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Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

There was "talk" about a multi-level parking garage over the Allen Road, north of Eglinton. Never happened. (Unless we consider the Yorkdale parking garage as a descendant of such "talk".)

54caa950a012a_-_parking-01-xln.jpg
 
In rush hour driving, Allen Road is not any faster than Bathurst Street or Avenue road in peak direction travel.
There was "talk" about a multi-level parking garage over the Allen Road, north of Eglinton. Never happened. (Unless we consider the Yorkdale parking garage as a descendant of such "talk".)

54caa950a012a_-_parking-01-xln.jpg

Lord have mercy.
 
Actually the allen is faster. My wife and I use it daily. At least it's better than dufferin.

I don't drive there very often; a few times I did, northbound Allen was pretty fast and not congested. Definitely faster than Dufferin or Bathurst.

Southbound, the fastest option is probably taking Allen to Lawrence, then exiting at Lawrence and bypassing the Eglinton & Allen intersection (that one is always filled, even off-peak and was so even before the LRT construction started).
 
I don't drive there very often; a few times I did, northbound Allen was pretty fast and not congested. Definitely faster than Dufferin or Bathurst.

Southbound, the fastest option is probably taking Allen to Lawrence, then exiting at Lawrence and bypassing the Eglinton & Allen intersection (that one is always filled, even off-peak and was so even before the LRT construction started).

During the PM rush, southbound on Allen is fast until you get to just south of Glencairin; then you’re stuck in standstill traffic for 10 to 15 mins until you can exit at Eglinton.

Avenue Road and Bathurst are slow, but at least they’re moving.

Google Maps/Waze almost always recommends I use Avenue Road, Bathurst Street, and sometimes (rarely) even Yonge, to avoid the congestion on Allen.

I don’t really use Dufferin, but I suspect it’s slower than Allen given my limited experience.
 
During rush hour, Allen Road is no faster than parallel roads, such as Avenue Road or Bathurst Street. In fact, its often slower than the latter two roads.
Yes, but it would take much longer to use those parallel roads if the Allen was closed, since all the current traffic on the Allen would be forced to those streets??
Also, who uses the same road everyday in the age of Waze.
 
Yes, but it would take much longer to use those parallel roads if the Allen was closed, since all the current traffic on the Allen would be forced to those streets??
Also, who uses the same road everyday in the age of Waze.

I suspect it would be slower, but it's hard to say with induced demand being a factor. As we've seen in the past, freeway removals often cause the demand to evaporate, with nominal impact on travel times.

I'm not convinced that Allen Road has had a significant benefit to commutes, beyond making it possible to fit more cars on the road (and its questionable if thats truly a benefit).
 
I suspect it would be slower, but it's hard to say with induced demand being a factor. As we've seen in the past, freeway removals often cause the demand to evaporate, with nominal impact on travel times.

I'm not convinced that Allen Road has had a significant benefit to commutes, beyond making it possible to fit more cars on the road (and its questionable if thats truly a benefit).
I'm curious, where have we seen that in Toronto in the past?
 
I was talking about other cities. Toronto has only had one past freeway removal (Gardiner east of DVP), but few people used it in the first place so it’s a poor example.
Indeed. Toronto is a relic in many respects:
Six Freeway Removals That Changed Their Cities Forever - Gizmodo
Highway Removal – Streetsblog New York City
Removing Freeways - Restoring Cities - Preservation Institute

From the latter link above:

New York, NY
West Side Highway

New York’s West Side Highway was the first elevated highway to be built, with construction beginning in the 1920s. And it was the first elevated highway to collapse, decaying so badly that it had to be closed permanently in the 1970s.

When the West Side Highway was closed in 1973, 53 percent of the traffic that had used this highway disappeared, dramatic proof that building freeways generates traffic and that removing freeways reduces traffic. Yet there was tremendous pressure to replace this highway with a bigger and better freeway named Westway.

The plan was defeated after a David versus Goliath struggle that lasted for more than a decade, with a group of west-side residents, community boards, and environmentalists fighting the entire New York political establishment, including New York city’s mayor and New York state’s governor and two senators.

Now, there is a park, pedestrian promenade, and bicycle path along the Hudson River on Manhattan’s west side - public places that are real amenities for Manhattan on land that used to be blighted by an elevated freeway.
[...]

Prequel to Toronto? Portends what could/should happen here? Not at this rate...


 
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