I walked down to QQ today around the lunch hour. I was pretty shocked at how all the modes seem to “merge” at York Street on the south side. I can’t imagine what the chaos is like on the weekend. Two guys were crossing the street and were standing in the streetcar lane (I don’t think it was fully their fault compared to how other streets in the city are designed and how people are used to crossing the street). The streetcar honked at them a few times until they moved but didn’t slow down – I’m sure this happens all the time.


The point I wanted to make is, this is a radical street design compared to the rest of the city, as the city favours car movement in almost all ways. The city won’t favour pedestrians with much more basic ways, such as no rights on reds, or advances pedestrian light before car green light, but was prepared to implement such a mixed use at QQ.

I was biking there this morning. When you get to York and you want to head north, it's not clear where you should be waiting, if you don't want to block the MGT, the lane that runs in front of the Westin or the pedestrian crossing.
 
Two guys were crossing the street and were standing in the streetcar lane (I don’t think it was fully their fault compared to how other streets in the city are designed and how people are used to crossing the street). The streetcar honked at them a few times until they moved but didn’t slow down – I’m sure this happens all the time.

That's pretty common they actually use the horn more often then the bell I almost think they should just start doing three long on short one long at every intersection to warn people the same way trains do.
 
I wonder if the money announced today from the feds is for the Queen's Quay East LRT...(source)

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I was biking there this morning. When you get to York and you want to head north, it's not clear where you should be waiting, if you don't want to block the MGT, the lane that runs in front of the Westin or the pedestrian crossing.

My understanding was that the red stone pavers indicate the sidewalk, and the paved flat surface is where cyclists go. At York & QQ, the red pavers interrupt the bike lane. So it seems as though cyclists are meant to stop there and pedestrians would get priority. If this is the design, I can't imagine it will ever work.

The streetcar tracks are another issue since they are flat with the bike lane and sidewalk. A pedestrian needs a physical marker to indicate they are standing on a streetcar track.

I'm no expert on this, but it seems like our streets generally have two zones: sidewalk and street. Vehicles go on the street, people on the sidewalk. Bike lanes on some streets complicate this, and there will be a learning curve. But QQ is a whole other beast.
 
Our drivers can be so incredibly stupid and bad that if a decently-sized roundabout were to be installed in the city, there'd be so many accidents that people would start arguing roundabouts in general are "poor design".

While you do have a good point, it is still the job of a designer to anticipate how the average user will use whatever is being designed and make appropriate accommodations, even if the end user is an idiot.
 
I'm curious is there anything in the Highway traffic act that would prevent the city and or the TTC from putting in railroad crossing signs and or lights and gates at the intesections wher the streecars cross Queens Quay?
 
twice this summer we have had heavy rain from a thunderstorm and twice the sewers have over flowed for 10 minutes +. Radar only showed 15 to 25mm fall, this really shouldnt be happening.
 
twice this summer we have had heavy rain from a thunderstorm and twice the sewers have over flowed for 10 minutes +. Radar only showed 15 to 25mm fall, this really shouldnt be happening.

Everything south of Front Street is landfill. I would expect flooding, since the rainwater can't go uphill without pumps.

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... except it only flooded once pre construction since 2007 and that was when we got 100mm+. Now, it floods at 20mm....
 
I wonder if the money announced today from the feds is for the Queen's Quay East LRT...(source)

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I suspect it's funding for the already underway Waterfront Transit Reset study (note the April 1 date for the federal $$). A further report on this should be coming to Council later in September or October.
 

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