Queens Quay coming along despite Hydro, groundwater delays:

Dennis Hanagan –

Waterfront Toronto has experienced some delays in its major revitalization of Queens Quay but insists the work will be completed by 2015 before the Pan Am games begin.

Once described in a journal as “the second ugliest street in North America,” Queens Quay is being revamped into “a really great vibrant waterfront street,” Chris Glaisek, vice-president of planning and design for Waterfront Toronto, told a May 8 public meeting at Harbourfront Centre.

Everything is being rebuilt—storm and sanitary sewers, watermains, gas and hydro lines, telecoms. “It’s a massive, massive project,” Glaisek told the 200 area residents in attendance.

Fortunately, utility companies are doing their work all at the same so the street won’t have to be torn up down the road, Glaisek said. “We’re doing it all at once. This will be one of the most coordinated street reconstruction projects ever done in Toronto.”

Highlights will include a south-side 7-metre-wide granite promenade, 240 new trees—many of which will be hardy deciduous London plane trees that can grow to 30 metres in height—and underground utility wiring.

The only aboveground wires will be for the streetcars. Glaisek said the new trees will offer “a canopy of real beautiful trees.” The street will resemble the grand boulevards of Europe, he said.

Toronto Hydro was behind schedule for about six months renegotiating its capital budget but is making up for lost time with six to seven crews working at any given time, Glaisek said. It’s a $20-$30 million project for Hydro, he said.

Harbourfront is built on landfill so underground water has presented a problem for workers. There was “a tricky dewatering” problem near the Westin Hotel, said Glaisek.

For cyclists, the Queens Quay facelift will finally connect the east and west sections of the Martin Goodman Trail so it’ll be one complete path along the waterfront.

Glaisek said the TTC right-of-way, built 25 years ago, had deteriorated to the point that streetcars couldn’t travel at full speed. When completed, their new boarding platforms will be wider at 2.4 metres.

Streetcars won’t be back online until late this year so buses will remain in service and, at the request of residents and businesses, will run weekdays every two to three minutes starting in June.

Until March 2014 traffic along the quay will be westbound only.

Two lanes of moving traffic have been taken away but dedicated turns for left and right turns will be added. Waterfront Toronto is also looking at adding bus lay-bys where drivers can park while waiting for their tour groups.

Parking bylaws will be changed so “those buses can’t sit there and idle for three hours,” said Glaisek.

Work on the north sidewalks will begin soon with the placement of footings for streetlights, traffic signals and tree pits. Trees will have special “soil cells” around their bases to prevent earth from packing, thereby preserving the roots for longer living and healthier trees.

In a question and answer period one man asked whether all the work is for naught.