Construction is finally underway west from Avenue Road and St. Clair to Tweedsmuir.  At this point, the work is on sidewalks and utilities, but you can see the extent of the road widening from the cuts into lawns between Avenue Road and Russell Hill.  Traffic in the construction area is now confined, more or less, to the streetcar lanes in the middle of the road.

Meanwhile, Report 15 on the coming TTC agenda tells us that due to the road widening at most major intersections [does anyone remember when the TTC claimed it wasn’t widening the roads?] existing TTC and other utility poles need to be replaced.  The designers have discovered that they can save on street clutter (and valuable sidewalk space) by using one pole for everyone rather than separate poles.  This is one of those astonishing findings that re-assure me that the folks working on this project will eventually figure out things that the rest of us have taken for granted for years.  Consolidation of pole requirements should have been part of the design from the outset.

The new consolidated poles will be two inches thicker (diameter) [sorry you metric folks, the report is in inches] and five feet taller than the standard poles.

In a separate report on the Ridership Growth Strategy, we learn that “complications have arisen from the proposal to concurrently place all hydro wires underground, and this could delay the completion of the project”.  This is quite ridiculous.  The St. Clair reconstruction has repeatedly been delayed, and all agencies involved have had ample time to discover and remedy problems like this.  Will this change the physical street design?  Will an EA amendment be required?  I hope not.  Meanwhile, Hydro and the TTC should sharpen their pencils.

The Vaughan 90 bus is operating to St. Clair Station to provide additional service on the east end of the 512 St. Clair line.  However, the buses cleverly don’t stop in the same location as the 512 buses at either St. Clair or St. Clair West Stations.  Swarms of riders can be buzzing around the 512 stops, but meanwhile, the 90 sits half-empty.  This afternoon, I left St. Clair Station on a half-empty Vaughan bus while a packed St. Clair bus pulled out behind us.  The Vaughan had arrived first at the platform, but only the savvy riders caught on.

Finally, a little bit of history will disappear when construction starts east from Avenue Road.  Near the west end of the original westbound safety island on the east side of the intersection, you will see a little row of bricks running diagonally in the concrete.  A similar row used to be on the westbound island at Yonge.  These bricks marked the swingout clearance lines for cars turning south from St. Clair onto Yonge or Avenue Road.  That has not happened for a very long time.