Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

[innsertnamehere]

In my opinion a great way to improve the public realm for many major roads is to take out a couple lanes. Fewer lanes mean fewer potholes.

not sure this is sarcastic or not, but I started paying a lot more attention to the condition of streets when I started cycling. A poor road condition is a far larger issue for cyclists than drivers.

 

[Northern Light]

Didn't know where else to post this.

Running errands downtown today I couldn't help but notice the poor shape of many/most major roads. How can we discuss public realm beautification if we won't even do basic maintenance? Such a shame.

As @innsertnamehere notes above, downtown has lots of full road reconstruction and major resurfacing coming.

Over the next 4 years.

Yonge Street from Queen to College
Adelaide
John Street
King Street.
Wellington Street
Bloor Street East from Church to Parliament
Church street south of Bloor
The Esplanade
Portions of Front Street East as well.

That will be followed by Yonge from College to Davenport in the late 2020s.

 

[innsertnamehere]

The bigger moves like the Yonge Street reconstruction and John Street revitalization will also have a larger impact than just the traditional reconstructions as well. Taking a walk down Gould Street today is night and day compared to what it was - it's just going to get better as that type of condition spreads to larger areas of the city.

Honestly, even Adelaide's work is going to clean that street up massively. The old abandoned streetcar tracks are finally going to get ripped up which will improve the look of the street immensely.

 

[Undead]

Compared to the state of roads downtown a decade ago, it's far better today.

In that case, I don't even want to imagine what it was before lol

The local streets are a mess though, and lots of rough suburban roads too.

Yes, the local roads are worse than the big ones.

Toronto's always had terrible roads compared to the 905 though. It is what it is.

Even the suburban 416 is better than downtown, generally, with a few major exceptions like Sheppard and Bathurst.

True about the 905. The Region is resurfacing Leslie this year even though it's in fairly good shape. Toronto would have left it untouched for another decade+ lol

As @innsertnamehere notes above, downtown has lots of full road reconstruction and major resurfacing coming.

Over the next 4 years.

Yonge Street from Queen to College
Adelaide
John Street
King Street.
Wellington Street
Bloor Street East from Church to Parliament
Church street south of Bloor
The Esplanade
Portions of Front Street East as well.

That will be followed by Yonge from College to Davenport in the late 2020s.

That's good to hear, but it seems to take forever to repair roads that needed it yesterday. For example, when I lived in North York, I kept pestering the city to resurface Leslie (and add bike lanes!). They told me it's scheduled for a rebuild in 2025. It's gonna be fun driving and biking over Leslie after another five winters of Toronto's brutal freeze-thaw cycles...

 

[drum118]

The bridge on the QEW over Etobicoke Creek should have all the rebar in place next week to allow forming and pouring of the deck.

The eastbound off ramp still waiting forming to build the retaining wall to allow traffic to exit the QEW to Evens sooner. Work still taking place on the off ramp with one lane and barrier wall finish.

Great mistake to remove the tracks off Adelaide as it would allow it to be use as a bypass when King or Queen is close for an event. In place of having the track where it is currently is to bend it down to run in the south curb lane in an ROW that will piss cars/trucks off for parking and bend it back up before Victoria. You could widen the sidewalk to allow room for platforms. Too bad Richmond cannot be extended to Spadina as it would deal with bypass issues, but would be more in mix traffic west of University Ave.

Got a surprise last week using the QEW where the 403 used to exit and ended up on Ford Dr not realizing of the change in location. Was fighting traffic and fail to noticed the change since I am in that area only a few times a year and the last was at the end of Dec. I look forward to the day the 403 becomes 3-4 lanes as its a bitch most time going north on it.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I believe that the TTC is going to retain streetcar tracks between Spadina and Victoria actually - it's listed as such on TOInView at least. Which is interesting as there is actually 0 active track on that stretch of Adelaide right now.

They will be ripping up the old bi-directional trackwork though and be replacing it with single direction track like exists on Richmond.

 

[drum118]

I believe that the TTC is going to retain streetcar tracks between Spadina and Victoria actually - it's listed as such on TOInView at least. Which is interesting as there is actually 0 active track on that stretch of Adelaide right now.

They will be ripping up the old bi-directional trackwork though and be replacing it with single direction track like exists on Richmond.

The last I heard there was supposed to be a major review of the e-w roads in the core with the possibility of removing one way streets. This would allow Adelaide St to be what it used to be for streetcars and deal with closure on King and Queen. No idea where it stands at this time.

TTC never fix the tracks due to all the new towers going up at the time and since not much on the books theses days, one or both tracks could be rebuilt if TTC has the funds to do so. All new switches would be duel point since the old fleet is gone.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The last I heard there was supposed to be a major review of the e-w roads in the core with the possibility of removing one way streets. This would allow Adelaide St to be what it used to be for streetcars and deal with closure on King and Queen. No idea where it stands at this time.

