There is lots of coverage about what is in the two proposals to rebuild LeBreton Flats. The Citizen, for example, offers good photo spreads and text. If you prefer original sources, here are the links to the two proposals. My … Continue reading LeBetter Flats (vii) see the details
Fences, fences, everywhere a fence ! IF it’s not a song yet, it should be ! But I’m not sitting on one, there is no doubt in my mind that these fences are trouble. It is truly amazing the City (or is it RTG) spending so heavily on fences along Albert and Scott. These ones, along Scott, are wooden … … to keep the salt and slush from splashing on the houses when the 2500 buses a day go crusin’ by. They will also block some of the residential views of the bus lanes, albeit at the price of a … Continue reading Fences Fences Everywhere a Fence
Alas, for those people walking or cycling east towards the downtown, there won’t be a separated multi-user path, nor as direct a path as along the north side of Scott and Albert. Starting near Tunney’s, there is a south-side east-bound painted bike lane, which I suppose it a wee tad better than cycling with sharrows in the “50KMH” lanes: The cycling lane is “buffered” from cars, trucks, and buses by a 2′ painted median, but the cycling lane is also the right turn lane and driveway access lane. And boy, are there ever a lot of those: There are many … Continue reading Navigating Scott-Albert (east bound)
People who drive westwards from the downtown using Albert and then Scott have big flashing traffic signs, painted arrows, and scrupulously scraped bare pavement. While the lane markings are new, the learning curve should be short. My only bugbear on this so far is the sudden merge of the two westbound traffic lanes around Brickhill Street (just before Good Companions). People who cycle and people who walk face some more challenges. To RTG’s credit a few small ped directional signs have appeared near Bayview Station. So maybe it is worthwhile to follow the route for people who walk or cycle … Continue reading Navigating Albert-Scott (westbound)
The Cleary Avenue end of the western LRT and motor expressway corridor is shown here: The westbound trains enter the picture from the right, along the orange line. Cleary Station is shown in dark blue. The Unitarian Church and apartment building is shown a bit further west (left). The underground track alignment swings gently under the Unitarian parking lot to get out towards its (under) Richmond Road alignment. The swing out to Richmond will occur under a car repair shop and/or Kristy’s restaurant. These businesses will not remain in place during construction. Since dig-the-ditch-and-cover construction won’t start until 2017 … Continue reading Westward Ho ! (part iii) the curse of stations and transit users
I hear that the NCC’s proposal call for the next phase of building the Flats was carefully worded to not exclude a major stadium as a land use*. While we may think the current Canadian Tire Place is still “new”, it is ageing. Apparently major arenas and rinks often only have a 30 year or so lifespan before they are functionally obsolete suboptimal. Built in 1993 as the Palladium, it will be 30 years old in 2023. So its not too soon (according to stadium aficionados) to be investigating a new stadium. And that requires a site. The Flats are … Continue reading LeBetter Flats (part 3): when the Senators go marching in …
A short while ago I mocked a City transit project on the west side that I described as “lollygagging along”. * So it’s only fair we look at one that is moving with the (relative) speed of light. Yes, it’s back to the (in)famous Albert Street bus detour. Construction only began last week: The city originally just wanted to remove the multi-use path on the north side of Albert, never to replace it. Community input caused it to be (temporarily **) saved, relocated. Then the same pressure got the City to replace it first with the new path, before digging … Continue reading No leaning on shovels at this city construction project
While trotting out to Bayview Station recently I noticed these tread tracks in the snow, leading out toward the Macdonald Commuter Expressway. Barely visible in the distance is one of those soil sample hole drillers that we have seen so frequently in past years along the LRT route. These aren’t cheap engineering exercises, which lead me to wonder what someone might be planning out there beside the popular new OTrain bike path. Continue reading Planning for something
What do we do with the three existing Talent OTrains soon to be surplus? Work continues round the clock and on holiday weekends to complete the trackwork required to run the six new Alstom OTrain sets starting in the Spring. These new trains replace the 3 Talent OTrains we now have. With the six new trainsets we will have approx. 8 minute service instead of 15. It is noticeable that there has been no commitment to selling the older Talent trainsets and pocketing the money. Which leads to speculation that we are keeping them. But for what purpose? Maybe the Mayor’s transportation … Continue reading What to do with unused Talent(s)
Here’s a shot of the OTrain doing a practice run south of Somerset viaduct on Monday afternoon. It had just left Bayview Station. In this area, the OTrain will continue to use its single track, albeit with some new alignment and grading just south of Bayview Station. Turnouts, or switches, have been installed for the new passing track, and the deep layers of roadbed installed. Some new retaining walls, signalling and wiring are also installed. Yet to come is the final roadbed, ties, and rails for the passing tracks. They have to be operable by spring 2014, when the … Continue reading O-Train resumes service
Construction fences are a mixed blessing. They are harbingers of something new, and hopefully improved. And they are less welcome when they block off public paths and spaces. Earlier this month the large parking lot on the north side of Albert just west of Bronson was fenced off. The parking lot isn’t much loss, but with it went Brickhill Street and a segment of Old Wellington, where the tour buses used to park. This will be a staging site for constructing the LRT tunnel under the downtown. So we are in for years of entertainment, err, mess and noise. Depending … Continue reading Fence me in, please !
