I finally got around last night to biking down Dufferin and through the new Dufferin tunnel that eliminated the annoying jog along Gladstone. Not many positive things can be said about biking down Dufferin as a I rode my bike over potholes, beside high speed urban traffic on a badly lit road. The new tunnel offers a few seconds of bright, smooth peace and then spit me out into the edge of Parkdale. The tunnel just happens to be the only bike lane on Dufferin and in a wide area around it (you have to go to the Queensway or the Waterfront to find the others). This will improve slightly whenever the city gets around to installing the paint it had approved almost two years ago for the West End (mostly for sharrows and some signed routes).
Most media has focused on the better access for cars, but one can't deny that it makes things much better for transit (is there a possible Dufferin streetcar in the distant future?), pedestrians and cyclists. Now if they can just improve conditions for cyclists north and south of the tunnel so more cyclists will choose this route.
![Mon, 11/22/2010 - 10:19 - Nov. 22, 2010, 9:19 a.m. Runners often use tunnels to negotiate their way under busy roads and railway lines (see other examples: #one; #two; #three), but few roadway tunnels are this nice, and I ran through it just days after the official opening. Below is a news story about the new Dufferin Street tunnel, from Toronto's Globe & Mail newspaper.</p>
<p>[See the “LARGE” version of this photo.]<br />
----------------- </p>
<p>'Eliminating the Dufferin Jog: ‘Gravy’ – or good planning?'<br />
by Kelly Grant, City Hall Bureau Chief, Globe and Mail<br />
Nov. 17, 2010 </p>
<p>It’s Toronto's largest non-transit infrastructure project in the past few years, and one the city has been waiting for since the 19th Century.</p>
<p>A new 70-metre tunnel connecting Dufferin Street beneath the rail bridge at Queen Street officially opens at 3 p.m. on Thursday, freeing motorists and some 40,000 weekday bus passengers from the despised “Dufferin Jog” down Peel and Gladstone avenues.</p>
<p>But (Mayor) David Miller’s government opted to go beyond erasing the jog: It built an amphitheatre on the north side of Queen Street west of Dufferin Street, installed new light standards and replaced chain link with decorative fencing. Plantings, attractive metal cladding and underpass murals will be installed next spring.</p>
<p>“Instead of a typical dreary infrastructure project, we turned it into an exercise in place-making,” said Gord Perks, the councillor for Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park. “Some might call it gravy. I say not.”</p>
<p>Although the project came in on budget, remaking the gateway to Parkdale is the kind of optional undertaking that might not fly under Rob Ford, the new mayor Torontonians picked for his low-budget, back-to-basics philosophy. Just up the road from the new underpass, for example, Dufferin is a scarred and pitted mess.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to predict whether the Ford administration would put filling such potholes ahead of the artistic touches on the new Dufferin underpass.</p>
<p>Mr. Ford set aside up to $400-million for “fixing disjointed” streets in his transportation plan, but he has also vowed to axe the vehicle-registration and land-transfer taxes whose revenues help pay for such projects.</p>
<p>As well, Councillor Mike Del Grande – a Ford supporter rumoured to be in line for a senior post, possibly budget chief – tried during council’s capital budget debate in December 2008 to kill the Dufferin Jog elimination and direct the money elsewhere. The speaker ruled his motion out of order because the project was already approved and under way.</p>
<p>Neither Mr. Ford nor Councillor Case Ootes, the head of his transition team, would comment.</p>
<p>Unlike some other high-profile city construction projects, the Dufferin Jog elimination was completed within its $40-million budget, according to Jim Schaffner, a city engineer and the project manager.</p>
<p>That breaks down to $8-million for property acquisition, $6-million for work on the rail corridor and $26-million for constructing the underpass.</p>
<p>However, the project, which began in December 2008, is far from on time. “We should have been finished in January of this year,” Mr. Schaffner said. “As you can tell, we’re obviously quite a bit behind.”</p>
<p>Mr. Schaffner blamed the delay on the discovery of a previously unknown fibre-optic cable and the tougher-than-expected replacement of the frame that carries the rail bridge, which was lifted and put on a temporary trestle.</p>
<p>Shifting the bridge so trains could keep running for most of the construction period was a delicate engineering job. Re-installing it was “almost like building a Swiss watch,” Mr. Schaffner said.</p>
<p>The traffic clot at Dufferin and Queen thickened during construction, but the obstruction didn’t prompt an outcry from business owners.</p>
<p>Robert Sysak, the administrator of the West Queen West Business Improvement Area, said none of his member businesses approached him with complaints about the construction. Most were just eager to see artery cleared.</p>
<p>The general manager of the nearby Gladstone Hotel agreed.</p>
<p>“We’re really excited,” Alec Badley said. “The big thing we really want to see once this is done is the redevelopment of Gladstone Avenue.”</p>
<p>Right now, Peel and Gladstone avenues are run-down streets choked with traffic, including some 31 buses arriving every three minutes on weekdays on the TTC’s fifth-busiest bus route.</p>
