Toronto Lower Simcoe Ramp | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto

hawc said:
Who's going to have the first pictures of the demolition???
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Not very exciting yet.

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I heard travel on the Gardiner was slow this morning, with traffic backed up trying to get off at Spadina.

Which is odd, as there seemed to be not much traffic on my commute this morning, with so many people having the day off. Tomorrow might be ugly.

I was driving through last night just before it closed, and they were just getting ready to close lanes, so I don't know what happened.

Where the Gardiner drops from 3 lanes to 2 eastbound at the old York/Bay/Yonge ramp ... did they open it up the 3 lanes there now and remove those temporary barricades that have been there for years (decades?).
 
nfitz said:
I heard travel on the Gardiner was slow this morning, with traffic backed up trying to get off at Spadina.

Which is odd, as there seemed to be not much traffic on my commute this morning, with so many people having the day off. Tomorrow might be ugly.

I was driving through last night just before it closed, and they were just getting ready to close lanes, so I don't know what happened.

Where the Gardiner drops from 3 lanes to 2 eastbound at the old York/Bay/Yonge ramp ... did they open it up the 3 lanes there now and remove those temporary barricades that have been there for years (decades?).
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I drove past it at about noon today and it was totally fine.
 
If you believe in the laws of 'induced demand' then it will all work itself out after a week or so. The increased traffic jams and commuting times will discourage a certain percentage of people from driving, which will then make the congestion the same as it normally is. Equally when this is all finished, traffic will feel much lighter than usual for a week or so before more people say, "Hold on, congestion's not that bad anymore, I think I'll start commuting again." It's all induced demand. And it works both ways.
 
hawc said:
If you believe in the laws of 'induced demand' then it will all work itself out after a week or so. The increased traffic jams and commuting times will discourage a certain percentage of people from driving, which will then make the congestion the same as it normally is. Equally when this is all finished, traffic will feel much lighter than usual for a week or so before more people say, "Hold on, congestion's not that bad anymore, I think I'll start commuting again." It's all induced demand. And it works both ways.
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Yes, you are right - eventually. Probably will take more than a week.

But if you noticed in last year's Gardiner conversion of 3 to 2 lanes, after a few months, the delay and times of delay were almost what they were before the start. And for a couple of days, when they had reopened the third lane, without any publicity (westbound at least - perhaps it was because eastbound was still closed) I had some unbelievable travel times. The day after the big announcement it was re-open ... back to usual.

A somewhat related observation, is that every year in July, as lots of people are on holidays, the highways lighten, and travel is faster. But come September when everyone is back at work, you've got all the extra travellers that have joined and found it okay, and all the regulars back at work - and I keep seeing the worst travel times during September - until people start to bail one way or another.

This is the Toronto to Kitchener in AM peak run ... next September, I'll have to remember to try the GO Bus instead ... though it's stuck in the same traffic. But at least I'll be sane when I arrive.
 
Per The Star at https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...in-high-park-and-lambton-park-on-tuesday.html this is the solution at Spadina:

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They have reduced eastbound Lake Shore just before Spadina from 3 to 2 lanes, to provide a fully protected merge for traffic coming off the Gardiner to divert to eastbound Lake Shore. This route was closed a long time ago due to being a very dangerous merge that caused lots of collisions, this solution prevents that issue from arising.
 
You've got a great perspective Razz! Take lots more shots as the days and weeks go on.

BTW, I feel like if this were Japan or China or something and they needed this ramp down quickly, they would just shut down the surrounding area and have it all down in 48 hours. Just bring in lots and lots of people and equipment and get it down. Shouldn't take months to tear down.
 
I'd like to see the new road configuation on the Gardiner between where the York/Yonge/Bay ramp comes off and the Rees Street ramp comes on.
 
hawc said:
BTW, I feel like if this were Japan or China or something and they needed this ramp down quickly, they would just shut down the surrounding area and have it all down in 48 hours. Just bring in lots and lots of people and equipment and get it down. Shouldn't take months to tear down.
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That's exactly how Japan would do it, you're absolutely right. What Toronto would do over several months if not years is done overnight in Japan.

 
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I took a GO bus yesterday to Hamilton, traffic was backed up on the Jarvis ramp, probably an 'oh crap' reaction to the ramp being closed. Main Gardiner traffic was backed up eastbound until Strachan. Dunno if noon on an Easter Monday is representative though.
 
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