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Roads: Six Points Interchange Reconfiguration (City of Toronto, UC)

Towered said:
WTF is the matter with this city? The EA for this was completed in 2007 and approved by council in January 2008. Why the hell won't work even begin for another 6 years??? All they have to do is remove the series of ramps, which are not impeded by surrounding structures and build a couple of new at grade roads. This is driving me crazy.
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Construction WILL interrupt bus service to Islington station. Bus service is being moved to Kipling first. Kipling enhancements, necessary to increase capacity for interregional traffic, are under construction.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
I think this "interchange" is confusing even for drivers. I mean one second you're on Bloor, the next you're on Dundas in the blink of an eye. In my opinion, roads should go straight.
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Not like it's the only case of such potentially disorienting discontinuity--think of the Keele-into-Weston situation north of St Clair...
 
Hipster Duck said:
The more I think about this project, the more I think that it is a misdirected waste of money meant for a perceived social gain that will probably never materialize. The current interchange, as it is, works perfectly. A complex, at grade intersection will likely be a massive traffic (and bus) bottleneck while not being any less of a deterrent to pedestrians.

And, speaking about pedestrians, the fix is already in for this neighbourhood. I don't see how this will further "urbanize" the area west of Kipling because that area is already psychologically associated with low density, strip commercial development and suburban bungalow development with residents who are extremely on guard about encroaching development of any kind.

But, hey, if the city is hellbent on encouraging walkability in the area, they could build a pedestrian overpass over the current interchange for a fraction of the cost.
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Why wouldn't it be able to be urbanized?? It is also sandwiched between the Mabelle rental buildings and all the Islington condos on one side, and Tridel's Essex community on the other side. If there is any place in Etobicoke for intensification and urbanization, it's here.
 
IMO, getting rid of the directional ramps at Bloor and Dundas would funnel a lot of unnecessary traffic which was originally bound for Dundas onto Bloor, getting rid of its status as a sub-arterial, however, I would hate to relinquish the reurbanization opportunity by keeping the existing ramps.

Which is why I propose something exotic; essentially the dundas grade-separation option but with new directional ramps from Bloor to Dundas connecting below grade.


Link to Map

(Dundas shown in red for clarity)

With this configuration, there would need to be a traffic signal below grade, because of the intersecting westbound ramp. However, I beleive the tradeoff is reasonable considering the amount of heavy traffic kept away from street level at the Bloor-Kipling intersection.

I know this is probably too late for any consideration in the EA, but its been said before by others that this is one of those projects that may not see any light for another 10 years.
 
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jks said:
Why wouldn't it be able to be urbanized?? It is also sandwiched between the Mabelle rental buildings and all the Islington condos on one side, and Tridel's Essex community on the other side. If there is any place in Etobicoke for intensification and urbanization, it's here.
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Okay, let's picture the 6 points as a pie, or more likely a clock. Right now the only urbanized slice of the pie is the wedge between Dundas and Bloor to the immediate east of the project (roughly between 1 and 3 o'clock). There is some redevelopment potential at the old Westwood mall site (between 3 and 6 o'clock), but that block is itself an orphaned wedge between the rail line, Kipling and Bloor. While there is some potential for intensification that is a completely different thing from urbanization which implies that pedestrians will feel that there is a psychological reason to walk and interact with the properties on that wedge. Even in old, urbanized parts of downtown Toronto there are pockets of dead space where a rail wedge meets two arterials. The "No Frills" space between Lansdowne, Dundas and the Weston sub comes to mind.

Okay, let's look at the other parts of the 6 points "clock": between 6 and 8 o'clock there is the very unurban Essex project which is already built out. Between 8 and 9 there is a strip mall that is back-ended by other low density commercial properties that aren't really going anywhere. Between 9 and 1 o'clock is an established bungalow neighbourhood of retiring NIMBYs who will put up the fight of their lives if anything beyond a townhouse gets built nearby.

So, as you can see, there is not very much development potential and practically zero urbanization potential. There are other areas of Etobicoke that are much more suitable for urbanization, including large tracts of Mimico/New Toronto and much further north along arterials in Rexdale.
 
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This project is included in the 2011 city budget, but with the dates 2015-2018 in brackets - am I to understand that construction will therefore not begin until 2015? If that is the case, then why would it be included in the 2011 budget? I'm unsure as to how this works.
 
I suspect that, if the provincial court building is going ahead, some $ will have to be spent earlier to allow for access to the new building. I'm thinking some of the redirected Dundas and perhaps a local service road will be pre-built with the development, without spending the bulk of the money needed to take down the existing bridges. But I'm guessing, so don't take my word for it!
 
Six Points reconfiguration

I've seen this on the books for a while now but I was wondering if anyone here has any idea on the timelines... if and when reconstruction of Six Points is due to begin.
 
The site is in the process of formal transfer to BUILD Toronto. Dollars being spent and detailed design and pohasing drawings for the new road network. I am pushing BUILD to go to market with Phase 1 of the site later this year. First building to include the YMCA rec centre.
 
Thanks councillor. Please let us know when drawings can be made public. I'm excited to see how this will come together.
 
Thanks for the update - so then we won't have to wait another 3 years for this to get underway after all?

Also, I did notice that the Westwood theatre was completely boarded up very recently. I found that curious considering that the provincial courthouse will no longer be built.
 
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