Roads: Front Street East finally getting repaved

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Try contacting the Star's fixer? Nothing gets work done better than bad press.

AoD

 

[pman]

So here we are on Front St East nearly a year after my previous bout of complaining, and the Pan Am games are nigh.

The bump-out plantings on Princess St and Berkeley are still all 100% dead, looking exactly as shown in my July 2014 photo with the addition of more trash and garbage.

The intersection of Sherbourne and Front itself still looks like Berlin circa 1945.

A good percentage of the new faux "wrought-iron" lamp posts along Front St E. remain missing, or are damaged, crooked, or in some other state of semi-repair.

And just last week crews were going along all those new sidewalks and curbs along Front St E. at random intervals, ripping up bricks and digging new deep holes for unknown purposes, then filling them in haphazardly with the usual attention to detail provided by Toronto construction crews, which is to say, none.

Plus ça change... funny how after several years of construction hell I feel like we're more or less back where we started.

Business as usual in Toronto. CP highlights two issues common to pretty much all attempts to improve Toronto's public realm:

1. Haphazard maintenance, and
2. Almost immediate destruction of whatever we build for utility work that's invariably patched as cheaply and shoddily as possible.

There has to be a better way to organize ourselves. Maybe set up a structure where one City manager is responsible for planning, executing and maintaining any street where the City has attempted to make the public realm somewhat less ugly? Perhaps with the power to veto utility work and to compel utilities to coordinate construction and properly remediate the damage they do? Because the way we (dis) organize ourselves now means that even when the City builds something good, there's a reasonable chance it will be a shabby mess within a decade.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Business as usual in Toronto. CP highlights two issues common to pretty much all attempts to improve Toronto's public realm:

1. Haphazard maintenance, and
2. Almost immediate destruction of whatever we build for utility work that's invariably patched as cheaply and shoddily as possible.

There has to be a better way to organize ourselves. Maybe set up a structure where one City manager is responsible for planning, executing and maintaining any street where the City has attempted to make the public realm somewhat less ugly? Perhaps with the power to veto utility work and to compel utilities to coordinate construction and properly remediate the damage they do? Because the way we (dis) organize ourselves now means that even when the City builds something good, there's a reasonable chance it will be a shabby mess within a decade.

Or more simply - fix it right after the utility work is complete, and restoration to the original condition should be the responsibility of the utility company, not the city. No ifs, no buts. Don't really care if you have to dig it all up over again the next day.

AoD

 

[nfitz]

The intersection of Sherbourne and Front itself still looks like Berlin circa 1945.

All the other issues are valid. But the Sherbourne construction from Queens Quay to King is only occurring this year. They only just ripped up from Front to Queens Quay, and the piece from Front to King is delayed until construction hoarding can be removed from the new condo at the southeast corner of King/Sherbourne ... presumably the Front/Sherbourne intersection is part of this final stage.

 

[CityPainter]

It seems progress is being made, suddenly, I assume in a last-minute push for the Pan Ams. Many of the previously broken black streetlamps along Front St E have been replaced over the past few weeks. Today I see they are -- FINALLY! -- replanting the bump-outs near the Market and Princess St. Whatever it takes. I'm happy to see these details coming into place.

 

[DSC]

Improvements to Pedestrian Boulevards on Front Street East

Rather than create a new thread it seems appropriate to revive this one for this good news:

https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2022/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-174420.pdf

 

[Northern Light]

Improvements to Pedestrian Boulevards on Front Street East

Rather than create a new thread it seems appropriate to revive this one for this good news:

https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2022/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-174420.pdf

I posted on this over in the St. Lawrence Market thread and will cross-post here to share some detail:

*** cross-post ***

In a report to the January 6th meeting of TEYCC plans and brought forth to widen the narrow sidewalks along Front from Sherbourne to Parliament.

This will be done largely by narrowing the existing vehicle lanes and by reducing the size of some turning lanes.

No through lanes are proposed for removal.

This will result in about 2.5M of new sidewalk width total across the 2 sides of the street with allocations varying based on existing size and current and projected demand.

New layout here: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2022/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-174421.pdf

From the above, I will bring forward the image, somewhat enlarged (and divided).

You can see the additional sidewalk space demarcated next to the curbs.