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2175 Sheppard Ave E (?,?,?)

I honestly believe the Sheppard subway should go to Victoria Park. Just not any further. The amount of employment and residential density in Consumers is huge and is a huge missed opportunity for the line.

It's really a shame the initial phase was cut back by Harris back in the 90s. I imagine the line would have much better use today if it went even those few extra km.
Agreed. It's idiotic to end subways on one side of a pinch point, and here that's the Sheppard bridge over the 404 over which a ton of traffic funnels. Had they extended it to Vic Park with a station at Consumers as well, Northern Scarborough would be far better served than it is now with the congestion buses endure getting over the 404 being eased considerably. Every government is going to have a different limit to what it's willing to spend of course…

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It should end at the Agincourt GO/RER station. There is not much demand beyond that. Victoria Park was the old terminal if it wasn't for the cutbacks by Mike Harris, which triggered the cut back to Don Mills.
 
If our governments had any common sense, they would extend our subway lines by 1-2 stops on each end on a 2-3 year basis. You know, like the good old days where we used to do things like that. That way once one project is about to finish construction, the other one will be starting up using the same TBM machine for starters.

That way there would be less bickering about extending subways, because every corner of the city would receive higher order transit access (ie: Sheppard subway west/east expansion by 1 stop, Bloor-Danforth east/west by 1 stop, etc...). That idea makes far too much sense however so it's never going to happen.
 
The Master Plan for the Consumers area will make it more grid-connected, with lots of new sidewalks/bikelanes and buildings closer to the street.

Removing the underground parking ramp from the middle of Sheppard would help and might come about if only because its in the direct path of the subway.

A rebuilt Sheppard here of 2 lanes each way with cycle tracks, no centre turning lane and wide pedestrian space is achievable.

Fixing the crossing of 404 is a tad more complex, but it can be ameliorated some by making all highway ramps come to a traffic light, with straight forward turning movements.

West of there, its still all about cutting lane numbers and improving the public realm and adding cycle tracks.

I would argue this should all be wrapped together in any eastward extension of the Subway to VP.

The project should narrow all of Sheppard between Bayview and VP to 2 lanes each way with cycletracks and good public realm space for pedestrians and build Willowdale Station, and the optional infill station near Shaughnessy Blvd could be considered contemporaneously.
That section of Sheppard is not the best cycling route, unless you have really strong legs. It has a similar issue (a bit much less) as the inclines at Hoggs Hollow. This elevation profile from Google maps illustrates that - a route from Yonge to Victoria Park, with Bessarion and 404 at each ends of the V.
Capture.JPG

Of interest, Steeles, Finch, York Mills, Lawrence and Eglinton all have similar issues. Bloor is saved by the viaduct. Gerrard, Dundas, Queen and Eastern have their valley spanning bridges.
When we speak of cycling being a mode of commuting in this city, we need to understand the topography of downtown and the inner suburbs are very different.
In this case, the city should encourage the use of cycling as the last mile between transit stations and residences.
 
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That section of Sheppard is not the best cycling route, unless you have really strong legs. It has a similar issue (a bit much less) as the inclines at Hoggs Hollow. This elevation profile from Google maps illustrates that - a route from Yonge to Victoria Park, with Bessarion and 404 at each ends of the V.
View attachment 246586
Of interest, Steeles, Finch, York Mills, Lawrence and Eglinton all have similar issues. Bloor is saved by the viaduct. Gerrard, Dundas, Queen and Eastern have their valley spanning bridges.
When we speak of cycling being a mode of commuting in this city, we need to understand the topography of downtown and the inner suburbs are very different.
In this case, the city should encourage the use of cycling as the last mile between transit stations and residences.

I don't disagree on the topography issue; with the 'V' being valley bottom at Leslie, and it being a reasonably good climb up.

However, the rest of Sheppard is comparatively level (Bayview is a high point).

So there is a very usable section there.

The tougher section, outside of hardcore cyclists, might still be usuable by ebikes.

But design wise; you want the option of a through route to exist; you don't want to have a random six-lane section of Sheppard, sandwiched by narrower bits that have cycle tracks on them.

So I would stand by the idea that cycle tracks are a reasonable use of the space here; as you point out there aren't a lot of good alternative routes in that area (if any).

I'd love go back and revisit the idea that Sheppard and Leslie were positioned within the regulatory floodplain, and build higher bridges; but the decision was also made to put the subway at that level too.......

As such, I think that rather expensive and complicated fix-it............goes to the 'C' list of projects I'd put effort into, and we have to worth with what's there.
 
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