Great update on a project we dont get to see too much of. Thanks for the photos JPG!

your welcome. just wanted to add one more update, kinda an important one.
If you take steeles avenue every day during your work commute, you would be happy to hear they started cementing the curves on that road, that means very soon they will re-pave that road and yup you guessed it, open all 3 lanes of traffic in each direction, all 6 lanes in total will re-open up and traffic will be back to normal on steeles west again. the only bottle neck after that will be the west of jane when steeles turns back into 2 lanes (from 3) when they could easily use the boulevard which has a big right of way and extend the 3 lanes all the way to the 400 and beyond. why they dont do this is beyond me????

but ya keep up the good works folks at the ttc
 
your welcome. just wanted to add one more update, kinda an important one.
If you take steeles avenue every day during your work commute, you would be happy to hear they started cementing the curves on that road, that means very soon they will re-pave that road and yup you guessed it, open all 3 lanes of traffic in each direction, all 6 lanes in total will re-open up and traffic will be back to normal on steeles west again. the only bottle neck after that will be the west of jane when steeles turns back into 2 lanes (from 3) when they could easily use the boulevard which has a big right of way and extend the 3 lanes all the way to the 400 and beyond. why they dont do this is beyond me????

but ya keep up the good works folks at the ttc

The only bottleneck that ever happens on that stretch is when they have to block the road to allow trucks and equipment to cross. There is never a holdup in traffic there otherwise.

And by the way, they aren't reopening those closed lanes for a while. The road is going to shift to the north late this week or early next to allow them to drive more piles in for the retaining walls, and to build a temporary bridge to allow them to finish digging the pit for the station.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Thanks for the pics JPG. They are the first I've seen of the construction.

These clearly show just how much that area needs a subway line vs other parts of the city, like downtown. :)
 
notice how only one of the stops has even a single building in sight.. and even then it is a futureshop. damn this seems like a sheppard subway 2.0
 
notice how only one of the stops has even a single building in sight.. and even then it is a futureshop. damn this seems like a sheppard subway 2.0

I was going to correct you and say 1.0. Then I realized you probably meant the existing line, and not a future extension. Carry on lol
 
notice how only one of the stops has even a single building in sight.. and even then it is a futureshop. damn this seems like a sheppard subway 2.0

Maybe better that they didn't have to tear down some old building, dig the holes, and then build new buildings after the Subway construction is finished. At least from this point, there would be no NIMBYs who would start complaining about some highrise buildings going up over the stations.

Unfortunately, along Sheppard, the existing building and home owners would be complaining about the highrises going up next to them. In Vaughan, they wouldn't have that problem.
 
Not only that, but near the 407 station, there is farmland! Yes, land that was used for agricultural purposes even a few weeks before it was dug up to build a subway!
 
Maybe better that they didn't have to tear down some old building, dig the holes, and then build new buildings after the Subway construction is finished. At least from this point, there would be no NIMBYs who would start complaining about some highrise buildings going up over the stations.

Unfortunately, along Sheppard, the existing building and home owners would be complaining about the highrises going up next to them. In Vaughan, they wouldn't have that problem.

I actually prefer it to be vacant land as opposed to single detached houses. Cows don't complain about condos going up in the field next to them.
 
My only complaint about this subway extension is that it is over-designed and should have run at or above grade for much of its length. Granted that downtown needs new subway lines more, don't be alarmed that the subway is going "so far north". If you overlaid London's subway map atop our own, there would be stations situated well north of Major Mack, and within Brampton, let alone Mississauga. The difference: the tube runs mostly above grade out there and with stations many kilometres apart. Forget this underground business through the 407 corridor with stations 1 km apart north of Steeles.
 
Maybe better that they didn't have to tear down some old building, dig the holes, and then build new buildings after the Subway construction is finished. At least from this point, there would be no NIMBYs who would start complaining about some highrise buildings going up over the stations.

Unfortunately, along Sheppard, the existing building and home owners would be complaining about the highrises going up next to them. In Vaughan, they wouldn't have that problem.

There still were people in West Concord and East Woodbridge/Vaughan who opposed the Expo development at 37 stories which was 5 mins away from the subway.
 
Granted that downtown needs new subway lines more, don't be alarmed that the subway is going "so far north". If you overlaid London's subway map atop our own, there would be stations situated well north of Major Mack, and within Brampton, let alone Mississauga. The difference: the tube runs mostly above grade out there and with stations many kilometres apart. Forget this underground business through the 407 corridor with stations 1 km apart north of Steeles.

Apples and oranges -- the suburbs of London are much more dense than those of the GTA, so of course the Tube extends farther out. You won't find the Tube running anywhere comparable to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. Even the farthest-flung Tube stations are generally located in dense, walkable neighbourhoods with plenty of local transit.
 
Apples and oranges -- the suburbs of London are much more dense than those of the GTA, so of course the Tube extends farther out. You won't find the Tube running anywhere comparable to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. Even the farthest-flung Tube stations are generally located in dense, walkable neighbourhoods with plenty of local transit.
Here are five I just pulled up in a minute or two:
Upminster Bridge
Theydon Bois
Canons Park
Osterly
Chorleywood

I agree that in general the London suburbs are more transit-oriented than ours, but those look pretty apple-y to me.

(Also doesn't change the fact that London built service out the them overground, and did so decades and decades ago when construction costs across the board were much cheaper.)
 
Here are five I just pulled up in a minute or two:
Upminster Bridge
Theydon Bois
Canons Park
Osterly
Chorleywood

I agree that in general the London suburbs are more transit-oriented than ours, but those look pretty apple-y to me.

I don't see it. To take your first example, Upminster Bridge is 25km from central London, and if you take a look at the street view, you'll see that the main arterial is a two-lane road lined with storefronts, surrounded by duplex housing. It also has a bus on an 8-minute frequency. On the other hand, 25km from the centre of Toronto on the alignment of the Spadina subway would take you somewhere around Weston and Langstaff, where I see four-lane arterials with nothing fronting them, surrounded by mazelike postwar subdivisions containing single detached houses with 2-car garages; the buses come every half hour if you're lucky. Doesn't look apple-y to me.
 
Last edited:

Back
Top