A revamped Queens Quay
A revamped Queens Quay
March 30, 2010
Read More: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto/story.html?id=2741367
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Toronto is getting a glimpse of the next pedestrian-friendly parkland to grace its downtown, this time along Queens Quay Boulevard, east of Bay Street. Plans to refocus the waterfront corridor on pedestrians and streetcars is set to proceed at the end of a public consultation period on April 26; the scheme was endorsed by an environmental assessment released on Friday. How the landscape will change:
- EXPANDED PUBLIC SPACE
A massively expanded pedestrian walkway and park will replace the current road south of the planned streetcar tracks. It will include a seven-metre-wide public promenade next to a tree-lined running/bike path extension of the 22-kilometre Martin
Goodman Trail that currently ends east of Parliament. "This is the element in this plan that the community loves the most. Right now you can't take your bike and go from one side of the waterfront east to west," said Marisa Piattelli, Waterfront Toronto's vice-president of government relations and strategic initiatives.
- DEDICATED STREETCAR LINE
Two lanes of dedicated light rail tracks will centre the new thoroughfare, spanning from a Bay Street connection to Union Station to Parliament Street to the east. Running along the southern border of the roadway's limited traffic means only having to stop at intersections, where the traffic lights will prioritize transit.
- CONDENSED TRAFFIC LANES
The road itself will be cut from a total of four lanes to one in each direction, plus a turning lane. Ms. Piattelli says traffic flow will not be affected. "If you ask anyone, Queens Quay does not work as a fluidly functioning road. It is congested, you have buses parked and illegal parking. It is not efficient," she said. "We think it will work better under this new configuration." Some turning options will be removed and parking will be more controlled.
- NEW UNDERGROUND CONNECTION
The project calls for doubling the size of the underground streetcar connection at Union Station to incorporate the new line and an increase in ridership. The streetcar line will exit the expanded Union Station and run 250 metres underground until Freeland Street, where it will ascend to the surface.
- EAST END OF THE PROJECT (not shown) A temporary streetcar loop will be built east of Parliament Street, to allow for quick turn-around at the end of the line. The loop will be removed when the line is expanded further east, into the Lower Don Lands and the Port Lands area. Those connections are expected under further waterfront developments along Cherry Street, said Ms. Piattelli, Waterfront Toronto's vice-president of government relations and strategic initiatives.
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