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Roads: Gardiner Expressway catch-all, incl. Hybrid Design (2015-onwards)

They should keep a pair of the pillars on the west side of the Don as a memorial to the Logan Ramps and also, maybe they can put up signs that say "Welcome to East Harbour" or something like that.
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Thewardens_hauling_heavy said:
Hey guys, great photos capturing the demolition!
I work for PDI and haul heavy equipment. I was on nights during this weekend, it’s nice to find a forum where there is positivity over this demo job. Here is some on site footage.View attachment 347229View attachment 347230View attachment 347232View attachment 347231View attachment 347233View attachment 347234View attachment 347235View attachment 347235View attachment 347236View attachment 347237View attachment 347238View attachment 347239View attachment 347240View attachment 347241
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Great pictures!
 
TRONto said:
The existing pillars on the east are more than enough (I assume those are staying)
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It maybe great to try to retain a bent or 2, but how do you get 6 lanes of traffic through them when it was built for 4 lanes??

Every thing has to come down west of the Don Ways as that whole area will be redevelop as well widening of the mouth of the Don.

You can leave a post only with a short section at the top as a reminder of past days, but that must happen now before they are gone.
 
Just back from 'inspecting' the cycling detour down Carlaw and Commissioners. What a TOTAL mess - virtually no signage, track surface appalling, constantly switching from uni-directional tracks to bi-directional one. The City clearly knows how to make proper bike tracks and knows how to fix asphalt and deal with drainage issues but for some reason this one is a TOTAL FAIL.

UPDATE: I wrote to Becky Katz at the City who replied and said "Please continue to send feedback and questions to plfp@ellisdon.com " Others who have comments may want to follow her advice!
 
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Any idea if they are tearing down all the way back to bent 329? I'm curious how cleanly the Gardiner will be cut back to the DVP ramp. I can't wait to go down there when this is done and see the sky from the north shore of the Keating Channel.
 
hawc said:
Amazing photos! Wow.

Question, what do you use to cut through the huge steel sections? Is it always just a plasma cutter, or would you ever use a thermic lance? What would be the benefits/drawback of each?
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We used Thermal Lances on this one over the Plasma for portability and to keep torchman at a better distance while in the baskets also thermal lances seen to work better for on site when thick steel with many angles are involved. On these mass cutting jobs sparks do happen to get into respirators and do smoulder. Even with being a few more feet back with the lances it does happen but we’ve found less than plasma.
 
hawc said:
When's the next major demolition planned? Is it only weekends? And then clean up for Monday morning each time?
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Correct, demolition is limited to weekends. Total project timeline is 5 weekends before penalties.
PDI is aiming for a fully finished project by 4 weekends. So 3 weekends of demolition left.

Tear down of machines and haul out isn’t calculated into actual project time, so you may still see the odd machine in the staging areas as we are also working on earthworks across the road too.
 
Back in time...

1958 Globe: Invade Old Fort—Proposed alignment of Gardiner Expressway​

From link.

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Looming large among Toronto’s myths are the tales of two expressways into the heart of the City: the Gardiner’s brush with Fort York, and the southward extension of the Allan Expressway, a.k.a. “Stop Spadina.” It is possible to see them linked not only in their sponsors’ determination to deliver progress at any cost, but also by the earnest opposition of those who fought them with such success.

The Gardiner Expressway was among the first major public works taken on by the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto following its founding in 1954. Typical perhaps of the brash style of Frederick G. Gardiner, Metro's chairman for whom it was named, the road was under construction at its western end before its route had been worked out in detail through the heart of the city. Even then, some aspects as they became known excited immediate opposition and necessitated tactical retreats by the politicians in charge. One was the idea unveiled in early 1958 to place piers for the roadway and a connecting ramp from Bathurst Street within the ramparts of Fort York. The solution to this—bending the expressway a bit and eliminating the on-ramp—seems to have done little to increase the officials’ respect for Fort York. This was seen in a truly appalling 1959 scheme to extend Highway 400 to connect with the Gardiner, in interchanges that would have sterilized upwards of 30 acres of land west and south of the fort. It foreshadowed "Stop Spadina" a decade later.
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The story of the Battle of Fort York in 1958-59 and its champions is found here.
 
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