kali
Active Member
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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)
- Thread starter MetroMan
- Start date
Northern Light
Superstar
Bike lanes appearing on Ellis btw Queensway and Lake Shore:
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Side note here, both the highway and the rail bridges here look beyond rough.
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Side note here, both the highway and the rail bridges here look beyond rough.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
If I was the cycling dictator, I would have used pedestrian and bicycle tunnels next to the existing railway & Gardiner Expressway underpasses at Colborne Lodge Drive, Ellis Avenue and Windermere Avenue, (maybe even under The Queensway at Parkside Drive). Maybe will have to wait for whichever century they have to rebuild the underpasses to include a widening.
As it is, the existing automobile dictators at City Hall would forbid it.
Towered
Senior Member
Maybe refurbishment is tied to the grand re-aligning Lakeshore plan for the Sunnyside area.
Hmmmm, I wonder how that plan is coming along! I can only guess...
Towered
Senior Member
That reminds me - is there a reason why Queensway and Parkside are grade separated?
If you were the cycling dictator, we'd have to have words, because tunnels are an issue for those of us with claustrophobia. They also present a safety concern.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
Those Ellis lanes have been planned for YEARS. Good to finally see them go in.
Northern Light
Superstar
I'm not sure, but you have me looking.
Here's an interesting photo of the Queensway under construction, looking west from Parkside.
Note that the view appears to show Queensway as below Parkside!
That's from 1956 and this link: https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMDC-PICTURES-R-1756&R=DC-PICTURES-R-1756
sche
Active Member
Seems like they grade separated it from the start when the Queensway was built in the 50s. This picture is from 1956 and you can see the bridge getting built.
From https://www.toronto.ca/city-governm...s/aerial-photographs/aerial-photographs-1956/
vic
Senior Member
In that 1956 photo looking west from Parkside, it looks like they're already building up the grade for The Queensway. Maybe there was a temporary road before moving it up onto the berm?
Northern Light
Superstar
Queen Street had a bit of a stub beyond Roncy that made it to the foot of Colborne Lodge Drive, it ended there with a large swampy bit at the south end of Grenadier Pond.
The Queen Street West extension project (The Queensway) would build that out, in advance of the construction of the QEW/Gardiner to create an alternate route, it was done in a couple of chunks, not sure of the exact phasing. (long before my time!)
Towered
Senior Member
Interesting tidbits of history, but I still don't see any justification for the intersection to be grade separated. It's annoyed me forever.
Northern Light
Superstar
I agree.
Did a quick look at the gradient, very rough calculation, looks like the grade from Claude Avenue to Parkside would be ~4% That's very do-able, the streetcars have it much worse climbing Bathurst.
I would love to see Queensway cut back here to one lane each way (which it functionally is after the Queen/King/Roncy intersection.
That way more land could be returned to High Park.
On the other hand, there is one thing to consider, the TTC/City have had issues w/Queensway over the former swampy bit (high water table, settling issues).
That section of Queensway might need to go up in height a bit so that Grenadier Swamp could be reborn around and under it.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Towered
Senior Member
I agree with your proposed changes. This section needs a re-do, including creating a Queensway-Parkside signalized intersection at grade.