pointless as the curving street alignment takes you significantly south on Dundas, and there isn't a safe pedestrian crossing method provided for quite a bit of distance.

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Apparently the city has a plan to reconfigure the whole intersection, but knowing the sense of urgency that our local bureaucracy works with, don't expect anything to happen for 30 years.

And yes, I agree that Dundas should have another traffic light east of Keele. Indian Road would be an obvious choice.
 

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