Northern Light
Superstar
I don't disagree on the importance of 'Eglinton Connects'.
But its very clear that the improvements are funded by the City and not Metrolinx; and as yet, the construction portion is not budgeted.
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I don't disagree on the importance of 'Eglinton Connects'.
But its very clear that the improvements are funded by the City and not Metrolinx; and as yet, the construction portion is not budgeted.
TheTigerMaster
Superstar
Listen Eglinton, I love you, but you kind of suck.
Outside of the small area around Yonge Eglinton and Oakwood/Eglinton, the street is totally void of street life. You'd think that with so many shops and density around, the street would be bustling with pedestrians, much like St Clair or Bloor Street, but for whatever reason Eglinton has always struggled to attract pedestrian traffic. Notice how pedestrian traffic drops precipitously once you travel one block west of Yonge. It desperately needs a St Clair style revitalization to inject some life into the area. The fact that this street, with all its destinations and all its density, struggles to attract pedestrians, tells me that there is something very wrong with its design.
There's no reason for the central section of Eglinton to have five lanes of traffic. I say this as someone that drives down Eglinton daily. Knock it down to four lanes (two through traffic + two parking), or even three lanes in areas, and widen the sidewalks. I don't care if it takes me longer to get to work. I'd also make the individual lanes narrower as well, to slow down traffic a bit. People (myself included) drive way faster on Eglinton than on St Clair or Bloor, which I suspect is part of the reason why it has such a tough time attracting pedestrian traffic. I swear typical driving speeds on the central section of Eglinton, outside of rush hour, are around 60 km/h, and you'll see drivers going as fast as 80 km/h. Drivers aren't going to slow down unless the street design forces them. Crossing Eglinton as a pedestrian, even before the crosstown, has always felt like a risky move. The road is designed as a suburban thoroughfare, even though it exists in an urban core.
The streetscape as it exists is barren and doesn't invite pedestrians to linger. If I'm walking on Eglinton, it's because I have a specific destination in mind; if I'm walking on Bloor or St Clair, it's probably because I'm going on an evening stroll. Street trees would definitely make the street feel more inviting for pedestrians. The lack of tree shadowing also makes Eglinton really annoying to walk along during the summer, with the sun blaring on pedestrians with absolutely no refuge. I'll typically walk on the southside of Eglinton on hot days to avoid the sun. The trees should be fairly large as well, to account for the relatively wide width of the street.
Also, nighttime lighting needs to be worked on. Large sections of the sidewalk get pretty damn dark at night. It doesn't exactly evoke a sense of safety.
The Crosstown is a once in a generation opportunity to redesign one of Toronto's major thoroughfares from the ground up. Eglinton can be a model of how all urban streets in Toronto should be built. Lets not drop the ball on this one
Outside of the small area around Yonge Eglinton and Oakwood/Eglinton, the street is totally void of street life. You'd think that with so many shops and density around, the street would be bustling with pedestrians, much like St Clair or Bloor Street, but for whatever reason Eglinton has always struggled to attract pedestrian traffic. Notice how pedestrian traffic drops precipitously once you travel one block west of Yonge. It desperately needs a St Clair style revitalization to inject some life into the area. The fact that this street, with all its destinations and all its density, struggles to attract pedestrians, tells me that there is something very wrong with its design.
There's no reason for the central section of Eglinton to have five lanes of traffic. I say this as someone that drives down Eglinton daily. Knock it down to four lanes (two through traffic + two parking), or even three lanes in areas, and widen the sidewalks. I don't care if it takes me longer to get to work. I'd also make the individual lanes narrower as well, to slow down traffic a bit. People (myself included) drive way faster on Eglinton than on St Clair or Bloor, which I suspect is part of the reason why it has such a tough time attracting pedestrian traffic. I swear typical driving speeds on the central section of Eglinton, outside of rush hour, are around 60 km/h, and you'll see drivers going as fast as 80 km/h. Drivers aren't going to slow down unless the street design forces them. Crossing Eglinton as a pedestrian, even before the crosstown, has always felt like a risky move. The road is designed as a suburban thoroughfare, even though it exists in an urban core.
