Plans to fill in Allen Road

[junctionist]

That intersection at Lawrence Square just west of the Allen is so loud during the day, with drivers honking every minute it seems. I noticed this while waiting in the car while a friend went to get something at Lawrence Square. The problem seems to be the limited opportunities to make left turns and the congestion created by the Allen's exits. The pedestrian traffic compounds the problems for turning cars. It didn't surprise me to see a memorial cross and flowers at the intersection.

I wonder if a roundabout would work there.

 

[sixrings]

there have been people who have advocated for creating true on off ramps... like big doughnuts seen at other highway exits... this would solve the problem what you are talking about... it would make traffic fow better... A roundabout may work as well but were torontonians whom for whatever reason dont like them (assuming from the lack of them). Proper on and off ramps would make me happy.. Might make some people rethink continuing south to eglinto where such a option doesnt exist.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Materials from public meeting - including posterboards on transportation:

http://www.toronto.ca/planning/lawrence_allen.htm#upcoming

AoD

 

[sixrings]

Yes this is the alignment if they kept the allen. It doesnt seem to make much sense to me tho that if theres room enough to build proper on and off ramp to not do so! Without proper ramps then Lawrence will have the same traffic problem as Eglinton. Maybe it would be a great idea at eglinton. Except there simply isnt the space to build it. SOMEONE ANYONE can suggest a ramp solution at eglinton Im all ears... But it has to be relatively affordable and make sense. Tunnelling to bathurst cant work LRT. Tunneling under cedervalle park cant work SUBWAY... But Im open to suggestions.

 

[W. K. Lis]

One change I would like to see are entrances to Lawrence West station before the ramps to the Allen Road. I think having pedestrians having to cross the ramps before getting to the entrance is not only dangerous, but stressful for more the pedestrian and drivers.

 

[sixrings]

sure that works for transit users. but what about people who just want to cross over to get to the other side of lawrence. Its better then nothing tho. A path type of place would be great. Put some of the retail that use to be in lawrence square in here. I guess the reality is its never pedestrian friendly to cross a highway... at least at eglinton I can cross on the south side.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

I think a SPUI interchange could work here.

 

[adma]

Yeah, it's the most latently SPUI-esque place in Toronto. Though I still can't get over the notion (deduced from highway-fanboy boards) that SPUIs are the woonerfs of the right...

 

[sixrings]

would this work at eglinton as well.. looks good tho... if it works at eglinton I would suggest that they should close the gap between the south bound allen and the north bound allen... When the LRT is in they will have the ability to get rid of eglinton west bus station.. As a result they can reroute the roads to be closer together... just a thought.. I like though..

 

[sixrings]

I should say I like better then the current set up.. Anythings better.

 

[sixrings]

OK heres my thought... you have to imagine the eglinton west bus station not there anymore... Then you have to imagine the south bound allen going underneith the north bound lanes and then coming back up and connecting to Eglinton. This sounds like it would cost a ton. BUT then people could make the right hand turn onto the north bound allen and the south bound allen could make its right onto eglinton without waiting for eachother. THEY COULD BOTH MAKE THEIR DIfficult left hand turns at the same time.

 

[sixrings]

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[sixrings]

this should illustrate the difficulty that the intersection currently faces trying to manage the lights so that both the south bound allen traffic can make a left hand tunr onto eglinton as well as the west bound eglinton traffic trying to make a left hand turn onto the north bound allen. The second drawing shows how tunneling the south bound allen underneith the northbond allen and then reconnecting at eglinton allows both difficult left hand turns to happen siamultaneously.

Sadly the last picture shows what the ALLEN continues to look like even today. Cant we just stop it at Lawrence?

 

[reaperexpress]

There are a few little things that I noticed in the preferred plan report.

- The 500m "walking radius" rings on the picture are wrong. They are showing about 400m. Since the north entrance to Lawrence West is only 800m from the south entrance to Yorkdale, the rings should overlap.

- I didn't see any mention of increasing the number of lanes going off and on at Lawrence. Currently, going north, one lane appears on the left under the Lawrence overpass, and one lane comes in from Lawrence on the right. However, this ramp merges from 2 lanes to 1 before just entering the highway. As well, the right lane south of Lawrence (2nd from right north of Lawrence) ends up on the 401, so all these people must merge left to stay on the Allen.
We should have 2 lanes coming in on the right at Lawrence so that people don't have to merge so much.

- I didn't see any mention of adding a new automatic entrance into Lawrence West station from Dell Park Ave. This would allow most pedestrians coming from the south to completely avoid the chaotic Lawrence-Allen intersection.

- I also didn't see any indication of what they're planning to do with the space gained from removing the south ramps. I think they should add a median and bike lanes on Lawrence, and zone the new space on the southwest side of the intersection for commercial development.

 

[sixrings]

they are getting rid of the ramps going south bound on lawrence???? Are they doing a report discussing between lawrence and eglinton???? maybe a boulevard would make sense on this stretch. Or maybe a complete removal. but a boulevard I would be ok with.