City
What Queen's Quay will look like in 2015
Earlier today, Waterfront Toronto announced that the early stages of construction are underway on the revitalization of Queen's Quay, a $110 million project that's projected to be complete in 2015. Construction will focus on the stretch between Lower Spadina and Bay Street, a crucial waterfront corridor that's presently not altogether that friendly to pedestrians or cyclists.
Project highlights include a new dedicated section for streetcars, the relocation of the roadway to the north side of the street, a waterfront pedestrian promenade on the south side, and the extension of the Martin Goodman Trail in place of the current bike lane. Collectively, these improvements should make Queen's Quay a much more desirable way to access the waterfront and various amenities at Harbourfront.
"There will never be a better time to build this spectacular new waterfront destination," said Waterfront Toronto President and CEO in a press release. "The TTC tracks need to be replaced and utilities and municipal infrastructure require major upgrades - it's a win for the locals, the City and the millions of visitors who will be drawn to this special place."
It's also overdue. Navigating the street on summer weekends — whether it be by car, foot, or bike — has long been a frustrating experience on account of overcrowding. These changes should ease congestion and make the area more welcoming in general. And that's something this former industrial strip has needed for quite some time.
RENDERINGS
Looking east across the Simcoe Wave Deck
North sidewalk
South side pedestrian promenade
Queen's Quay at Lower Simcoe looking west
North sidewalk today
North sidewalk in 2015
South sidewalk today
South side pedestrian sidewalk in 2015
RELATED
By way of comparison, check out what Queen's Quay used to look like when it was primarily an industrial area.
Renderings from Waterfront Toronto
Discussion
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So glad this street is going to be treelined.
The current street is an embarassment to this city
They forgot about the 3 year delay...
Nice that in the future, the Martin Goodman Trail will still looks like cement with two lines running down the centre.
Harbourfront is a boulevard that hasn't been allowed to be a boulevard for decades.
As it stands right now, QQ is a mess for everyone, cars included. I think these plans will improve things all around. Can't wait for the Martin Goodman trail extension!
Just because you live in a fancy place doesn't mean you're above riding a bike. Look at Holland.
We need to make the city more bike friendly and less car friendly as we move into a future where population density grows and inner city pollution intensifies.
http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/uploads/documents/board_presentation___capital_approval_re_mgt_connection_1.pdf
http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/uploads/documents/board_presentation_re_qq_paving_on_private_property_1.pdf
Basically, the existing tracks already have to be ripped out and new ones laid, so the fact that this work has to happen anyway was taken as an opportunity to decide if we want to make any changes to the street that involve moving the tracks. That opportunity took the form of the Environment Assessment for the project, and the decision ultimately reached was that we do indeed want to move the tracks (and make these other improvements).
If you're on a bike, on a streetcar, or on a pair of roller-blades that lead up to inappropriate hotpants, you're all good.
Cars? No, never Queens Quay.
In the case of people parking illegally, they can park their cars in proper parking spaces like they've been expected to all along (Thankfuly, the new configuration should strip them of any delusions they might have about what a menace they are to the flow of traffic; just because the 2 current lanes can merge into a single lane to get around them, it doesn't make their parking habits ok). To make it even easier for them to adapt, the plans even include the addition of some legal on-street parking on QQ (or at least they did the last I saw them).
If it's the people actually driving down the road, then without the idiots creating a bunch of extra merge situations (and associated stop-and-go ugliness) by parking in a lane that's not actually carrying appreciable amounts of traffic (or other idiots trying to use the space between illegally parked cars to try and do a little passing on the right), they're probably going to make better time.
If you'd gone to an EA and actually listened, you'd have heard that the traffic engineers have already modeled traffic flow in both configurations, and the new one doesn't slow the cars down.
The improvements are overdue (I mean, freaking Des Moines has better streetscapes than we-love-concrete-Toronto), but awesome.
Hooray!
First, I disagree with Simon's contention about buying decisions. If you buy a condo on QQ, it's because you want to live downtown, on the waterfront. The waterfront belongs to every Torontonian, even if we've done an historically poor job of recognizing this, and it is in the interest of QQ condo residents that the Toronto waterfront is celebrated by the entire city.
However, as a former resident, I also recognize that it can be very frustrating living on QQ, because of the traffic issues. The proposed changes may exacerbate these frustrations. What commenters may not understand is that most of the congestion on QQ does not arise from area resident, but rather from visitors from elsewhere in the GTA coming to the Rogers Centre or ACC, Harbourfront or the islands (in the summer). Events at these venues attract thousands, who clog arterial roads and public transit systems, thus making it very difficult for area residents to get in or out of their homes during peak periods by any means other than personal hovercars. It's therefore glib and unhelpful to simply point fingers at area residents and recommend they get rid of their cars - that's not going to solve anything.
- hydrogen is a battery
- electric or hydrogen batteries need energy
- energy comes from burning carbon fuels or nukes, beyond the base load that is not enough for our non-transportation needs
- coal/gas/oil plants make carbon pollution
- nuclear sites/waste will be polluted far longer than human civilization has lasted
- adequate solar/wind... is a long way off
- fusion further
- no money for thorium, since it's not weaponable
- much of a car's pollution is made during manufacture
- even if cars made no pollution and planted flowers, they'd still clutter up our ugly N.American cities
FYI, here's some info about a new hydrogen car that Honda is building, as well as the infrastructure needed for it:
http://fuelcellsworks.com/news/2012/03/29/honda-introduces-solar-hydrogen-station-on-saitama-prefectural-office-grounds-fcx-clarity-used-in-electric-vehicle-testing-program-to-serve-as-mobile-electric-generator/ (Honda Introduces Solar Hydrogen Station on Saitama Prefectural Office Grounds FCX Clarity Used in Electric Vehicle Testing Program to Serve as Mobile Electric Generator)
http://world.honda.com/news/2011/c110519Clean-Energy-Partnership/index.html (Honda joins Clean Energy Partnership with 2 FCX Clarity vehicles)
Also, I think that you and everybody else here, should be taking a look at this website and getting a REAL education about science, rather than the truthiness you all love to cling on to: http://www.senseaboutscience.org/
Although, some of them have shades on, so it's hard to tell.
I think this warrants further investigation.
I'm sure the mock-up would be much better if they used those corporate stock photos where every group has to have at least one girl, guy, young person, old person, and everyone has to be a different colour. The world is a beautiful rainbow! Plus everyone is laughing and having a wonderful time at a meeting!
What's with the juggler in one of the photos? Do they have juggling and cool stuff at harbourfront?
It also most possibly will not happen
Look at Boston, Montreal, Chicago, thats fun.
Check me 2015!
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