ehlow
Senior Member
A bit of an overstatement in my opinion. Many cities in North America are livable..
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A bit of an overstatement in my opinion. Many cities in North America are livable..
Midtown Urbanist
Superstar
Sure, Boston and New York for instance. They also happen to be one of the few cities that grew and expanded before the car.
The downtown core in Toronto doesn't have it so bad either, I just wish we could take that model and expand it outside the core. (And also to the waterfront, but that seems to be a lost battle judging from the sea of condos)
ehlow
Senior Member
Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Montreal, just to name a few. There are some great cities in North America, at least I think so.
I think many places are interesting and have charm in Toronto's suburbs too. Maybe not in terms of a built-form or architecture perspective, but to me, many strip malls in Scarborough for example have very interesting retail & culture. It's not a situation where it's all McDonald's and Walmarts.
Anyways back on topic, the development at Eglinton & Don Mills replaces vast acres of parking lots in an extremely suburban intersection with mixed use & high density. If it happens it could be a great example of transit oriented development. I think it's a great thing.
Midtown Urbanist
Superstar
Ok, I was just walking the dog and I saw in the span of 2 minutes of walking on Eglinton about 6 or 7 cyclists pass me by, at 10pm. All of them happened to be on the sidewalk as well.
I know for a fact that even more cyclists use side streets like Roehampton and Soudan to avoid the busy road.
The argument that bike lanes won't work on Eglinton is utter bullshit. Calling it out as it is.
I know for a fact that even more cyclists use side streets like Roehampton and Soudan to avoid the busy road.
The argument that bike lanes won't work on Eglinton is utter bullshit. Calling it out as it is.
TheTigerMaster
Superstar
Former mayor Miller is using chemtrails to convince people like WilsaHD that bike lanes and LRT are a good investment.
howl
Active Member
Maybe former mayor Miller secretly owns Bombardier and Shimano. Did you even consider that?
edmundoconnor
Active Member
The tunnel tracker hasn't been updated in almost three weeks now. Hmmmm.
raptor
Senior Member
The headwalls for Oakwood station are no where near being ready. In fact, only utilities were relocated in that area, and headwall construction has not started yet. Hence, the TBMs will be idle for a while now.
cplchanb
Senior Member
wow no wonder construction is going to take until 2020.... no sense of urgency and coordination....
ehlow
Senior Member
Yes that's the reason why. If the construction companies had a sense of urgency it would surely only take a few months.
(sarcasm)
robmausser
Senior Member
It's funding for timing really.
They could have had the other two TBMs digging at the same time as well as building the above ground portion already simultaneously.
But not only does that take more money and resources, funding for the entire line has been secured but is not simply available right now this moment.
Things like head wall construction being later are minor compared to the big picture, there's LOTS more that could technically be done right this moment but we don't have the funds available to us.
Monarch Butterfly
Superstar
cplchanb
Senior Member
Well there have been many cases there where owners simply refuse to sell their property to developers so they just build around it.
Funny thing is that its really just a downward spiral. City doesnt have enough money; they cheapen the construction; construction takes longer; local businesses and traffic suffer which makes them lose money hence a hit to local economy; delays due to problems over time and potential govt change; city loses money; repeat
Although I cant speak for those responsible for development, honestly for such a massive infrastructure project, I would rather spend a little extra to get it done faster so i could reap the revenues faster to make my money back sooner, than to wait it out and risk inflation, delays and politics lose more money over time.
Funny thing is that its really just a downward spiral. City doesnt have enough money; they cheapen the construction; construction takes longer; local businesses and traffic suffer which makes them lose money hence a hit to local economy; delays due to problems over time and potential govt change; city loses money; repeat
Although I cant speak for those responsible for development, honestly for such a massive infrastructure project, I would rather spend a little extra to get it done faster so i could reap the revenues faster to make my money back sooner, than to wait it out and risk inflation, delays and politics lose more money over time.
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howl
Active Member
The headwalls at Oakwood were completed quite a while ago. The critical thing right now is getting the extraction and launch shafts completed at Allen.
Platform 27
Active Member
That's not true. While the province's books were supposedly fragile enough that they couldn't build the four lines simultaneously like the plan used to be, a few months ago I asked someone close to this project and they said they haven't been aware of the Eglinton project coming up against any government cash flow limits. It's all systems go and they're moving roughly as fast as can be reasonably expected without paying a rush premium.
As it was explained to me, everything other than the tunnels, like the stations and surface sections, are being designed right now by the two competing consortiums who will bid a fixed-price contract for the whole thing. They could spend bigger bucks and dig the tunnel twice as fast and all that the public would get for their money would be an empty concrete tube gathering mildew until they have a winning bidder picked and a finished design for the rest.