Adelaide Street track almost finished! New traffic signals on King! Almost no work on York Street. And some really appalling track.

All photos in this article were taken by me on April 10 and 14, 2024.

Updated April 17, 2024: Photos showing pavement patching at King & Church added.

Updated April 21, 2024: Photo showing rail gap and pavement patch on westbound rail, west side of the intersection added.

The basic problem with some of the repairs is that they do not necessarily provide a continuous surface for streetcars. The reason for this is that the diamonds are designed to carry cars on their flanges so that the main part of the wheel does not produce the familiar “thunk” where at the crossing of two tracks. Some of the breaks shown here are within the diamond, and the flange way has completely broken off. As streetcars pass, their wheels fall off of the adjacent intact flange way into the gap even though the main rail head is continuous. This is particularly evident on the northerly westbound rail (see photos at the end of the article).

Updated April 26, 2024: Photo of work in progress on York Street south of Richmond added.

Adelaide Street

The two remaining chunks of new/replacement track are finally being installed on Adelaide Street, and some work is underway for new overhead. This will be the eastbound 501 Queen diversion for the Ontario Line construction.

York Street

Almost nothing has happened with the new track to be installed on York south from Queen. There is a pile of rail on Queen west of York, and some pavement cuts prior to excavation, but that’s all. Metrolinx is not exactly rushing with their part of the project.

Updated April 26, 2024

Excavation for a new trackbed appears to be complete between Richmond and Adelaide Streets.

King Street Signals

New signals intended to deter straight through auto movements have been activated on King at Church and at Yonge. The intent is to make a straight through movement one that must drive against a solid red signal. If the City ever installs red light cameras, there will be a bonanza in tickets.

The design provides separate signals for pedestrians, cyclists and authorized vehicles (mostly transit, but also taxis from 10pm to 5am). The signage, already complicated, is now more extensive and guaranteed to confuse any motorist. Indeed, during my visit, a 501 Queen bus created a traffic jam waiting for a conventional green signal while ignoring the transit signal.

Here is the collection of signs westbound at King and Church Streets. The signals are in the process of turning red for King, and they show an amber aspect for transit and cyclists.

An important point about signals is that they do not only tell people what they can do (for example, the red hand tells pedestrians not to walk, a green bicycle tells cyclists they can proceed). This gives some hint to everyone of how all traffic is expected to behave.

Nobody knows what an “authorized vehicle” is, and this is especially tricky for unmarked “cabs” like Ubers. If a car drives through a full red signal, is it allowed or not?

The large red aspect on the main signal (with the yellow backboard) never changes, but it will on occasion be joined by a green arrow in the bottom aspect.

Here is the cycle of displays eastbound at King and Yonge as east-west travel gradually opens up.

This confusion shows how important the establishment of simple, clear barriers like a few short transit malls with planters and other physical limitations. Send motorists a clear message: “Don’t even think about driving here.”

All photos taken on April 14, 2024.

King & Church Track

Although the TTC told a good story recently on their subway track maintenance, the situation on the streetcar network is not quiet so rosy. A low point is at the intersection of Church & King, long overdue for complete reconstruction, where there are three separate pavement gaps and ad hoc rail repairs.

It is hard to take TTC claims that they value safety highly and repair faults promptly with conditions like this.

Updated April 17 & 21, 2024: The photos below show recently applied pavement patching.