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Toronto St. Clair West Transit Improvements | ?m | ?s | TTC

My hope is that the city and the TTC both learn from the St. Clair debacle and do the first TC lines well. However, I fear for the worst, starting with Sheppard East. I have a suspicion that construction on that very long line will take many more years than stated and cause numerous disruptions when building the interchange at Don Mills station.
 
unimaginative2 said:
Speaking to Joe Mihevc and others, St. Clair is clearly intended to be the model for Transit City. The same people at the TTC who have managed the St. Clair project will be managing Transit City projects.

I don't buy that the wide suburban streets will somehow make construction so much easier. For one thing, many of these streets aren't nearly as wide as you might think. Finch, for example, will need significant widening and will cost a whole bunch of trees. You can bet that the neighbours won't be pleased about at, not to mention the loss of traffic lanes.
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Since Metrolinx will own the asset I would expect them to be involve in the tendering process. Stops will be spaced much further apart on the Transit City lines. There is virtually no on street parking on all the routes. Chopping down trees is easy compared to burying hydro. With the rapid 6 month EA process in place now the residents will be too late to complain about it. The part that took a long time at St.Clair was the EA and court issues combined with construction delays due to the complexity. A 6 month EA, and maintaining access to businesses will be much easier with Transit City.
 
Like the streetcar track upgrade on College that took more than twice as long as it was supposed to...
My friend worked on that projects and his stories of unproductivity are absolutely astounding.
 
unimaginative2 said:
Like the streetcar track upgrade on College that took more than twice as long as it was supposed to...
My friend worked on that projects and his stories of unproductivity are absolutely astounding.
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You should spend some time and watch TTC crews work. Talk about unproductive is a under statement. They were holding the contractors up.

When they install new intersection tracks and switches you got to laugh. They build it as a whole section in the yard, yet they cannot do it right out on the street. They don't allow for manhole or other stuff that in the intersection in the first place. Cut a tie here, remove a tie there and so on.

I can get iron-workers from Union 720 and they would do this work in haft the time with only a 5 man crew that is smaller than TTC crew.

Got some video of this and they are up on youtube.

Dundas did had a bad construction crew as I call them the night team compare to the day team doing other section faster then them. The day team is doing St Clair now. The night team hit a gas line in the Bay intersection and ""Boom"". 2 days delay.

The Bridge work took longer over the Don as they had to do a lot more steel work than what was plan for as it was in worse condition than it was supposed to be. At the west end, that bridge took forever to be rebuilt for some reason.

College had a lot of sidewalk work also with changes been made on the fly. Didn't follow this project at all except for day or two here and there.

Who every the project managers for TTC on these projects, they are out to lunch and need to find a real job. I would be fire by now if I was doing this kind of work in the real world of construction.
 
and yet because it is a city agency incompetence and laziness can be seen everywhere. That is why it takes over 1 year to remodel a subway entrance.
 
The unbearably long construction time is ridiculous... but to sprinkle a bit of positivitiy here, the sections of St. Clair that I've seen do look great without all those overhead wires.
 
casaguy said:
The unbearably long construction time is ridiculous... but to sprinkle a bit of positivitiy here, the sections of St. Clair that I've seen do look great without all those overhead wires.
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I agree. It looks absolutely beautiful, and I think the LRT and street rebuilding will actually have a number of improvements to businesses along St. Clair.
 
drum118 said:
When they install new intersection tracks and switches you got to laugh. They build it as a whole section in the yard, yet they cannot do it right out on the street.
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So the TTC propaganda from a few years ago about how they were able to replace an intersection in half the time they used to (and hence close the intersection to traffic for half the time) by building entire sections in the yard and then installing them as larger pieces was fantasy on their part?
 
Construction Schedule Update

The City just posted this update for the west end or the ROW.
It sounds like they hope to get Phase 4 mostly done by the end of this year.
The update includes the following schedule:

Work Schedule Overview

Aug. 4 to Aug. 31, Ford St. to CN bridge (south side), sidewalk, curbs, retaining wall and curb lane

Sept. 1 to Sept. 30, Ford St. to CN bridge (north side), sidewalk, curbs, retaining wall and curb lane

Aug. 10 to Oct. 17, Gunn's Loop work, west limit of the contract to 40.0 metres east of Gunn's loop,track and landscaping, curbs, sidewalk and curb lane

Oct. 1 to Dec., CN Bridge to Keele St., curbs, sidewalk, TTC tracks and roadway
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This schedule looks interesting, but it seems to leave out the tracks from Ford to the CN bridge, and both tracks and sidewalks from Keele to Gunn’s. I guess these parts are included but just not explicitly mentioned? Or maybe they're for next year?

There is also an update on the other part of Phase 4:
McRoberts Avenue to Ford Street Update
The new upgraded watermain to serve McRoberts Avenue to Ford Street has been completed. Starting during the first week of August 2009, the existing streetcar track will be excavated from just west of Caledonia Park Road to Ford Street. Heavy construction from McRoberts to Ford Street is scheduled to be completed by the end of November, 2009.
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so realistically speaking, when will this project be done done and done? Can we hope to enjoy the new St. Clair next summer (june perhaps?)
 
lead82 said:
so realistically speaking, when will this project be done done and done? Can we hope to enjoy the new St. Clair next summer (june perhaps?)
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Yes, you will use the line 100% in 2010.

Had a looked at some of the engineering drawings on Friday, but didn't get to the meat I wanted to see.

Gunns Loop will not rebuilt as is. Tracks will be north-south and will enter the street to the north to turn. Bus bay stay.

All the trees on the south side are to be cut down from the loop to Keele.

The south sidewalk at Old Weston Rd will be 12' further south. Sidewalk west of Old West Rd will stay about 12' south and then start to return to the street at the Bingo entrance.

It looks like a single lane under the bridge.

Temporary poles are 5'-15' back from the existing sidewalks.

The car dealership on the north side was cutting down his gate and fence and moving it back 15'. The market on the corner has to remove their stuff and will have next to no space after the sidewalk is rebuilt to put it back.

Dufferin Construction is the contractor.

All the existing poles were cut down and removed. Shelter should be gone any day.

North sidewalk is close and been torn up on the west side of the bridge.

Single lane of traffic from now to completion between Keele and Old Weston Rd

TTC had a dead bus at Arlington Intersection Sat blocking all westbound traffic. Orion VIIR in the high number BN2 274 were the plate as I could not see the number other the last one being 7. Quick, how do we do a detour for the 512 was the call of the day.

Concrete was pour today at Oakwood intersection.

Had to laugh on Sat as I see TTC crew finally got a straight section of track west of Oakwood after I pointed out to the TTC surveyor team and crew that it was not straight as they were preparing to leave after straightening the track. I pointed out the kinks. This was Friday. Concrete has been pour for haft of it now.

All platforms base are in up to Oakwood for the eastbound track. 2 more for the eastbound to be done and then the eastbound will be 100% complete to Lansdowne.

All sidewalk will be pour by next week, but still 2 more weeks before the road is done.

TTC crew is string the overhead system at Lansdowne loop. All the wire support brackets are in place for the centre poles from Lansdowne to Dufferin

Sidewalk work could start next week on the north side from Atlas to Oakwood.

The road is 100% complete from Christie St to Vaughan for the eastbound lanes with marking in place. Surprise it not open this weekend.

Once that section opens, centre poles will start to go up and be wire.
 
Thanks for the update drum. I'm looking forward to seeing the rebirth of St. Clair starting next year. After all the construction and madness over the past few years, I'm sure everyone in the city will enjoy the new St. Clair. The hideous power lines will be gone and the street will look way better than it was before construction.
 
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