Toronto Queens Quay & Water's Edge Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

Are they digging anything up to do this or is it being put up on the poles?

Great question, and I have a speculative answer.

On Fleet St. they have conduit running in the track bed with this kind of stuff in it. I don't really know what they built on Queen's Quay but I would expect the same. So, this may be a cable pull (through the conduit) to replace a cable installed during the rebuild. It's possible it's functional but has regular packet loss; perhaps it wasn't spec'd right or moisture got in and edges of the glass shattered over winter causing extra reflections.

I'm not even sure what data it would be carrying. Network for platform vending machine? Switch positions?
 
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Great question, and I have a speculative answer.

On Fleet St. they have conduit running in the track bed with this kind of stuff in it. I don't really know what they built on Queen's Quay but I would expect the same. So, this may be a cable pull (through the conduit) to replace a cable installed during the rebuild. It's possible it's functional but has regular packet loss; perhaps it wasn't spec'd right or moisture got in and edges of the glass shattered over winter causing extra reflections.

I'm not even sure what data it would be carrying. Network for platform vending machine? Switch positions?
Presto? I don't think it's switch position cause that design dates back to the 70s(?) where networks don't exist.
 
During QQ revitalization they referred to laying/"pulling" cabling for Transit Signal Priority. Don't recall if it was fibre optic, but TSP is the only cabling running along the TTC ROW that I know of.

Not Presto for the streetcars, that's wireless. Could be for the SRVMs on platforms but I'd be surprised if that required a full ROW shutdown--honestly I'd expect the networking for those to run wirelessly, since it's only needed for the debit/credit function anyways--would be surprised if they had 6000ft, or whatever they'd said, of fibre for those.
 
The pedestrian/cyclist conflicts noted a few pages back seem to be being adressed. See:

Pre-Qualification of General Contractors (PQ) #2016-26: Portland Slip Sidewalk Extension
Waterfront Toronto (legally known as Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation) is seeking Prequalification (PQ) submissions from firms interested in participating in a Request for Tenders (RFT) for providing construction services to Waterfront Toronto. This PQ is open to all interested firms (hereinafter called “Proponents”) with experience in the required disciplines and the required resources, as further described herein.
The construction will involve creating a sidewalk extension at the tip of the Portland head of slip in order to widen passage at that location. This is envisaged to entail filling the slip head with rock material. The successful proponent is required to design and construct this work.

Interested Firms who have the requisite experience and resources are eligible to respond to this PQ process.

Please note the submission deadline for the PQ is May 18, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. local time.
 
Great news that this is going ahead soon. It's a tricky spot for everyone at the moment!

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So at this moment an insulator is exploding in bright sparks in front of the shoppers drug mart, if not for the rain it would likely be seriously on fire. Fire crews have responded.
 
The pedestrian/cyclist conflicts noted a few pages back seem to be being adressed. See:

Pre-Qualification of General Contractors (PQ) #2016-26: Portland Slip Sidewalk Extension
Waterfront Toronto (legally known as Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation) is seeking Prequalification (PQ) submissions from firms interested in participating in a Request for Tenders (RFT) for providing construction services to Waterfront Toronto. This PQ is open to all interested firms (hereinafter called “Proponents”) with experience in the required disciplines and the required resources, as further described herein.
The construction will involve creating a sidewalk extension at the tip of the Portland head of slip in order to widen passage at that location. This is envisaged to entail filling the slip head with rock material. The successful proponent is required to design and construct this work.

Interested Firms who have the requisite experience and resources are eligible to respond to this PQ process.

Please note the submission deadline for the PQ is May 18, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. local time.

That's not at all what I was hoping for. The sidewalk was meant to be widened by a boardwalk and a wavedeck that would essentially create a waterfront plaza at Portland. That they're filling a part of the slip with rocks and building a sidewalk suggests that we're nowhere close to getting the remaining wave decks that were planned as part of the waterfront revitalization.

2633_aerial_view_of_slip___future_with_wavedeck_1_870_450_both_.jpg
 
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That's not at all what I was hoping for. The sidewalk was meant to be widened by a boardwalk and a wavedeck that would essentially create a waterfront plaza at Portland. That they're filling a part of the slip with rocks and building a sidewalk suggests that we're nowhere close to getting the remaining wave decks that were planned as part of the waterfront revitalization.

2633_aerial_view_of_slip___future_with_wavedeck_1_870_450_both_.jpg

Filling in the slip with rocks and widening the sidewalk is much easier, faster, and cheaper than a thorough (though limited in surface area) revitalization with a wavedeck and plaza. This gets a dangerous and inconvenient situation rectified quickly. There's no reason they can't upgrade the area in the future once funds and a comprehensive plan are in place--probably as part of the footbridges project. Yes, it'll likely be a while, but this doesn't preclude it--and something is better than nothing!
 
The TTC seems to enjoy crippling streetcar operations these days. It's not even that they go 10km/h through ROW intersections, its the fact that they literally do a stop and proceed now (with the proceed being a snail's pace crawl through intersections).

This is now in addition to the recent addition of crawling though intersections where there are switches. Before they would just stop and proceed (with the proceed being at a decent speed), now they proceed by crawling though the entire area where switches are located.
 
It's better than having a streetcar run over a pedestrian.

The issue here is the design the streetcar ROW. Because it's the same level as the sidewalk, pedestrians wander into it, not realizing that they're not supposed to stand there. The streetcar ROW should've been built at the same height as car lanes, so pedestrians wouldn't be so inclined to walk on it
 

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