STREET SCENE: Junction Crossing

6 comments

1. No nasty clusters of overhead wires and ancient wooden poles in the Junction, baby!

2. no streetcar either, almost suburban.

3. Even if there was a streetcar, it would be a single wire. There’s nothing suburban about that; having no overhead wires is most urban actually. Once they’re gone you can see a streetscape for its often beautiful heritage buildings which are no longer masked behind a cluster of wires. That’s an urban streetscape at its finest.

   The work in the Junction was of high quality. Unlike suburban streets with buried overhead wires, there are no random boxes along the road for utility. It’s brilliant, really. I wish Annette could get the same treatment, and every street in Toronto (at least downtown and in significant suburban locations). For now, I’ll settle for St. Clair.

4. If you have a tunnel large enough to maintain underground services without constant digging,
   then you might as well have a subway service running in that excavated asset.

   Otherwise, I really do not understand what is the problem with poles and wires overhead, visually or economically, or how you can properly estimate what should be put out of sight, as any place in any city is not just what (and where) it is, but also on the way to someplace else.

   It is hard to sell me underground electricity as a cause in itself, but they are scheduled to do that this year on our street as well (Dundas).

   Poles and wires are definitely not ugly in my mind.

5. Poles and wires are clutter that distract attention from the buildings lining a street, which in older parts of Toronto at least tend to be attractive. They’re more susceptible to failure in storms. They make it harder to do building maintenance and construction. Any major European city as well as many older American cities look more polished without overhead wires. Montreal seems to be ahead of us as well.

   It’s a major step towards urban beautification, especially in historic parts of cities, but also in modern districts. It’s an opportunity to have a more reliable system of delivering electricity. But ultimately it’s a matter of urban beautification, something more than economic but cultural.

   All it takes is a small tunnel that doesn’t compare with a subway tunnel.

6. Cities should have flexible options without needing to break the sidewalk with every alteration. Beautification is not always going to be the same thing in all localities, even if many cities tend to copy others.