<p>Now that buses and cars will be able to use the tunnel, the plan is to narrow Gladstone to a landscaped, pedestrian-friendly one-way street north of the Price Chopper, according to outgoing Councillor Adam Giambrone, who represents the area north of Queen Street until Nov. 30.</p>
<p>“It took six years of concerted work and it’s a project that’s been on the books for 125 years so it feels pretty good to finally see it opening,” he said.<br />](https://live.staticflickr.com/5046/5200064589_750f31003e_z.jpg "Mon, 11/22/2010 - 10:19 - Nov. 22, 2010, 9:19 a.m. Runners often use tunnels to negotiate their way under busy roads and railway lines (see other examples: #one; #two; #three), but few roadway tunnels are this nice, and I ran through it just days after the official opening. Below is a news story about the new Dufferin Street tunnel, from Toronto's Globe & Mail newspaper.</p>
<p>[See the “LARGE” version of this photo.]<br />
----------------- </p>
<p>'Eliminating the Dufferin Jog: ‘Gravy’ – or good planning?'<br />
by Kelly Grant, City Hall Bureau Chief, Globe and Mail<br />
Nov. 17, 2010 </p>
<p>It’s Toronto's largest non-transit infrastructure project in the past few years, and one the city has been waiting for since the 19th Century.</p>
<p>A new 70-metre tunnel connecting Dufferin Street beneath the rail bridge at Queen Street officially opens at 3 p.m. on Thursday, freeing motorists and some 40,000 weekday bus passengers from the despised “Dufferin Jog” down Peel and Gladstone avenues.</p>
<p>But (Mayor) David Miller’s government opted to go beyond erasing the jog: It built an amphitheatre on the north side of Queen Street west of Dufferin Street, installed new light standards and replaced chain link with decorative fencing. Plantings, attractive metal cladding and underpass murals will be installed next spring.</p>
<p>“Instead of a typical dreary infrastructure project, we turned it into an exercise in place-making,” said Gord Perks, the councillor for Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park. “Some might call it gravy. I say not.”</p>
<p>Although the project came in on budget, remaking the gateway to Parkdale is the kind of optional undertaking that might not fly under Rob Ford, the new mayor Torontonians picked for his low-budget, back-to-basics philosophy. Just up the road from the new underpass, for example, Dufferin is a scarred and pitted mess.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to predict whether the Ford administration would put filling such potholes ahead of the artistic touches on the new Dufferin underpass.</p>
<p>Mr. Ford set aside up to $400-million for “fixing disjointed” streets in his transportation plan, but he has also vowed to axe the vehicle-registration and land-transfer taxes whose revenues help pay for such projects.</p>
<p>As well, Councillor Mike Del Grande – a Ford supporter rumoured to be in line for a senior post, possibly budget chief – tried during council’s capital budget debate in December 2008 to kill the Dufferin Jog elimination and direct the money elsewhere. The speaker ruled his motion out of order because the project was already approved and under way.</p>
<p>Neither Mr. Ford nor Councillor Case Ootes, the head of his transition team, would comment.</p>
<p>Unlike some other high-profile city construction projects, the Dufferin Jog elimination was completed within its $40-million budget, according to Jim Schaffner, a city engineer and the project manager.</p>
<p>That breaks down to $8-million for property acquisition, $6-million for work on the rail corridor and $26-million for constructing the underpass.</p>
<p>However, the project, which began in December 2008, is far from on time. “We should have been finished in January of this year,” Mr. Schaffner said. “As you can tell, we’re obviously quite a bit behind.”</p>
<p>Mr. Schaffner blamed the delay on the discovery of a previously unknown fibre-optic cable and the tougher-than-expected replacement of the frame that carries the rail bridge, which was lifted and put on a temporary trestle.</p>
<p>Shifting the bridge so trains could keep running for most of the construction period was a delicate engineering job. Re-installing it was “almost like building a Swiss watch,” Mr. Schaffner said.</p>
<p>The traffic clot at Dufferin and Queen thickened during construction, but the obstruction didn’t prompt an outcry from business owners.</p>
<p>Robert Sysak, the administrator of the West Queen West Business Improvement Area, said none of his member businesses approached him with complaints about the construction. Most were just eager to see artery cleared.</p>
<p>The general manager of the nearby Gladstone Hotel agreed.</p>
<p>“We’re really excited,” Alec Badley said. “The big thing we really want to see once this is done is the redevelopment of Gladstone Avenue.”</p>
<p>Right now, Peel and Gladstone avenues are run-down streets choked with traffic, including some 31 buses arriving every three minutes on weekdays on the TTC’s fifth-busiest bus route.</p>
<p>Now that buses and cars will be able to use the tunnel, the plan is to narrow Gladstone to a landscaped, pedestrian-friendly one-way street north of the Price Chopper, according to outgoing Councillor Adam Giambrone, who represents the area north of Queen Street until Nov. 30.</p>
<p>“It took six years of concerted work and it’s a project that’s been on the books for 125 years so it feels pretty good to finally see it opening,” he said.<br />")
©Practically Brand New
Photo by ianhun.
