[vatche]

Yonge street's looking awesome and so different with the patios and planters on it. A little bit of tlc goes a long way. We just need good city planners to see it. Widen the sidewalks, make it one way and add bike lanes. Then look how beautiful it becomes. Trust me!!!

 

[Mississauga Slim]

Aren't we supposed to be getting woonerfs in the West Don Lands, or somewhere?

My new favorite word: "woonerf." I'm going to try using it in a sentence every day. It will be a challenge though.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Yonge street's looking awesome and so different with the patios and planters on it. A little bit of tlc goes a long way. We just need good city planners to see it. Widen the sidewalks, make it one way and add bike lanes. Then look how beautiful it becomes. Trust me!!!

Dont forget about sprucing up half of those derelict street front structures

 

[W. K. Lis]

i think yonge st is way too small for 2 way and it would be better off making it into a 1 way and have one lane for bikes or something.

Turning streets into one-ways is a step towards changing them into expressways. What they did for this month is better than nothing or one-way streets.

Streets are for people, not just cars.

 

[vatche]

Maisonneuve st in Montreal was an eyesore years ago around the downtown core. They built some nice condos , a few restos with patios, abike lane, trees and it is one way. Now it looks awesome. Lively and pretty.
If a bike lane on yonge is not recommended for some reason or another, The street can still look good with widened sidewalks and by making it one way. Bike lanes are not imperative. But we need a bike lane somewhere where it runs north south, without any breaks.

 

[vatche]

Dont forget about sprucing up half of those derelict street front structures

That would come with time. The city can't do anything about it. Those buildings are owned by people and they decide what to do with it. Once the street gets prettier, a lot of retailers would want to be on it.

 

[interchange42]

Turning streets into one-ways is a step towards changing them into expressways. What they did for this month is better than nothing or one-way streets.

Streets are for people, not just cars.

To build upon vatche's comment about de Maisonneuve in Montreal, it and its pair Ste-Catherine are westbound and eastbound only respectively. Ste-Catherine is a great analogue for Yonge, as it essentially acts as Montreal's main shopping strip. One way only, the last thing you could call Ste-Catherine is an expressway, and in fact it operates better than Yonge does as a slow-for-vehicles and friendly-for-pedestrians street. It's packed with fashion, electronics, media, and souvenir retailers, along with numerous restaurants.

Bay Street meanwhile is a very good analogue for de Maisonneuve. South of the border Manhattan is lined with one-way streets, and they aren't exactly expressways either.

Yonge and Bay should be tried as a one-way pair. Care with the plans can be taken so that traffic is kept at sensible speeds. People are smart enough here to do this right.

42

 

[vatche]

Montreal runs east west. U have st Catherine heading east, maisonneuve heading west sandwiched between Sherbrooke and Rene leveque which run in both directions. It functions perfectly well. Yonge should do the same thing.

 

[adma]

But the whole problem with such conversions is where such one-ways begin and end--and the awkwardness in coordinating the traffic patterns. Once upon a time (as in Montreal), that was managed through strategic highway-style "improvements": jog eliminations, cutoffs, etc--heck, just consider the E end of Richmond/Adelaide, the usurping of Duke + Duchess and the Don flyovers. But, try enacting all of that today--you'll run into such NIMBY problems. (And compare, too, the awkward bluntness of the W end of the one-way Richmond-Adelaide combo at Bathurst.)

When it comes to a one-way Yonge, it'd probably be more "rationally" paired with Church than with Bay--Front St to the south and the Church "extension" to the north suggests a perfect pain-free one-way-northbound scenario; or at least, as "perfect" as it gets...

 

[robere]

When it comes to a one-way Yonge, it'd probably be more "rationally" paired with Church than with Bay--Front St to the south and the Church "extension" to the north suggests a perfect pain-free one-way-northbound scenario; or at least, as "perfect" as it gets...

I walked down Yonge a few times since Friday. Initially, I thought the existing sidewalk would have been better for the patios and the blocked off lane for pedestrians but on the other hand, having the patios between traffic and sidewalk creates a nice buffer. I guess I like both ways.

On the One-Way streets , I always thought that Yonge & Bay would work better from Queens Quay to Davenport.

• 
  Yonge Northbound coming from west side from Harbour (curved intersection already there) coming from east side flow from Lakeshore / Gardiner (direct ramp).

• 
  Bay southbound from Davenport, (curved intersection there as well). Yonge southbound ends at Davenport and jog using Scollard one-way westbound to Bay southbound.

• 
  Bay connection to Gardiner / Lakeshore, 2 turn lanes westbound and 2 turn lanes eastbound (minor roadwork required there), 2 thru lanes.

It would improve traffic flow (not expressways style, we have numerous traffic lights), free up a lane or two for larger sidewalks and since Bay is wider (5 lanes except south of Queen) provide space for a nice wide bike lane with true physical separation from traffic : )

 

[adma]

Bay southbound from Davenport, (curved intersection there as well). Yonge southbound ends at Davenport and jog using Scollard one-way westbound to Bay southbound.

Ah, but that's why I brought up the traffic-engineering conundrum: Scollard's the problem, and all the more so now with the reno'd parkette at the Yonge end and the Four Seasons at the Bay end--how're you gonna configure the southbound Yonge traffic onto Scollard and then onto Bay? Yeah, they had an efficient solution 50 years ago: expropriation and demolition. Today, well...

 

[interchange42]

I say end one of the two southbound Yonge lanes at Davenport/Church, and the other one at Yorkville. Traffic wanting to go over to Bay could take Scollard, or Yorkville. That should be plenty to disperse and transfer the traffic without having to worry about things like Don flyovers and such. The east of Yorkville is getting so much redevelopment anyway, that it should be too big a deal to redesign the Bay-Yonge section as one way as well. Cumberland could be one way eastbound Bay-Yonge too. It could be made to work.

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[SparksTO]

This project aims to make room for people. It's simply too crowded right now. Trees have been integrated into the project, but not where you'd expect them. There will be green roofs so you'll see trees as you walk on Yonge and see them popping off the tops of podiums of buildings. In another example, you'll see trees as you walk by Gould and are enticed to go in:

Greenery is integrated into the peripheral streets so you'll see it as you walk along Yonge.

I love this idea, the green roofs would be amazing. Feels so refreshing, I can imagine myself going back to the streets after shopping, feeling more inspiring with all the trees there, it's a great idea, really hope they do it, and no only those small flower of the previous renders.

Guys don't think it couldn't work because "the will be more obstacles". See, they are going to take two lanes and increase the space for sidewalk, and there will be more room for them.

 

[interchange42]

It's front page news!

 

[Torontovibe]

I think the Yonge Street revitalization might be slowly catching on with Torontonians. I walk by here every day/night and I usually see some areas being used, but never all that crowded. Today was the first time that I saw almost every patio/seating area occupied by people. The only dead patio area I saw, was the space beside Massey Tower. Almost every chair on Yonge Street was being occupied at 9:30pm. It's nice to see so many people enjoying Yonge Street again. Even Dundas Square was full of people and there wasn't even an event going on. It's the first time I've seen the street patios this crowded. The Yonge Street BIA is going to be very happy.