TTC never fix the tracks due to all the new towers going up at the time and since not much on the books theses days, one or both tracks could be rebuilt if TTC has the funds to do so. All new switches would be duel point since the old fleet is gone.

Currently, streets like Adelaide and Richmond are nothing but on or off ramps for the Don Valley Parkway. They really only need one lane to handle that. They should be two way streets, with dual streetcar tracks, west of Church Street or Parliament Street (over time).

 

[TransitBart]

I feel like Toronto has generally gotten better at maintenance over the last decade, at least in the downtown. There are only a few remaining truly problematic stretches of major arterials downtown, and they are mostly scheduled for work in the next 2-3 years. Bloor, Jarvis, Adelaide, etc. are pretty rough but are getting redone either this year or next year. There are only a few really bad major arterials I can think of that aren't scheduled for being fixed up in the near future (Peter Street comes to mind).

Compared to the state of roads downtown a decade ago, it's far better today.

The local streets are a mess though, and lots of rough suburban roads too.

IF you want to feel good about the state of the city's roads though, go visit Hamilton. Now that is some bad roads.

Toronto's always had terrible roads compared to the 905 though. It is what it is.

Am I wrong in thinking that when you leave loose gravel and rubbish on a street that other vehicles passing over they tend to grind up the asphalt more aggressively? I wish the city cleaned up gravel, cement and other rubbish that I see laying about. I always feel the street degrades more quickly after. You can drive over miles of country roads maintained by counties and MTO, but a few blocks of some city street may require repair to your suspension.

 

[ARG1]

Currently, streets like Adelaide and Richmond are nothing but on or off ramps for the Don Valley Parkway. They really only need one lane to handle that. They should be two way streets, with dual streetcar tracks, west of Church Street or Parliament Street (over time).

I think we need the opposite approach actually. If we are to continue adding more dedicated Streetcar Streets like King St, the best approach would be to create "dedicated car streets", meanwhile you reserve other streets like Queen for cycling and Streetcar use. Unidirectional Streets then allow for better traffic management and control while being high capacity in the direction they're heading. If anything I think converting more streets to single directional major streets like we have for Richmond and Adelaide makes far more sense.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I think we need the opposite approach actually. If we are to continue adding more dedicated Streetcar Streets like King St, the best approach would be to create "dedicated car streets", meanwhile you reserve other streets like Queen for cycling and Streetcar use. Unidirectional Streets then allow for better traffic management and control while being high capacity in the direction they're heading. If anything I think converting more streets to single directional major streets like we have for Richmond and Adelaide makes far more sense.

Except, with Adelaide and Richmond converted to two-way streetcar tracks (to at least between Bathurst Street and Church or Parliament Streets), it would allow for streetcar detours for the the Santa Claus Parade and TIFF. Adelaide is one block north of King, while Richmond is one block south of Queen, both easy walking distances.

 

[afransen]

I think we need the opposite approach actually. If we are to continue adding more dedicated Streetcar Streets like King St, the best approach would be to create "dedicated car streets", meanwhile you reserve other streets like Queen for cycling and Streetcar use. Unidirectional Streets then allow for better traffic management and control while being high capacity in the direction they're heading. If anything I think converting more streets to single directional major streets like we have for Richmond and Adelaide makes far more sense.

One way streets are much more dangerous and pedestrian unfriendly.

 

[yin_yang]

I think everything is fine the way it is, more or less, in terms of traffic lanes. I'm glad Adelaide and Richmond are one way with bike lanes.

 

[ShonTron]

Except, with Adelaide and Richmond converted to two-way streetcar tracks (to at least between Bathurst Street and Church or Parliament Streets), it would allow for streetcar detours for the the Santa Claus Parade and TIFF. Adelaide is one block north of King, while Richmond is one block south of Queen, both easy walking distances.

Why would we want to keep making the King Street closure for TIFF a thing and spend money rebuilding long-removed or disused streetcar tracks to do so?

 

[allengeorge]

Didn't know where else to post this.

Running errands downtown today I couldn't help but notice the poor shape of many/most major roads. How can we discuss public realm beautification if we won't even do basic maintenance? Such a shame.

My understanding is that a huge (50%+?) of the road budget has been eaten up by the Gardiner rebuild. If so, what we’re seeing today is the consequence of that decision on the rest of the city’s road network.

That aside, I hope all the road rebuilds add way more street trees and bike lanes. (I’ve always thought downtown was so grey, so trees would help a lot.) There’s a lot of potential for dedicated bike lanes to reduce traffic in the core and increase the walkability and livability of downtown neighbourhoods - and make it easier and faster to get around.