Toronto Bloor Street Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Bloor-Yorkville BIA | architectsAlliance

Is there any requirement for paint markings to be removed from surfaces after the work has been completed? IE the orange paint in the road in the first photo.
They use a paint that intentionally does not last too long to identify underground utilities (red=hydro, blue=water, yellow=gas, orange=phone/cable and purple=heating/cooling.)
 
They use a paint that intentionally does not last too long to identify underground utilities (red=hydro, blue=water, yellow=gas, orange=phone/cable and purple=heating/cooling.)

It seems to linger for quite a long time after a project is complete. Be preferable to see them remove the markings once done.
 
Any idea when the public art will makes it way to Bloor street, finally ? : )
 
Does anyone know if they are extending this treatment east of Hazelton to Bay to meet up with the Bay to Yonge section they did last summer? Noticed this Saturday that Yorkville was shut to car traffic for construction from Bellair to the west, and even the Bay to Bellair stretch looked like it had been partially excavated. I was sadly in a car, so couldn't investigate more closely.
 
Interesting story in the G&M about street trees includes this tidbit about the trees on Bloor, which I hadn't heard before:
The first set of trees died because a contractor used a low-quality fill that trapped salt while preventing the roots from growing beyond the root ball. Construction crews are now pulling up the dead trees by their trunks so they can suck out the backfill and replace it with appropriate soil.

So it sounds like the tree type wasn't the only problem.
 
So the City picked up the tab for replacing dead trees planted in low-quality fill. Maybe the contract with the original contractor did not stipulate a high-quality and maybe there's no recourse… but here's hoping that company gets no more work from the City.

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What do you expect when you always go for the cheapest guy around? They are looking to cut down on costs and will use any trick they can.
 
I really hope the trees survive this time. So far they are looking really good. The Kentucky Coffee trees looked kind of scrawny and sad at first, but they have grown quickly and are looking quite fine.
 
Interesting story in the G&M about street trees includes this tidbit about the trees on Bloor, which I hadn't heard before:


So it sounds like the tree type wasn't the only problem.
I remember seeing them drop in one of the original trees, the hole was lined with a black felt like material, I thought it was odd since the whole point of the silva cell setup was to allow the roots to spread... I've never planted a tree before so I assumed they knew what they were doing, but now it appears as if they didn't
 
I don't have enough info to start a thread yet but on a related note to this thread, some business owners on King West said that there is talk about doing a coordinated public realm revitalization from Bathurst to University. Has anybody heard about this?
 
Bit by bit, Toronto is growing up on the public realm front. We're slowly getting rid of the poured concrete sidewalks on main streets. A lot of the Financial district had already done so — albeit not coordinated. Queens Quay, Bloor Street and Union Station Plaza are the most recent examples. King West and the Entertainment district are primed to be next.

The Queens Quay revitalization has created skilled labourers in cobble stone specialty — a style of public realm seen mainly in Europe. With Queens Quay complete, those workers are now free to move on to other projects. If poor nations can cobblestone entire cities, then Toronto can at least get major streets done like Queens Quay.
 

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