What is it???

[Lone Primate]

Does anybody know what this is for? It's a small interchange just off the DVP that seems to connect to nothing and go nowhere. I know that that stretch was supposed to be the route to the Crosstown Expressway, long ago, but what about this set of loops in particular? Was it supposed to serve something at some point that never came to be?

 

[theman23]

Looks like it could be used by city vehicles to get into the ravine. I sometimes see them down there, and I guess this is how they get there.

 

[Jonny5]

It looks like they lead down the ravine to some kind of concrete platform with transmission or hydro towers on them. I know that's probably not what those structures are but that's what they look like on the map.

I'm sure they used loops to set up this access as that stretch of roadway is too dangerous to have vehicles pulling in and out from a dead stop.

 

[adma]

There's nothing like Google Earth to make an interchange-like arrangement appear more important and pretentious than it is...

 

[TKTKTK]

They're not very apparent from the ground. I've always figured they were originally built during the contruction of the DVP (temporary access or diversion or something) who purpose got even more obscured once they re-did Bayview and the Bloor ramps. I figure they keep them for access to that Hydro tower, and also as a turn-around for trucks accessing that salt station to the south.

The entry with DVP construction photos on the Toronto Archives site is busted. Oh well

 

[CDL.TO]

Although overgrown, this ramp is paved and has a yellow line painted down the middle, which suggests that it was once something more substantial than an access road for hydro pylons.

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

I suspect it's a truck turn-around that also provides access to the hydro towers. If you'll note, rather than a truck taking a left into the yard (I think it's a paving company, no?) they exit right and then go under the roadway and back around to enter the yard by turning right. It makes some sense when you consider the "interchange" only permits westbound re-entry onto the ramp on the north side. I've seen similar set ups in New Brunswick for trucks turning into pulp mills from the Trans-Canada. The traffic tie up of a truck waiting 10 minutes to turn left would be huge, and even worse had the Crosstown Expressway traffic been going through there.

 

[adma]

Is/was there ever stuff like salt storage down there?

 

[TKTKTK]

The area to the south is a salt storage area:

http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/saltdome.htm

 

[CDL.TO]

A good answer as to why the ramp continues to exist, but I can't help but think that it was built in the first place for a different reason.

The faded yellow line and former offramp from the westbound Bayview/Bloor ramp implies that this was intended for two-way traffic. But why?

And I wonder if any knowledgeable drivers ever use it to get from Bayview Ave to Bloor St?

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

here's a better view...

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v...&scene=28299916&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1


it's been there since at least 1965.

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

A good answer as to why the ramp continues to exist, but I can't help but think that it was built in the first place for a different reason.

The faded yellow line and former offramp from the westbound Bayview/Bloor ramp implies that this was intended for two-way traffic. But why?

And I wonder if any knowledgeable drivers ever use it to get from Bayview Ave to Bloor St?

There would be two-way traffic from the hydro towers, which might explain the yellow line. Also, if it was to access Bayview or Bloor, there would have to have been a bridge over the river. I don't see evidence of that. Could there have been a road along where the DVP is? All I know of is the Bayview extension, but my knowledge of road history is pretty limited in this area.

 

[Dan416]

Those Microsoft Live maps are much more updated than the Google ones.

 

[CDL.TO]

There would be two-way traffic from the hydro towers, which might explain the yellow line. Also, if it was to access Bayview or Bloor, there would have to have been a bridge over the river. I don't see evidence of that. Could there have been a road along where the DVP is? All I know of is the Bayview extension, but my knowledge of road history is pretty limited in this area.

I'm referring to a driver today potentially heading south on the Bayview Extension, taking the ramp east to the DVP, using this mystery road to loop back west, and head up to Bloor (or vice-versa).

 

[nfitz]

I'm referring to a driver today potentially heading south on the Bayview Extension, taking the ramp east to the DVP, using this mystery road to loop back west, and head up to Bloor (or vice-versa).

Hmm - that might be the easiest way of going from northbound Bayview to northbound Rosedale Valley Road .... get onto the DVP ramp - do a loop around that interchange, and come back south on Bayview and then onto Rosedale Valley north ....