Toronto CityPlace Puente de Luz Bridge | ?m | ?s | Concord Adex | Francisco Gazitua

Would that not affect your sightlines?

Definitely.
And it should be obvious what that means; the city can't build such a structure without GO's approval. I mean they do own the land afterall. And more importantly they do provide an extremely valuable service to the city. Something people seem to be forgetting.

I'm just curious because so many cities have buried tracks but we can't even build a bridge over the tracks at the most desirable location due to these "sightlines" issues.

It's not about 'sightlines'. Its about running a commuter service as efficiently as possible. Impeding sightlines reduces system capacity. Clearly its in GO's best interest to prevent this.
Besides the bigger issue with regards to such a bridge would be where all the support pillars would go? There's just no space for them. Like Enviro noted, if money was not an issue they would do a big study and then the entire corridor would be completely rebuilt. Either way it would cost huge money, money no one currently has and a lot of time.
 
is there any particular reason why they couldnt build suspension bridges instead? would solve the support issue at least, and suspension bridges are more attractive than this awkward yellow crap.
 
I thought the bridge location was so that it was centered down the view corridor between the Parade buildings as would be seen from Canoe Landing park.
 
I thought the bridge location was so that it was centered down the view corridor between the Parade buildings as would be seen from Canoe Landing park.

Nope. It's something like ~20 m west of the centreline of Parade's "crotch"
 
The reasons why a staircase - though desirable - was impossible at this time have been spelled out several times in this thread.

Spelled out eh?

The only thing preventing better access was the lack of willingness to invest in it.

Concord didn't build stair access because they cheaped out. They didn't want to build the bridge at all, and it shows.

I'm still relieved that there will be a pedestrian/bike alternative to Spadina and Bathurst, but the whole point of the orientaion of that bridge was to align it along the visual corridor that extends clear through to the lake, with the Portland Slip grain silos and the horizon as the terminus. Now the visual experience of crossing the bridge is as banal as the towers built all over cityplace,
 
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The worst part is that the access ramps both enter/exit to the west.

If the south ramp exited to the east, this bridge wouldn't be a total write-off.
 
According to a guy tightening bolts around the ramp this morning, the bridge won't be open for another month or two, since mesh needs to be installed on it, among other things.
 
According to a guy tightening bolts around the ramp this morning, the bridge won't be open for another month or two, since mesh needs to be installed on it, among other things.

What kind of 'mesh' and where is this 'mesh' going. It's not going to be totally enclosed is it?
 
I didn't really ask too much beyond when it would be open, but I got the impression the mesh would be around the yellow structure, 'because people can still jump off it now'.
 
I didn't really ask too much beyond when it would be open, but I got the impression the mesh would be around the yellow structure, 'because people can still jump off it now'.

People can just as easily jump off Spadina, Bathurst or Blue Jays Way. Why enclose just one bridge. Has anyone ever actually jumped off a bridge on to the tracks in recent memory?
 
I don't know why this bridge or whether anyone has jumped off a bridge onto the tracks, or whether the mesh was originally part of the design.
 
The worst part is that the access ramps both enter/exit to the west.

If the south ramp exited to the east, this bridge wouldn't be a total write-off.

The north ramp is at least aligned with the Front/Portland intersection, suggesting that pedestrian traffic to/from Portland is expected. Not surprising considering that Portland is the nearest thing that has actual sidewalks.
 
Traffic lights are now installed at Portland and Front and seem almost ready to be turned on.
 

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