[Monarch Butterfly]

So the only benefit from closing Allen northbound is 3-4 months less construction on Eglinton before station construction in 2016? That doesn't really seem like much of a benefit to me.

Do the people driving to the northbound Allen ramps ever, ever, ever actually shop at any of the stores on Eglinton before the construction? Or do they just use Eglinton as a thoroughfare to get from point A to point B? Does the slowing of traffic actually cause the drivers to look at the storefronts while they are waiting to move again? Could that actually be o benefit, the slowing of the traffic? It seems to be a bit of a good news/bad news to me.

 

[TOareaFan]

Do the people driving to the northbound Allen ramps ever, ever, ever actually shop at any of the stores on Eglinton before the construction? Or do they just use Eglinton as a thoroughfare to get from point A to point B? Does the slowing of traffic actually cause the drivers to look at the storefronts while they are waiting to move again? Could that actually be o benefit, the slowing of the traffic? It seems to be a bit of a good news/bad news to me.

If I understand what you are saying, I think I agree.

As soon as I heard that about the potential Allen closing I thought "good news for those people stuck on Eglinton".....some of the traffic around there is local and some, as you say, are just using the road as a pass through to get to the northbound Allen......forcing those folks to go further north before they cut over for the Allen should be an overall net improvement for traffic on Eglinton itself....without at all hurting the merchants.

 

[sixrings]

Do the people driving to the northbound Allen ramps ever, ever, ever actually shop at any of the stores on Eglinton before the construction? Or do they just use Eglinton as a thoroughfare to get from point A to point B? Does the slowing of traffic actually cause the drivers to look at the storefronts while they are waiting to move again? Could that actually be o benefit, the slowing of the traffic? It seems to be a bit of a good news/bad news to me.

Agreed. For some reason last summer they closed north bound Eglinton for a month and once the cars started using marlee and lawrence Eglinton became a much more pedestrian and business friendly street. In fact I emailed the councillors in the area at the time to somehow try to get some data about the street usage during the time because it was such an improvement. There are no business effected if the cars have to start using lawrence instead and you are correct that most of the drivers on eglinton are people just trying to get to the Allen and are not helping the local business.

 

[Johnny Au]

Josh Colle said that Marlee would be extremely congested when the Allen closes south of Lawrence.

 

[sixrings]

Josh Colle said that Marlee would be extremely congested when the Allen closes south of Lawrence.

Part of the problem is staggered streets. If oakwood went straight up to Lawrence it would make it much easier. Similarly Marlee just randomly ends at both eglinton and Lawrence. To get around the area there are so many needless left and right turns to get anywhere.

 

[Eug]

Do the people driving to the northbound Allen ramps ever, ever, ever actually shop at any of the stores on Eglinton before the construction? Or do they just use Eglinton as a thoroughfare to get from point A to point B? Does the slowing of traffic actually cause the drivers to look at the storefronts while they are waiting to move again? Could that actually be o benefit, the slowing of the traffic? It seems to be a bit of a good news/bad news to me.

That stretch of Eglinton is already quite slow.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

Josh Colle said that Marlee would be extremely congested when the Allen closes south of Lawrence.

I take the 52 Lawrence bus for my commute. During the AM rush, it takes 5-10 minutes to get through the three lights at Blossomfield, Marlee and the Allen southbound off/on ramps (~300 metres) into Lawrence West station. I am all for shutting down Allen to reduce pain on Eglinton, but not if it makes this worse. Issues to resolve:

* The timing of the lights. Too many instances of traffic getting a green at one light, and not being able to move because traffic is stopped at the light ahead.
* There should not be a bus stop at Marlee, its close enough to Lawrence West. Walk damnit! I take issue with stops close to subway stations in general though.
* Way too much left-turning traffic from WB Lawrence to SB Marlee, as well as in and out of Lawrence Square. I can sympathize with Colle that this would be exacerbated.

 

[CharmAlarm]

Tunnel update: http://thecrosstown.ca/progress/track-the-tunnel-boring-machine

 

[ehlow]

* There should not be a bus stop at Marlee, its close enough to Lawrence West. Walk damnit! I take issue with stops close to subway stations in general though.

This is a problem throughout the city, bus/streetcar stops only steps away from the subway station.

 

[sixrings]

This is a problem throughout the city, bus/streetcar stops only steps away from the subway station.

I live close enough to marlie to not understand why it even has a bus route. I see people waiting for busses one stop away from Eglinton to get to Eglinton west. Its a 3 minute walk but people dont do it because they know if they wait a bus comes. Honestly I am so pro transit but I think there is an excessive number of bus stops and street car stops.

 

[ehlow]

I live close enough to marlie to not understand why it even has a bus route. I see people waiting for busses one stop away from Eglinton to get to Eglinton west. Its a 3 minute walk but people dont do it because they know if they wait a bus comes. Honestly I am so pro transit but I think there is an excessive number of bus stops and street car stops.

So they would get to the station faster if they walked anyways

 

[nfitz]

This is a problem throughout the city, bus/streetcar stops only steps away from the subway station.

Given how long I've stood on a streetcar, trying to enter a subway station, and not being able to because of congestion, aren't stops just outside the subway station a good idea?

 

[ehlow]

Given how long I've stood on a streetcar, trying to enter a subway station, and not being able to because of congestion, aren't stops just outside the subway station a good idea?

I guess in that scenario.. I've never experienced that personally, where a streetcar/bus is very close to the station but can't move any further for a long time. I don't know how often that happens at say Lawrence West as the original poster mentioned or the Eglinton bus stops right beside Eglinton station.

If it's really completely stuck and you're a hundred or two hundred meters from the station though.. wouldn't the driver let you off anyways? I'm not sure how much of a reason that is for having stops within 200 meters of the subway station.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

I guess in that scenario.. I've never experienced that personally, where a streetcar/bus is very close to the station but can't move any further for a long time. I don't know how often that happens at say Lawrence West as the original poster mentioned or the Eglinton bus stops right beside Eglinton station.

If it's really completely stuck and you're a hundred or two hundred meters from the station though.. wouldn't the driver let you off anyways? I'm not sure how much of a reason that is for having stops within 200 meters of the subway station.

Let me paint the picture. Half of the fight is trying to get to the stop at Marlee Avenue, due to the aforementioned congestion and light timing. It's usually not close enough that the driver can just let people off, because safety etc. Then it takes a whole cycle at the Marlee traffic light for people to get off/on, when if there had been no stop, we would have made both that light and the one at the ramps. Instead its an extra 3-5 minutes waiting for the light cycle, which includes a very long advanced green for WB traffic on Lawrence, and the ramps light.

Anyway, its a lot to say there are existing issues to address before they consider closing the Allen to expedite construction of the real subject of this thread.

 

[Johnny Au]

I live close enough to marlie to not understand why it even has a bus route. I see people waiting for busses one stop away from Eglinton to get to Eglinton west. Its a 3 minute walk but people dont do it because they know if they wait a bus comes. Honestly I am so pro transit but I think there is an excessive number of bus stops and street car stops.

I rely on the 109 Ranee bus route, which runs along Marlee. I live a few steps from the Ridelle Avenue bus stop.