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Street Construction Project Update: July 2021

Although this is high construction season, various projects are moving along more slowly than hoped.

Broadview from Gerrard to Danforth

Work on the watermains in this area was delayed by a shortage of pipe. This has now been solved, and work is in progress north from Hogarth/Montcrest to Danforth (as of July 22). When that is done, the southern section will follow.

Queen Street West from Bay to York Street

The work here includes both watermain and track renewal. As of July 22, saw cutting of the pavement was underway.

As previously reported, the track and watermain work on Queen will occur in stages west from Bay to Spadina, and then east from Fennings to Spadina. There is a supply of new track strings on the north side of Queen in front of City Hall and on the north side of Queen at Trinity-Bellwoods Park.

Queen Street West from University to Spadina

New support poles will be installed here in anticipation of conversion of the overhead for pantograph operation.

King-Queen-Queensway-Roncesvalles

As of July 4, the switches for the yard leads from The Queensway had been installed, but not the connecting tracks across the north sidewalk to the yard. Excavation and some foundation work for Sunnyside Loop was underway.

On the north side of The Queensway from Sunnyside west to Claude (the beginning of the streetcar right-of-way), the curb lane was excavated and a new north curb poured. The situation was identical on July 22.

Looking West on The Queensway at Sunnyside Loop Entrance July 4/21
Looking West on The Queensway from Sunnyside Avenue July 4/21
Looking West on The Queensway at Claude, July 4/21

The photo below shows the south side of Roncesvalles Yard including the forest of poles holding up the overhead.

Looking East on The Queensway toward Roncesvalles July 22/21

On July 22, the connecting switches to a realigned Sunnyside Loop were in place. In the photos above and below note that the existing loop tracks do not align with the new switches. This intersection will be revised with signals for autos and streetcars with, in theory at least, priority for streetcars leaving the loop.

Looking East across Sunnyside Loop July 22/21

Queen/Kingston Road Overhead Replacement July 26 to August 5

Streetcar service on Queen east of Leslie Street will be suspended from July 26 for overhead upgrades and track repairs on Queen from east of Leslie to Woodbine.

501 bus service that now ends at Broadview will be extended east to Neville Loop.

A 503 bus shuttle will operate on Kingston Road between Bingham and Woodbine Loops.

Brown’s Line & Lakeshore Queue Jump Lane

The project to create a queue jump lane on the approach to Long Branch Loop is on hold. I await feedback from the TTC on the status of this project.

Photo credit: All photos are by me.

4 thoughts on “Street Construction Project Update: July 2021”

  2. At least these projects are actually moving (even if a bit behind schedule). The replacement of the streetcar tracks (and streetscape work) on Wellington and Church (south of King) has totally ceased. Due to “unexpected underground infrastructure” (on a street that has been under constant construction for 5 years). Work is supposed to re-start in April 2022 and the Auditor-General has been asked to investigate the whole engineering, planning and fiscal fiasco.

    Steve: Yes, I didn’t have the heart to include that project as it was not in any sense of the word “active”.

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  3. I walked the site of the Brown’s Line/Lake Shore construction, just outside Long Branch loop.

    It appears that the only changes are pedestrian improvements.

    There will be a new pedestrian crossing on the east side of the intersection. The old setup had the pedestrian crossing only at the left side, going over to the traffic island between the left turn lanes and the right-turn slip lane. This means that left turning cars will have to look for pedestrians. One hopes.

    Also, the pedestrian crossing of the slip lane has been moved closer to where it joins Lake Shore. Previously, it was partway up the slip lane, which was an issue.

    The slip lane is obviously staying for now. There is no work taking place around the streetcar tracks, only the various curbs.

    e

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  4. Just noticed that the Brown’s Line & Lakeshore Queue Jump Lane is back on with expected completion this November.

    Steve: Thanks for the update. I will include this in an upcoming article on October service changes.

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