Serving as pedestrian tunnels, the two large corrugated metal pipes tucked under a CN rail bridge on Dufferin Street just north of Eglinton Avenue connect to more than just the other side of the road. They link walkers to the neighbourhood’s industrial past, an era when cars trumped pedestrians and aesthetic appeal was sacrificed for cost effectiveness.
The tunnels may also be the ugliest passage for a pedestrian in the city.
The local city councillor, Josh Colle, points out that the area is being transformed by a mix of high-end design and décor businesses and galleries moving in. Yet Dufferin, with its heavy traffic and features like the tunnels, remains unfriendly to pedestrians. “There are stretches like this,” says Colle, “that just aren’t welcoming parts to walk.”
Dark and mildly claustrophobic to begin with, years of minimal maintenance and drab coats of now-chipping paint have only added to the tunnels’ lack of visual appeal. Local residents have also expressed concerns about safety, noting that the lack of light and confined space makes the tunnels a choice location for an attack.
All this may soon change. Spurred by Colle’s efforts, plans are currently underway to give the tunnels some desperately needed attention. “We would actually animate the tunnels and brighten them up,” says Colle, who hopes to turn the passageways into a kind of gateway to the evolving community. The rejuvenation plans include creating a large mural and planting low maintenance perennials around the foundations of the bridge.
Colle is also working on addressing residents’ safety concerns. “One of the things we do need regardless is kind of a brightening of the tunnels and the area around them and even potentially putting in those mirrors that let you know if someone is behind you.”
Given the City’s budgetary constraints, the tunnel upgrade plans include an advertising component to cover the cost, although Colle notes that, as part of any agreement, the community would retain the use of some of the advertising space. He acknowledges that using advertising in this way may be somewhat contentious. At the end of the day, Colle believes renewing the tunnels is integral to the future livability of the area. “But, you know, the tracks aren’t going anywhere so it will always have that link to the past too, of what Dufferin was.”
photo by Toronto Archives: series 65, file 179, item 2
21 comments
That would certainly get my vote for ugliest and scariest! Yikes.
The pedestrian bridge at the bottom of Roncesvalles at Queen gets a close second. Though, it has those nice lamps so I suppose it’s passable.
I can’t think of an uglier, but it’s also somewhat unique. Some paint and lighting is probably all it really needs.
What a cool and creative mix of materials. Jason Paris is right, paint and light will help. This looks like something an urban designer would propose today, though likely less-bolty and a bit wider.
There’s a tunnel under Lakeshore Blvd. E. next to Ashbridges Bay (connected the bike trails on either side) that doesn’t win any prizes either.
If they install such pedestrian tunnels on St. Clair Avenue West to go under the railway tracks just east of Keele Street, they would be able to add more traffic lanes for the car traffic by removing the existing sidewalks.
“There’s a tunnel under Lakeshore Blvd. E. next to Ashbridges Bay (connected the bike trails on either side) that doesn’t win any prizes either.”
David, I was thinking the exact same thing. Hella sketchy.
When you take a video that’s supposed to show how dark a tunnel is, make sure that the camera doesn’t automatically compensate for the lower light level when you walk through it. Change the settings from automatic to manual
On the positive side, you are pretty well protected from getting splashed by passing traffic.
It’s not ugly, it’s ‘messy tunnelism’.
Honestly, doesn’t look that bad. A nice strip of LED lights blasting lumens through the thing and it would be kind of cool.
“If they install such pedestrian tunnels on St. Clair Avenue West to go under the railway tracks just east of Keele Street, they would be able to add more traffic lanes for the car traffic by removing the existing sidewalks.”
That underpass will have to be rebuilt anyway since it’s crumbling. Even if they went that route, it just can’t look this crude anymore. That pipe looks like a sewer pipe.
As for other such ugly pedestrian passages, many GO Transit stations are getting pedestrian tunnels connecting platforms beneath the railway tracks. These tunnels are ugly spaces, with the cheapest concrete walls that are unfinished and bare (not even artistically textured like in the 1970s), with metal tubes affixed to the walls for wiring, and fluorescent strip lights–everything is as cheap and uninspiring as it gets. It looks decent only because it’s new, but that redeeming aspect will soon be gone. I saw a new pedestrian passage under Union Station like that, though I hope that at least at Canada’s most opulent railway station (a National Historic Site), it will be well finished in time with the other renovations.
The creepy tunnel at bert robinson park at caledonia and eglinton makes me feel like i am an extra in clockwork orange
Nooooo. If we’re voting folks, there’s a tunnel that connects Monarch Park with, well, with those lands south of The Danforth. An attack? This is the place.
Given the location and that they’re part of the Belt Line pedestrian corridor (i.e. you can’t say “the tracks aren’t going anywhere” when, in fact, there aren’t any more tracks to speak of), I’d say there’s definitely an urban art-brut appeal to the tunnels: they’re more opportunity than eyesore. Retain them. (And when it comes to ugly tunnels, don’t forget those that were so bad that they were closed–classic case in point: that on Paton under the tracks nr Lansdowne + Bloor.)
I actually kind of dig it. Can’t see how it would be improved by more advertising…
Could be worse, they could have cut the sidewalks all together and expected pedestrians to hug the curb under the train tracks (see Highway 7 under the Barrie line in Vaughan).
Having travelled to cities in nine of the ten provinces, I can’t say that I can recall worse than this so far.
Well, I fail to see why this is a big problem. True, not pretty, but it gets the job done and provide darn good protection from the elements and traffic, and it is actually unique. As mentioned by a few posters above, improve the lighting and let loss a graffiti artist or two, it can be pretty attractive.
Yu: Unique and utilitarian are fine and dandy, but if walkers don’t feel safe and it doesn’t attract walkers, then that the uniqueness and utilitarian nature are useless.
Having used the tunnel (I did the short video clip) there is nothing that could make this attractive. I too am charmed by its industrial-looking uniqueness, but the ultimate arbiter is residents, and the councillor seems to think they would rather have something more attractive than disused sewers.
Matt, well I have not walked through it, so yes you have more rights to make claims than I do. But I have doubts about the ultimate arbiter is residents. Most people cannot visualize space without seeing it with their own eyes, so it is pretty easy to dismiss it as unsalvageable. That is when you need designer and artist, who can see how things can be transformed in their mind and carry it out. An of course, without proper lighting it can feel rather scary.