Comments
tracer
Can't wait.
Thu, 11/25/2010 - 13:25Going to be taking this home tonight. I've been looking forward to the completion of this for a long time. Working at King and Dufferin, I have had to go under a scary underpass or go out of my way by several large blocks to go over a level crossing.
Speaking of transit, I could have sworn I saw street car underpinnings being installed while this thing was being built. I was shocked to see no street car tracks when it opened.
toddtyrtle
The only bike lane on Dufferin *in Toronto*
Thu, 11/25/2010 - 15:31There's actually a pretty nice one installed that goes from Dufferin and Steeles all the way up to the 407. I rode it this summer and it is much needed. I wish they'd extend it down to at least Finch.
Jacob L.
A Dufferin Streetcar is
Thu, 11/25/2010 - 15:35A Dufferin Streetcar is definitely an attractive idea. But I think a large portion of Dufferin passengers are coming from North of Bloor, so a streetcar would force a transfer. Unless we include a Transit City line for Dufferin?
MattH (not verified)
The new underpass was indeed
Thu, 11/25/2010 - 15:38The new underpass was indeed built to potentially support streetcar tracks in the future. The concrete base of the road is lower in the inner lanes, so tracks could be installed by just excavating the fill and asphalt on top. While there are currently no plans for tracks on Dufferin north of Queen, it could happen one day.
Ed
Was there on opening day
Thu, 11/25/2010 - 16:47Who was the first bicyclist through there?
W. K. Lis (not verified)
522 Dundas Exhibition?
Thu, 11/25/2010 - 16:56The old 522 Dundas Exhibition used to go from Dundas West Station down Dundas, Roncesvalles, King, and Dufferin to the Dufferin Gates during the Canadian National Exhibition. With the provision in the tunnel, they could revive a new 522 Dundas Exhibition to go from Dundas West Station down Dundas to Dufferin and down Dufferin to the Dufferin Gates, should they get around to rebuilding the road between Dundas and Queen which is a mess at the moment.
Seymore Bikes
Bridge Pick-Ups
Thu, 11/25/2010 - 22:36Old bridges like the CN Rail bridge on Millwood leave no room for Bike Lanes - so it is great to see new infrastructure like Dufferin & Simcoe which have been designed with this in mind.
I'm trying to imagine the next bridge re-build on a 401 underpass like Bathurst, Bayview & Yonge.
hamish (not verified)
This makes other places look Really Really Bad
Thu, 11/25/2010 - 22:45Once again, the disparity between one new bit of disconnected bike lanes and other areas/routes is really black and white. Smooth pavement, bright lights, and then it ends, and today it was on the blocked side mid-day.
And does anyone else wonder why we can get $42,000,000 for this project and yet we cannot seem to manage a quality pavement repair for cyclists on an approved-for-bike-lane bit of Lansdowne under the same railtracks bridge north of Wright? Or the shitty dangerous conditions in the Bloor underpasses?
And I'm curious as to why there are vertical cracks in the east side concrete walls already...
The City HAS!! to fix up the two problems noted above before the snow really flies.
Ben
I disagree. There is too much
Fri, 11/26/2010 - 10:57I disagree. There is too much working against our roads to keep all of the less busy routes in good repair:
1. Living in Canada means that the roads will get heaved into distress every winter.
2. Nobody wants to pay to run the city properly.
3. Utilities are given cart blanche to wreck roads at their whim.
4. All the heavy traffic isn't helping.
hamish (not verified)
Some links are more critical
Fri, 11/26/2010 - 12:55Some links are more critical than others - I'm not unreasonable in both expectations and vexes. Bloor St. W. is a critical link east-west under those underpasses, and the bit of Lansdowne north of Wright is supposed to get a bike lane, but it's shit.
And as to the money, why some things get funded and others don't? and one example is how the curb lanes of Harbord St. were repaved this past summer though they weren't needing it, not compared to lots of other places, even Dewson.
The utility cuts are finally under better management it seems from a late initiative of last Council.
And yes, the heavy traffic isn't helping - all the more reason to keep that car registration tax as it's not the bicycles that are wearing and tearing out the roads.
hpvrider (not verified)
the car registration "pothole
Sat, 11/27/2010 - 01:05the car registration "pothole tax" is being used for other things not potholes! The Dufferin underpass is likened to the new underpass on SImcoe Street south of Front!