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

hawc said:
Wow. Actual car drivers respond.

I thought everyone on here hated cars and believed we should make driver's lives as miserable as possible at every opportunity.
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Count me as a car driver who accepts that there is not and cannot be enough road space and parking for everyone to drive every day all the time. Or as I would be deemed at the Toronto Sun, the Star Wheels section, and by forum trolls - a commie who wants everyone to be stuck on a streetcar about to be short turned.
 
Hehe...so now that I've outed all the car drivers ;-)

I definitely was saying that all as a half-serious jest...just for reference when we start King St changes, and new bike lanes, and more LRT's - we can all laugh about this little moment we had ;-)

I definitely drive that stretch often - often enough that I know how to avoid it...
 
Razz said:
Tuesday, May 30, 2017:

The east end of the ramp along Harbour Street is practically down now. Another day or two and it should be completely levelled. These photos were taken from the PATH bridge:














Looking east to Bay Street intersection:


There's still a lot of demo to be done with the circular ramp at the bottom of York Street:










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Amazing update. Thanks a lot.
 
hawc said:
Wow. Actual car drivers respond.

I thought everyone on here hated cars and believed we should make driver's lives as miserable as possible at every opportunity.
Click to expand...

I rarely drive but I see the need for this offramp.

I'd rather a surface road like University Avenue crossing the city from Dufferin to the Don River but the Gardiner (West) isn't going anywhere so we need ramps. The urbanist in me would love less ramps but the pragmatist knows that we need more of them. Traffic downtown comes from the limited points of entry and exit on to the Gardiner. That's why a surface road would be better. Better distribution of traffic to the entire grid, rather than a few points that clog up in both directions.

Absent a political miracle that has the elevated Gardiner removed end to end for a boulevard, I can see a future where the size and complexity of ramps are minimized to fit in an urban environment and the elevated Gardiner is hemmed in by towers, and the areas in between are masked by tall trees and well lit spaces under the expressway.

Perhaps it's time we revisit the "beautifying the Gardiner" option that was commissioned during Mayor David Miller's term.
 
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Razz said:
Tuesday, May 30, 2017:

The east end of the ramp along Harbour Street is practically down now. Another day or two and it should be completely levelled. These photos were taken from the PATH bridge:














Looking east to Bay Street intersection:


There's still a lot of demo to be done with the circular ramp at the bottom of York Street:










Click to expand...

Fantastic shots, thanks for posting! Really like the ones of the soil bunker.

hawc said:
Wow. Actual car drivers respond.

I thought everyone on here hated cars and believed we should make driver's lives as miserable as possible at every opportunity.
Click to expand...

Not a car driver, but I am supportive of this ramp because it is an offramp for off-peak buses to downtown. However, I do still wish that the Gardiner was torn down in it's entirety. East Gardiner should be removed today, it's at the point that it's ready, the current traffic levels and the location make sense. The rest should come with time as additional rapid transit is implemented throughout the region, and the urban fabric catches up with being a walkable, transitable place to live.
 
hawc said:
Wow. Actual car drivers respond.

I thought everyone on here hated cars and believed we should make driver's lives as miserable as possible at every opportunity.
Click to expand...

Nah, you're confusing "actual car drivers" with "people who want to maintain an antiquated, inefficient, and unsustainable form of mass transportation", actually.

I use(d) this exit in my car typically once or twice a week and think the whole Gardiner through the city is a blight that should be reduced, restricted, or eliminated wherever reasonably possible.
 
Update sans pictures (sorry, started to downpour):

Remaining bit of final approach ramp on Harbour was dug up, one of two side walls is gone. Literally that final piece of wall was left standing. If the rain doesn't stop them, it'll be completely gone by the end of today.

Ramp in the park was sitting quietly. No activity. But as Drum mentioned, they will probably reuse the hoarding from the Harbour demolition to protect the building when the remaining park demolition begins. So waiting on Harbour to finish.

There were a couple of guys on the new ramp site. One of them was sweeping away rain. Another was in a truck staring at his phone. Yep. No rush there.

It's amazing the difference the absence of this ramp makes in the area. The two buildings facing Harbour now have to adapt to their new reality. Their facades were designed to face an elevated expressway. Luckily, they both have expansive glass sides and wide sidewalks whose purpose can now be reimagined.
 
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Wednesday, My 31, 2017:

Continuing demo/cleanup at the east end of the ramp:







Looking east towards Bay Street intersection:


They actually resumed demolishing the circular ramp late this afternoon:




^ I could be wrong, but the fact they cleaned up and left a couple of concrete T-columns (bents) standing leads me to believe they might retain them as artefacts/reminders of what used to be there, not unlike the Gardiner remnants along Lakeshore Blvd. East between Carlaw and Leslie. They would make for interesting sculptural elements in the future park, and could be painted in the same manner as those in Corktown's Underpass Park.

 
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So I took a drive down there tonight and it's funny... it feels like something's missing.

In other words, the area/buildings that grew up immediately around the ramp(s) were pretty ugly and understandably 'turned their backs' on the ramp. So now that it's gone, instead of some hidden beauty being uncovered, there's just kind of an ugly hole.

Of course this will obviously all be beautified in time and I'm sure it will be great. But right now it's like if you ripped out the Allen Expresway you'd be like, huh, this is kinda ugly down here in this trench.

It's gonna need some prettying up for sure.
 
From the looks of the last photos, at least 2 piers are going to remain as well a few others for the York Ramp.
 
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