Dealing with railways and highways in Toronto are a fact of life when cycling this city. In many places only the major "arterials" tunnel under or bridge over these man-made barriers, which makes crossing them a challenge, as it requires biking on a major road.

Every once in a while though, there's a piece of good planning that creates a tunnel or bridge that connects two formerly seperated areas of the city. One that I discovered this past winter is a little tunnel that ducks under the railway tracks at the south end of Monarch Park. It's a good alternative to dealing with busy traffic on Greenwood or Coxwell in the winter... although in the summer the Coxwell Hill between the Danforth and Gerrard is a whole lot of fun.

Anyways, the Star wrote about a proposed bridge in the new CityPlace condo neighbourhood that would connect it with Portland Street at Front - tying it into the city north of the railyards, as well as building another connection between downtown and the lake.

The proposed 120-metre bridge would allow pedestrians, cyclists, baby strollers, wheelchairs, joggers, rollerbladers – anything but a car – to safely cross the rail corridor and step right into CityPlace's planned 3.2-hectare North Linear Park. From there, a plotted extension of Dan Leckie Way would lead under the Gardiner Expressway down to the water's edge.

Another great option for getting to the lake without worrying too much about cars.

The article also mentions some other improvements to connect the harbourfront with the rest of the city:

» Construction has begun on a $50-million tunnel to join Simcoe and Lower Simcoe Sts., where several highrise projects are underway. Developers and the city are splitting the costs and work is expected to be completed next year.

» Waterfront Toronto hopes to eventually take Trinity St. from its present terminus in the Distillery District, past the railway tracks and Lake Shore Blvd. down to the waterfront.

» Pedestrian-friendly upgrades are in the works for underpasses at Yonge and York Sts.

It should be noted, that the Yonge tunnel under the railyards is on the list for bikelanes too!

Labels: infrastructure, news

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