taal
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Globe and Mail new headquarters going on the west side of Front and Spadina. Then all there lands are likely to be redeveloped.
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Roads: Front Street East finally getting repaved
- Thread starter hawc
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The watermain work on Front from Sherborne to Jarvis has started (they are actually doing the stretch of Sherbourne from Front to King, which is part of this contract, first so that the bike path work on Sherbourne north of Front can proceed). When the watermain is finished (July?) Toronto Hydro will come on site to bury most of the electric wires and install pedestrian scale streetlights. As this will take a while and might push construction into the winter it has been decided that the final restoration of Front from Jarvis to Parliament will now happen in early 2013. This work involves repaving, new sidewalks, the bump-outs noted above and the median from Jarvis to George. Restoration from Parliament to Cherry is going on now as there is no Hydro work involved on that stretch.
hawc
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Good to know. Thanks for the info.
taal
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On a slightly related topic what about the Esplande ? Waterfront Toronto ripped up all the sidewalks (and removed the trees) on that short stretch, when will that be fixed ?
It was a very nice stretch by Toronto standards so I really hope they make it better.
It was a very nice stretch by Toronto standards so I really hope they make it better.
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The sewer work on The Esplanade is drawing to a close (finally) and the last section (from Market to Lower Jarvis) is underway now. It had been hoped that WT would fully restore the section from Scott to Church before 'patio season' but this proved impossible because Toronto Hydro were not ready to re-lay their street light conduits. They will be doing this work over next few months - without significant disruption to patios - and the whole street will be restored in fall 2012. (In the interim WT may be upgrading the temporary asphalt under the patios.) The local BIA are paying extra $$ to have the street lights better spaced and more of the pedestrian scale ones added and the City is ensuring that there are far better tree pits (trenches) than before. When it's finished (December 2012?) it WILL look better but it has taken a long time.
FNTS
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I guess it's finally happening, the north side sidewalks from Parliament to Sherbourne are a war zone now (but hopefully it'll be worth it)
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Here's the City info on this: http://www.slna.ca/slna-news-pdfs/front_const-not_aug20-13.pdf
A large part of the cost (all the stuff above the basic City standard, like burying wires, black pedestrian-scale lights, bump-outs etc) is being paid from Section 37 $$ and the local BIA. It will certainly look much better but could have been even nicer had the City been prepared to put in more money - Front is (was?) supposed to be a major link from Pan-Am Village to Nathan Phillips Square. In 2014 Lower Sherbourne (King to Queen's Quay) will be done so FINALLY the major roads in the St Lawrence Neighbourhood may at least look passable. (Wellington was supposed to be fixed too but that's now postponed to 2016 or 2017.
A large part of the cost (all the stuff above the basic City standard, like burying wires, black pedestrian-scale lights, bump-outs etc) is being paid from Section 37 $$ and the local BIA. It will certainly look much better but could have been even nicer had the City been prepared to put in more money - Front is (was?) supposed to be a major link from Pan-Am Village to Nathan Phillips Square. In 2014 Lower Sherbourne (King to Queen's Quay) will be done so FINALLY the major roads in the St Lawrence Neighbourhood may at least look passable. (Wellington was supposed to be fixed too but that's now postponed to 2016 or 2017.
taal
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Any ideas re the type of light / paving and the like that will be used ?
Wellington makes sense to be honest given condo.
But what about the esplande !!!! That one bothers me the most, it suppose to be fixed by waterfront Toronto ... it was actually one of the few nice streets (public form wise) in Toronto until they messed it all up ... I only hope it'll be at least as nice as it was before.
Wellington makes sense to be honest given condo.
But what about the esplande !!!! That one bothers me the most, it suppose to be fixed by waterfront Toronto ... it was actually one of the few nice streets (public form wise) in Toronto until they messed it all up ... I only hope it'll be at least as nice as it was before.
W. K. Lis
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Paving Front Street? Think of the horses! Paving will hurt the horses' hoofs.
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The streetlights will be a mixture of tall (black) poles - already put up and the standard smaller "Victorians". Though the steeetlight wires will all be buried the larger Hydro distribution wires at the Fire Station and Sobeys will not be buried at the moment due to cost. They should go underground when those sites are developed. The sidewalks will get the standard St Lawrence brick banding.
The Esplanade IS a mess but the City took back the restoration project from Waterfront Toronto and the contract for doing it closed about 10 days ago. Work is supposed to start "very soon" and end by November 30. The street will be returned to much as it was before between Scott and Church and from Church to Market will be improved to about that state. The trees, to be planted in spring 2014 I think, will all get better pits. As soon as the Backstage and L-Tower are done they will fix the last section of The Esplanade and Scott Street.
MisterF
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Good to see another street is having its overhead power lines buried. A (small) step in the right direction.
taal
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Re. the street lights. Don't streetlights in this area still use gas ? (i.e. the candle like flame) are those going to be replaced or kept ? It would be great if they stayed.
Good to hear about the Esplanade ! I actually don't mind the St. Lawrence market standard sidewalk, its nothing too special but it works (I believe the Betcy [mind my spelling] development is carrying this out as well], I don't think we need granite throughout. Really the only alternative would be all brick, but as those who've been to Boston and the like, that can be pain (sure looks good though).
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There are (decorative) gas streetlights in front of and behind St Lawrence Hall and there is no talk of removing them - the rest of the area was converted to electricity decades ago. (In fact I think the gas lights were actually put back after the Hall was renovated in 1967/68.)
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pman
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I guess it's finally happening, the north side sidewalks from Parliament to Sherbourne are a war zone now (but hopefully it'll be worth it)
Too bad the sidewalk's so narrow, but I guess the on-street parking is sacred.
someMidTowner
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The new sidewalks are coming along nicely as of Wednesday night. There was a big trench along the north side of Front just east of Sherbourne, and there was so much rain that it was practically invisible. My friend destroyed his ankle, and a very nice PRS guitar almost met an untimely end