Monday, October 31, 2005

The sidewalk vanishes

On my home from a trip to a client site up in North York, and dinner at my sisters in the St. Clair West area, I came home to the Beaches via Yonge & St. Clair.

My understanding is that the construction on the streetcar right-of-way had already begun at that corner. From what I could see, the alignment will/would cause a severe cutback in the sidewalk. My bank is on the southwest corner of the intersection, so I'm familiar with the area. From a sideways look, the sidewalk was difficult to make out. I circled the block to have another look - again it looked very narrow - hardly appropriate for a major intersection that is the hub of an area that most consider an urban success.

The great urban cities I'm familiar with - Montreal and London - don't short change the pedestrian realm to make way for rail vehicles. In fact, they don't uses surface rail on thoroughfares.

PS - I've subsequently found a link with a picture - scroll to the end of this post:

Link to pictures showing what's left of sidewalk

(Be sure to skip the introductory drivel and whining!)

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