The streetscape as it exists is barren and doesn't invite pedestrians to linger. If I'm walking on Eglinton, it's because I have a specific destination in mind; if I'm walking on Bloor or St Clair, it's probably because I'm going on an evening stroll. Street trees would definitely make the street feel more inviting for pedestrians. The lack of tree shadowing also makes Eglinton really annoying to walk along during the summer, with the sun blaring on pedestrians with absolutely no refuge. I'll typically walk on the southside of Eglinton on hot days to avoid the sun. The trees should be fairly large as well, to account for the relatively wide width of the street.
Also, nighttime lighting needs to be worked on. Large sections of the sidewalk get pretty damn dark at night. It doesn't exactly evoke a sense of safety.
The Crosstown is a once in a generation opportunity to redesign one of Toronto's major thoroughfares from the ground up. Eglinton can be a model of how all urban streets in Toronto should be built. Lets not drop the ball on this one
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KevinT
Senior Member
So incredibly well said. (The whole thing of course, not just the intro I quoted.) Have you considered sending this to city council, or better yet The Star so everyone in the city can see and get behind it? I think you should.
crs1026
Superstar
I would say it even stronger. If we can't make Eglinton work, given it will be pretty much a "blank sheet" once Crosstown construction winds down, what hope is there for this city?
- Paul
PS - While I agree that some Eglinton are not pedestrian-friendly today, I'm not sure that is true throughout. But the mix of businesses is up for renewal, and things could change dramatically - need to nudge things in the right direction and not let things go the wrong way.
Midtown Urbanist
Superstar
The proposed road diet on Eglinton won't even make traffic and movement worse off than today or pre-construction, for the simple reason that the buses will have been kicked off the road post-Crosstown.
The biggest delay and cause of traffic on Eglinton pre-construction were the myriad of buses constantly roaming and bypassing one another on Eglinton. With them largely gone thanks to the Crosstown, traffic will move much better on Eglinton, allowing for a reduction in lanes, expansion of sidewalk space, reintroduction of trees, and revitalization of the public realm.
Get this done correctly, Toronto.
The biggest delay and cause of traffic on Eglinton pre-construction were the myriad of buses constantly roaming and bypassing one another on Eglinton. With them largely gone thanks to the Crosstown, traffic will move much better on Eglinton, allowing for a reduction in lanes, expansion of sidewalk space, reintroduction of trees, and revitalization of the public realm.
Get this done correctly, Toronto.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
The plan is pretty good, they just gotta get the $$$ for it.
While the now approved city building fund can't solve all our capital funding problems, I do hope some of it is put forward here to implement this.
While the now approved city building fund can't solve all our capital funding problems, I do hope some of it is put forward here to implement this.
TheTigerMaster
Superstar
I’m hoping a substantial portion of the funding could come from the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund, or a similar program. The federal government has already invested $1.5 Million, matched by be city, to fund design work.
Perhaps funding could be generated from local BIA’s as well. Although don’t even know if BIAs have the capability of generating substantial funding
Allandale25
Superstar
Richard White
Senior Member
I pass by here weekly and can say with certainty that the area is much less burdened by construction than it was this time last year. It is so much easier to drive down eglinton now but I shudder to think how it will end up when they repave the road.
Allandale25
Superstar
sixrings
Senior Member
I wish they would just tear down the school as well as York centre and upzone the area for 40 floor condos with community centres, schools, libraries on the bottom. The area needs a huge influx of people.
Midtown Urbanist
Superstar
I've had similar thoughts in the past. Partner with that rental apartment complex along Greentree Crescent, demolish the whole area and rebuild, relocating the school further north, revamping Coronation Park next-door to provide duo-public and school athletic facilities for an efficient use of space, and build high density near Eglinton (and mid-density up to Yorktown Drive).
Fairly sure that this school, York Centre, and the surrounding buildings would constitute as heritage (not undeservedly) though.
cplchanb
Senior Member
actually there are rumblings that the entire area up to the eglinton don mills zone will be classified as heritage....while I do welcome the significant landmarks, work down or just garbage buildings would be
barricaded behind a wall of red tape now if they want to redevelop....
Monarch Butterfly
Superstar
crs1026
Superstar
The City has far more “Heritage District” proposals lined up on paper than it will ever have time and resources to carry out.
Even if it were to happen, one of the first steps in a Heritage District study is to sort out which structures matter and which don’t.
- Paul