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Jonny5 said:
Could these ramps have been requested by the railways for access to their lines by maintenance vehicles and railway police, including for the now abandoned ROWs in the Valley?
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It's highly unlikely. The roadway to the south doesn't reach either of the two existing railway lines, and any former railways in the valley had been long abandoned by the time the ramps were built.

Dan
 
City Parks & Rec? Water & Sewar? Toronto/Hydro One (there's a substation or something further south)? Conservation Authority? There also looks like a construction laydown yard under the Viaduct. I suppose any number of departments might need access to valley lands.
 
smallspy said:
It's highly unlikely. The roadway to the south doesn't reach either of the two existing railway lines, and any former railways in the valley had been long abandoned by the time the ramps were built.

Dan
Click to expand...

The spur into the brickyard was active until the 70s, or at least that's what I can gather from aerial photos. But correct on the wrong side.

lenaitch said:
City Parks & Rec? Water & Sewar? Toronto/Hydro One (there's a substation or something further south)? Conservation Authority? There also looks like a construction laydown yard under the Viaduct. I suppose any number of departments might need access to valley lands.
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Works access is obviously logical. But still it's a fairly sizable piece of infrastructure. Unless shown otherwise I think it's a possibility that it was a last minute engineering quirk in order to fit in the terminus of Crosstown Expwy. Perhaps it was realized it couldn't easily join at the original location 500m to the west because of the steep ravine, so they chose to do it right here.
 
So I've been pouring through troves of satellite imagery, historical records and blueprints, and I think I've found the answer guys. This might put an end to this decade-long mystery. Prepare yourselves.

The purpose of the offramp is to allow maintenance vehicles to access the section of the Don Valley, bordered by Bloor Street to the north, Bayview Avenue to the west, Lake Ontario to the south and DVP to the east.

If you look at satellite images, you'll see that, in the absence of this offramp/road:
  • It would be impossible for vehicles to access the valley from the west, because a rail corridor runs between Bayview and the valley.
  • It would be impossible for vehicles to access the valley from the east, because of the steep grades between the DVP and the rest of the valley
  • It would be impossible to access to the south, because of Lake Ontario, and because there is no room beside the river for an access road
  • It would be possible for vehicles to access from the north, but they must use Pottery road, and would only be accessible from southbound Pottery road.
It looks like the access road is currently seeing heavy use due to the construction of the Toronto Sewage Bypass in the valley immediately south of the Bloor Street Viaduct (notice the SONCIN construction sign at the entrance to the phantom offramp)
 
TheTigerMaster said:
The purpose of the offramp is to allow maintenance vehicles to access the section of the Don Valley, bordered by Bloor Street to the north, Bayview Avenue to the west, Lake Ontario to the south and DVP to the east.
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You make a pretty convincing case. And what puzzled me was why the loops were so short and so narrow. It makes sense if they were designed for low traffic and slow-moving vehicles. Yeah, as uninspiring and earthbound as the answer appears to be, I think you've nailed it.
 
I have a slightly different answer.

A quick glance shows a hydro substation located a few hundred metres to the south of this access point.

It also shows an access road immediately parallel to the Don Trail which goes from this access to the substation and then goes on to finish just to the south of that immediately under the Bloor Viaduct.

I think this is a maintenance /constructruction access road, but specifically for those two features, the hydro substation and the viaduct.
 
The most expensive portion for such ramps - a road leading under the bridge - was essentially obtained for free because the bridge had to be over-sized for 100 years storm (Hazel). I am sure this roadway may flood every now and then but continuous access is not a requirement. So the cost was simply for the paving.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
Please be safe down there. You never know what’s lurking in the ravines. Could be aliens ?
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Definitely a lot of lurkers once you go off the beaten paths.

But think you guys are right about it being an interchange for no other reason than valley access. The Crosstown Expwy plates are online and they show the ramps, with the current path to the hydro station and viaduct. Somewhat on topic, but the size of the Bayview interchange seemed to have called for the Bala sub to be rejigged to the east a bit, which is interesting.

Crosstown-Expwy-DVP-connection.png
 
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