The Tenor (10 Dundas St E, Ent Prop Trust, 10s, Baldwin & Franklin)

[JasonParis]

That would suck. Turning the city's premier thoroughfare into a puny 2-lane street would make it look retarded!

Have you ever seen Oxford Street?

Then where would be put all the parades and spontaneous Stanley Cup celebrations?

Stanley Cup celebrations? I don't think we should be designing our city for something that may well never happen in our lifetimes. Nonetheless, Yonge would be just as wide. There'd be no problem for parades and such. The sidewalks would just be wider. I think historically, Stanley Cup parades went done down Bay Street anyway.

 

[St. Even]

^^^I was being facetious. (Stanley Cup? Toronto? LMAO!!)
I'd actually love to see the sidewalks widened on Yonge St. from Bloor south. It's the city's main pedestrian highway and nowhere near wide enough. It's amazing how quickly a crowd can overtake a corner waiting for the light to change (especially at Dundas, Queen, Wellesley, even Bloor sometimes.)

 

[BobBob]

Agreed on Yonge sidewalks - currently, a single hand-holding couple is enough to back things up for miles.

 

[St. Even]

Agreed on Yonge sidewalks - currently, a single hand-holding couple is enough to back things up for miles.

Or....dare I say....wider sidewalks AND proper bike lanes for Yonge St.?

 

[Jdot]

Wider sidewalks yes, trees - NO.
I would hate to see trees along Yonge Street. This is one part of the city that I feel should remain tree-less.

 

[caltrane74]

Trees on Yonge Street look stupid.

I'll make an exception for College Park, being the only acceptable place to have sidewalk trees, as the sidewalk is wide there and there are trees in the Median of the Street too.

 

[St. Even]

What about roof-top trees on all those two-storey buildings?

 

[interchange42]

Agreed on Yonge sidewalks - currently, a single hand-holding couple is enough to back things up for miles.

A couple hand-holding singles can also back things up, and also provide much more intrigue.

42

 

[Skeezix]

Wider sidewalks yes, trees - NO.
I would hate to see trees along Yonge Street. This is one part of the city that I feel should remain tree-less.

It's not quite clear to me why any street, let alone Yonge, should remain tree-less.

I have my doubts, however, even if Yonge were reduced to two lanes, whether there is enough space below-grade (given the subway) for enough of a root structure to make trees worthwhile. Perhaps this is what Jdot was getting at.

I agree that wider sidewalks would be of tremendous benefit to Yonge. Great streets are not made by having numerous lanes of traffic. It's not clear to me how the street would become "puny" if we dedicated less of the road allowance to cars -- we'd still have the same width road allowance. Despite comments above to the contrary, car traffic does not give streets their character, otherwise Jarvis Street would be charming.

Not sure if two lanes is feasible, though. Taxis, buses, delivery trucks (illegally, mind you) etc. need to stop, and one stalled car can't be allowed to disrupt traffic on a major thoroughfare like Yonge. You'd need a lot of lay-bys. Would it be worth it?

 

[Skeezix]

Tiny *Tom*.

It seems like I encountered Tiny Tom's presence somewhere else lately--was it the Roncy street festival or something? Works best as something transient rather than something permanent...

They had a truck at the Beaches jazz festival. Hadn't had them in years, and they were delicious.

 

[Conrad Black]

I have my doubts, however, even if Yonge were reduced to two lanes, whether there is enough space below-grade (given the subway) for enough of a root structure to make trees worthwhile. Perhaps this is what Jdot was getting at.

Trees don't need to go as far down as the subway so it wouldn't be an issue. 90% of tree roots only grow down about 2 feet or so.

 

[MetroMan]

Encouraging trees on rooftops should do enough to green up Yonge without obstructing the already narrow sidewalks -- or losing the benefit of expanding them -- and in turn cleaning up the air in this particularly stale air part of town.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Or....dare I say....wider sidewalks AND proper bike lanes for Yonge St.?

St.Even, your sooo radical!

 

[Jdot]

No, I didnt mean that trees wouldnt have the space for roots.... I said that Yonge shouldnt have trees because to me, Yonge is all about the good old urban concrete jungle. I dont want to see plant life when I walk up or down Yonge. I want to see the road, the buildings and the people. There are streets that should have a thick, tree canopy covering the sidewalks, but Yonge is not one of them. There is no room as is for trees. Reducing the street to one lane each way, although good for providing more pedestrian sidewalk space, would be horror on the gridlock. North Americans are just too car-obsessed.

 

[Patriot]

Brackets have been installed on the NORTH side of the building. This would face Yonge street NORTH. A sign will likely be installed within a week or by the weekend.