Preville on Politics

Getting Dufferin straightened out

Posted on March 8, 2007 by Philip Preville

The most car-friendly measure approved in yesterday’s capital-budget vote: the little-talked-about elimination of the Dufferin Street Jog, which will straighten out the convoluted mess where Dufferin intersects with both Queen Street West and the railroad tracks, putting in its place a normal, unremarkable, boring intersection on the border that separates Adam Giambrone’s and Gord Perks’ wards.

Though it’s not in his district, Adam Vaughan, for what it’s worth, is not a fan of the idea. “Congestion is good,” he told me not long ago, meaning the more difficult it is for cars to navigate the grid, the more people will consider alternatives like walking or transit. It’s also true that oddities like the Dufferin Jog act as natural traffic-calming devices, and they provide incentive for drivers to disperse throughout the grid in search of alternative routes. But there’s also the fact that irregularities in the grid are what give any city its character. Believe me: I lived for many years in Edmonton, where the grid is so reliably predictable that it’s both incredibly convenient and monumentally boring. The truly memorable intersections are the ones that force drivers to snap out of their stupor and pay attention. Everyone who drives in the city knows the Dufferin Jog. There’s not much that’s beautiful about it, and a great deal that’s memorable, which makes it, for better or worse, a landmark, and that’s what the city is losing.

Edmonton, by the way, also proves the axiom that predictable grids lead to arterial-strip retail developments, i.e. big-box stores. A sign of things to come?

Comments

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Anthony May 25, 2008 at 2:59 p.m.

I am a true supporter of correcting the Dufferin Jog. However I do not support the design as proposed to re-connect Dufferin through Queen.

The designers of this project failed to identify the most important option which in turn would benfit the community and city as a whole.

There were 5 options identified, one of which proposed a depressed railway and restoring Dufferin / Queen to historic area grade. That option was determined to be costly and not feesiable for this site, which im in agreement with

However if they could consider depressing the railway why did they not consider elevating the rail corridor over the intersection?

This option of an elevated railway corridor:

-Eliminates the need to undertake heavy earth excavation.

-Eliminates the need to demolish the historic abutments.

-Structures the site to allow for future development of the railtrail under an elevated rail corridor. As it is, the railway lands are not for sale and will not be at any time soon in the future.

-Protects for future development of a rapid transit station either to service a Georgetown corridor service or Queen LRT or downtown relief line.

-Does not inconvieance transit users on the 501 Queen service.

(Once the proposed design of the Dufferin Jog is complete passengers on the 501 Queen streetcar utlizing the current W.B. Gladstone stop will have to walk a full city block to transfer to the 29 Dufferin Bus when that service is removed from Gladstone. E.B. service not affected)

-Developers and the city could have come together to form a secondary plan for this area. Once that was in place the Ontario Ministry of Transportation could have been brought on board to partner in the constructon of such an elevated rail corridor under move 2020. The Georgetown corridor T.O.R.'s were submitted in 2006 and no action has been taken on the file to date.

-Then there is the strachan avenue / rail grade separation project. An elevated rail corridor would address this issue and leave the road to grade.

The important thing to consider is that the Lakeshore rail corridor, which Strachan avenue goes over, is due south of the Georgetown crossing.

A depressed strachan avenue to cross the Georgetown corridor would put in place a road that goes down - up -up - down. Alternatively, going over the corridor would put in place a road that goes up - down - up - down.

So an elevated Georgetown rail corridor is best for here and strachan avenue road users only have to go up - down over the Lakeshore rail corridor.

The design proposed for the Dufferin Jog project is not very good planning. The City of Toronto is discarding an opportunity to capitlize on the full value of this project.


Author Bio Pic

Philip Preville

Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.


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