There was an article in the Star a few days ago about how the city will be temporarily closing down Queen’s Quay improve pedestrian access to the Waterfront.
From August 11 to 20, Queens Quay from Spadina to York will only allow one-way westbound vehicular traffic, leaving the rest of the street for pedestrians and bicycles.
[The plan] starts with the premise that much of the land along the water’s edge should be handed over to people, not cars. This will be an extremely contentious issue in August and all eyes will be focused on whether the needs of pedestrians are ultimately given precedence over those of drivers.
Christopher Hume warns that the gears of bureaucracy are likely to be slow on the Waterfront, but it is nice to see this commitment — which was made when West 8 was revealed as the winner in the Waterfront design competition — come to fruition.
And speaking of Queen’s Quay, Steve Munro has posted about the TTC’s planned Waterfront transit projects. Among them are the Cherry Street and Queen’s Quay East LRT routes, with construction on some projected to begin in 2008 and 2009. There’s also a discussion in the comments section about the ever-divisive issue of air-conditioning versus open windows in streetcars.
