News   Dec 20, 2024
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Streetcar Tracks on Adelaide

Commercial fines need to be way higher...
Creating usable areas for service vehicles to park is consistently overlooked. So we can either provide better options, or require, as the Bell Truck has complied with, better 'signage' of their presence. Assuming that the Bell truck had no other reasonable alternatives, and then whether you are in a vehicle or on a bike, you make the adjustment to the presence of a stopped commercial vehicle.
 
Creating usable areas for service vehicles to park is consistently overlooked. So we can either provide better options, or require, as the Bell Truck has complied with, better 'signage' of their presence. Assuming that the Bell truck had no other reasonable alternatives, and then whether you are in a vehicle or on a bike, you make the adjustment to the presence of a stopped commercial vehicle.
A fine argument if one didn't see such vehicles and couriers parked in bike lanes and bus stops feet away from a decent, and often fully legal, place to park.
 
They only do this when they are rebuilding a road - $$$.
Rebuilding means what exactly? The asphalt here fairly new, as it is on Adelaide where they've only placed movable barriers as well.
 
Rebuilding means what exactly? The asphalt here fairly new, as it is on Adelaide where they've only placed movable barriers as well.
Rebuilding means removing the underlying concrete and replacing all the street drainage. When you do this you can alter the 'slopes' and move the catch basins to create raised bike lanes or wider sidewalks. Resurfacing is really just grinding off the asphalt, repairing any obvious spots they find in the concrete where it is badly damaged or absent and repaving. When Sherbourne was rebuilt about a decade ago they built raised bike tracks and I assume are doing same on The Esplanade this summer once the water and sewer installation is finished. Adelaide was repaved recently but NOT rebuilt so it has concrete barriers where water can pass under them to reach the (unmoved) catch basins.
 
Rebuilding means removing the underlying concrete and replacing all the street drainage. When you do this you can alter the 'slopes' and move the catch basins to create raised bike lanes or wider sidewalks. Resurfacing is really just grinding off the asphalt, repairing any obvious spots they find in the concrete where it is badly damaged or absent and repaving. When Sherbourne was rebuilt about a decade ago they built raised bike tracks and I assume are doing same on The Esplanade this summer once the water and sewer installation is finished. Adelaide was repaved recently but NOT rebuilt so it has concrete barriers where water can pass under them to reach the (unmoved) catch basins.

Thanks for this very detailed response!

My only other question is what makes them decide to reconstruct/rebuild over resurfacing and putting in painted bike lanes with barriers? Is there a reason they don't go right to reconstructing aside from money? Do they wait until other aspects of the street need reconstructing as well?
 
Thanks for this very detailed response!

My only other question is what makes them decide to reconstruct/rebuild over resurfacing and putting in painted bike lanes with barriers? Is there a reason they don't go right to reconstructing aside from money? Do they wait until other aspects of the street need reconstructing as well?
Not sure I can answer this but one would HOPE that if a street is in very poor condition they stop patching and simply re-build it but "it's the City" so I wonder :-> (From what i have seen in St Lawrence, they only reconstruct if they are doing MAJOR work on water or sewers AND the concrete 'base layer' is old and deteriorating. (Wellington WAS reconstructed/rebuilt, Adelaide was not, Sherbourne was in many blocks but not all.)
 
Not sure I can answer this but one would HOPE that if a street is in very poor condition they stop patching and simply re-build it but "it's the City" so I wonder :-> (From what i have seen in St Lawrence, they only reconstruct if they are doing MAJOR work on water or sewers AND the concrete 'base layer' is old and deteriorating. (Wellington WAS reconstructed/rebuilt, Adelaide was not, Sherbourne was in many blocks but not all.)
This is on City website: https://www.toronto.ca/services-pay...tation/road-maintenance/road-sidewalk-repair/

The City’s roadways are an asphalt top and a concrete bottom. In most cases, a new road’s asphalt has a life span of 18-25 years. Cracks and holes appear in the road as weather conditions and regular wear-and-tear occur, then City staff repair them. When water enters the cracks created in the road, it can lift chunks of the asphalt.
When a road has existed for about 20 years, inspectors look at the road and perform engineering tests to determine if it needs a new surface. If deemed to be in good shape, there is no work done on the road and inspectors return at a later date to re-inspect the road. If the asphalt is in disrepair, the City will plan road resurfacing work, which involves replacing the asphalt surface.

If preventative measures, such as resurfacing, are periodically done, the concrete base of the road will last about 50 years. If preventative measures are not undertaken, a road’s base might last only 25-30 years. When inspecting the road, inspectors consider the condition of the road base to keep track of the need for a full road reconstruction.
Taking steps to repave the road before it reaches a state of further disrepair has some obvious benefits. The work results in an improved road surface. That benefits road users and also keeps the road base in a state of good repair.
 
The City removed all TTC tracks for the southbound track in 2013 which means that the 2 west lanes are only 11 years old including the intersections after been fully rebuilt. Having said that, there were sections of the west curb lanes that saw some rebuilding or patchwork for this work.

Going by the last photo, there is either one southbound lane where the tracks are and the bike lane in the curb lane. As the photo shows X facing north in the bike lane is a reason barriers are needed to be place next to the lane to stop the illegally parking from now on. Would not be surprise to see some northbound driver using that southbound track area since they think its their right when the street was northbound only last year as well since it became a one way street.
 
Random but it's crazy to see how long some of the streetcar tracks have been in the road despite being abandoned in the 50's or 60's

 
2024-07-09 21:30 York St & Queen St
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July 11 - The tracks are complete, and the lane(s) beside the tracks repaved, all the way from Richmond Street, down York to Adelaide, and along Adelaide from York to Victoria Streets. All that is left is the section at the intersection, going east on Queen making the turn south on York Street. No OCS yet on any of the new stretch, just a few of the stringers from the poles have been installed.

South side of Queen Street looking west:

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From across the corner, looking down York.

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Looking down York Street:

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Looking back up to Queen Street:

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York Street, looking north from Adelaide:

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Adelaide, looking east towards Yonge - all finished except the OCS:

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