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John Street Revitalization

The question is how Richmond and Adelaide Sts will fit into the plan?

Given that those streets' lack of life neither has to do with their width nor the direction of traffic flow, hopefully nothing. Open up new storefronts on the ground floor of the warehouses, bring in some new residents, add a grocery store and a couple of coffee shops and they'll become vibrant pedestrian corridors.

Definitely narrow John and add bike lanes. Perhaps do the same down on Wellington. However, until Toronto adds another 100 km of subway, Adelaide and Richmond are two of only four downtown streets that should be maintained at their current width to keep cars moving.
 
as someone who lives and entertains in the downtown core the makeover of John Street looks promising. hopefully the improvements will come about sooner rather than later.
 
This is a great plan and it certainly understands the importance of streetscape and proper scale.

Unfortunately, I see this taking about forever to be implemented. Between consulting, and evironmental assessments and finding funding...not to mention the scaling back and cheapening of any plans, I lament that we will probably see little of this done (when in fact they should have started yesterday).
 
Certain aspects of the plan are extremely cool. It's so unfortunate that they're cloaking it in all this "Clean up the clubs" puritan/NIMBY rhetoric. I love the idea of decking over the rail corridor between John and Peter. That whole area needs to really be opened up. It's incredibly difficult and not at all intuitive to walk from John St down to the waterfront. You have to take a whole bunch of circuitous flights of stairs. It's a bad scene.

Some of the other plans are pretty good too. I love the Mews idea. If they're going through all this effort to reconstruct Front St with a median, dig down a little and build the DRL!
 
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Entertainment District Poised To Undergo Major Transformation

Part of the plan includes changing Richmond and Adelaide Sts. to two-way streets from Bathurst to University.

"The reality is that we can turn these streets into two-way streets and you don't lose traffic capacity in fact what you do is you facilitate the movement of cars and delivery vehicles through the neighbourhood in a much more rational way,"

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_35385.aspx
 
Toronto Entertainment District Master Plan

Plan envisions John St. as 'spine' of cultural area

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An artist's rendition offers a look at a revamped Front St. and Bremner Blvd., part of entertainment district plan.

Donovan Vincent
city hall bureau

John St. would become a more pedestrian-friendly "cultural corridor," with widened sidewalks and reduced car lanes in some sections, under a plan unveiled by a group of businesses in the entertainment district.

The Toronto Entertainment District Master Plan, launched yesterday by the area's business improvement association, envisions the street as a "promenade" that would stretch from about Queen St. to the Rogers Centre.

Though it's not a continuous street between those points, the plan calls for special paving treatments, tree planting and other features that would give it a distinct character.

Sections that have four travel lanes would be reduced to two, though those plans aren't immediate. The goal is to turn John St. into a "spine" for the district, much as Broadway is in New York, the business association says. Areas surrounding John, along Adelaide, Front and Richmond Sts., would also be revitalized.

"This neighbourhood is a community, not just a place to come on a Friday night or drive through on your way home," Adam Vaughan, the area's city councillor, said yesterday.

The entertainment district has had its share of violence and other problems.

Many people blame the troubles on young people from the suburbs coming downtown and wreaking havoc when so-called big-box nightclubs discharge their clientele early in the morning.

Janice Solomon, executive director of the business group, said "nightlife operators" were consulted heavily as the plan was developed and, as a result, it incorporates safety features such as better street lighting.

Vaughan said many of the large nightclubs that were magnets for trouble have moved out of the area.

"The reality is, this neighbourhood has already changed. We've turned the corner in terms of this being simply a dumping ground on the weekends for some really strange behaviour," he said.

Vaughan couldn't provide a price tag for the plan but said the costs shouldn't fall heavily on taxpayers.

Many new buildings are arriving at John and King, which translates into revenues from development charges and community improvement fees that developers must pay.

"We found a way to take those dollars, partner with the BIA dues that businesses levy against themselves, and partner that with city money,'' Vaughan said.


Source
 
Is it just me, or does that photo have a building that looks suspiciously like a supertall? (I know it's just an artist's rendition, but I'm referring to the glass podium on the right hand side. It's quite a large looking podium.)
This is the kind of stuff Toronto needs. I really like what I'm seeing so far!
 
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They boobed with that photo. It's not Toronto. It's Helmut Jahn's scheme for the Hudson Yards redevelopment project in Manhattan.

Toronto doesn't have an Empire State Building.
 
Westbound on Richmond and eastbound on Adelaide seems like a pretty rational way to facilitate traffic. I can't see how changing this would improve traffic flow.
 
I think the point is that one-way traffic really tends to kill pedestrian or cycling traffic. It acts simply as a highway to get to another part of the city. They can help improve street life by making both streets two way. I believe the plan calls for both streets to be 3 lanes, with one lane for parking / sidewalk bumpouts.
 
One way streets also increase traffic - you often have to drive around blocks (go farther and then backtrack) because of the one-way nature of some streets, and your journey becomes longer.
 
They boobed with that photo. It's not Toronto. It's Helmut Jahn's scheme for the Hudson Yards redevelopment project in Manhattan.

Toronto doesn't have an Empire State Building.

See, I was thinking it was NYC. No way Toronto could have something that cool!
 
I think the point is that one-way traffic really tends to kill pedestrian or cycling traffic. It acts simply as a highway to get to another part of the city. They can help improve street life by making both streets two way. I believe the plan calls for both streets to be 3 lanes, with one lane for parking / sidewalk bumpouts.

One way streets also increase traffic - you often have to drive around blocks (go farther and then backtrack) because of the one-way nature of some streets, and your journey becomes longer.

Agreed, and agreed. I think that this is a pretty wise step forward. I definitely feel like a deer caught in headlights whenever I try to cross either of those two "highways". Unfortunately, we're going to get a lot more of those "war on the car" critics speaking out about how they want to stay in the 50s/60s mindset every time some kind of progression is made on any kind of change like this.

I'm personally looking forward to the improvement of John St., as I used to work just at the foot of that street and I have fond memories of it (except for the fact that it's almost a dangerous task to walk on the sidewalk anywhere between King and Queen).
 
Given that those streets' lack of life neither has to do with their width nor the direction of traffic flow, hopefully nothing. Open up new storefronts on the ground floor of the warehouses, bring in some new residents, add a grocery store and a couple of coffee shops and they'll become vibrant pedestrian corridors.
Speed of traffic makes a big difference to pedestrian friendliness, as do sidewalk width, landscaping, building design, and use. All these things contribute to Richmond and Adelaide having next to no streetlife. There are lots of improvements that can be made to those streets while keeping their status as major vehicle movers, but they'll never have the pedestrian potential of King or John. I don't think it's a bad thing to recognize that.
 

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