Junction Triangle

The Railpath won a Certificate of Merit in the 2012 National Urban Design Awards:
http://www.raic.org/honours_and_awards/awards_urban/2012recipients/index...

The Globe & Mail's Dave Leblanc has an article today about the West Toronto Railpath:

A forgotten finger of land now an important Toronto public space
DAVE LEBLANC
The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Jun. 28 2012, 7:45 PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Jun. 28 2012, 7:58 PM EDT

"While much of the city wasn’t paying attention, something incredible grew alongside the west end’s dirty auto body shops, squat industrial buildings, warehouses and factories. Something snake-like, and with a rough charm that seduces young and old alike; something so long, it begins a few blocks north of Dupont Street and winds past Wallace Avenue, mighty Bloor Street West and, after a total of 2.1 kilometres, finally curls around to rest at Dundas Street West.

The West Toronto Railpath is more than a bike trail: it’s an after-dinner stroller’s paradise, a wildlife sanctuary, a “resilience ecology,” an art piece, and, lastly, a weaving of residential neighbourhoods into a forgotten finger of land that once contained a narrow-gauge railway line.

Because of all that, this linear park may be the most important public space the city has created in the past decade."

Read the rest here.

I live right along the railpath and have found myself calling the police more often than ever. If it's not one of a few cars with occupants fine having sex in broad daylight, it's obvious drug deals. I'm sick of walking my dog around used condoms and drug paraphernalia.

I can't constantly phone the police. In fact, I phoned when there were two people having sex in a car at 8pm on Friday night infront of Solways with families all walking by and they called back two hours later to say they hadn't gotten there yet and wanted to know if I still saw the car. It seems they don't really care about issues like this but it perpetuates the impression that these are areas in our city where you can get away with this stuff.

How do we get something done about safety in our neighbourhood?

This is kind of cool: An audio recording of a mockingbird at the south end of the Railpath. I also like the sound of the streetcars going by on the Dundas St. bridge.

http://soundcloud.com/royb50/mockingbird-on-railpath

The National Post has an article about future expansion of the Railpath:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/02/information-booth-will-the-west-...

I noticed this morning that the City (I assume) removed lots of graffiti from the Railpath. At least one of the benches is all cleaned up, the rusty metal signs were clean, and they even blacked-out the graffiti in the asphalt path itself.

I am a member of the Railpath Group. Currently there is general agreement between the stakeholders (Metrolinx, City, Railpath) about making stage 2 happen and talks have been going on.

1.There are some issues in terms of space south east of Sudbury Street that may not be solvable which means that the exit point south would be at the west end of Sudbury. This is outcome would still be far better than no stage 2. Anything is possible but getting all the way downtown looks unlikely.

2. Room was left in the Dufferin Jog (underway) so that Railpath can get over the bridge at Queen and Dufferin and that there is access at Queen and Dufferin.

3.Metrolinx has agreed to do what they can to make stage 2 happen and in some cases may be of great assistance especially in terms of cleaning the soil. The work that Metrolinx is doing is subject to 2 EA's plus a fair amount of public protest relating to diesel plus the actual reconfiguration and addition of rail lines. Railpath stage 2 may have to wait for all of Metrolinx's stuff to be done before the City can go ahead. That could be a few years.

4. As always there could be City issues but Stage 1 took over 10 years and the success of it is so obvious and people can now visualize stage 2 easier, so I think the political and public will to make this happen is there.

The short answer is that Stage 2 looks good and is moving slowly and surely along.

Does anyone know what the current state is for further planning and construction of Phase 2 and beyond for the Railpath, and what any particular outstanding issues are to have this path continued further south towards downtown?

Check out this amusing poster I saw on the Railpath yesterday. It's a fun way to remind people to keep the Railpath tidy, right down to the smallest pebble. :)

Not sure what can be done to prevent it, but the goofs who are spray-painting the everything on the Railpath are out of control. Last night a number of the light standards and the art installations south of Bloor Street were tagged. The place is beginning to look pretty rough before it's even finished.

Hello Everybody,

I wanted to pass on some important information regarding the West End RailPath and ask you for a few minutes of your time. The great news is that stage 1 should open on June 20 and we are planning a party or something. The even better news is that already people are using the path. If you don’t know what Railpath is then head to Railpath.ca . In a nutshell Railpath is the conversion of old Weston Rail Corridor land to a linear park that will have a bike path, indigenous plants, and seating---stretching from north of Dupont to the lake near the CNE.

In terms of stage 2 which would take the path south from Dundas to the Lakefront by the CNE there is some work to be done and Railpath Volunteers are very busy in this process. As you may know there is currently a public consultation and an Environmental Assessment (EA) being done by the MetroLinx that entails plans for an rail link to the airport and expanded GO service in the rail corridor that runs along side Railpath. Many people were startled to discover that Metrolinx seemed to know nothing about Railpath (!) and there was some alarm about seeing stage 2 built if there was going to be new rail traffic in the corridor.

To its credit Metrolinx has quickly met with Railpath and City officials and there are more meetings coming up. To keep the story brief, there has been a good exchange of information and it seems a real interest on the part of Metrolinx to see stage 2 of the Railpath built. Yes there are a few technical problems that exist in the last few blocks of stage 2 but at least the plans are out and people are trying to find solutions. It may turn out that we can only get stage 2 to Sudbury street which is still pretty good but at this point everybody is working on a full to the lack solution. Metrolinx has become very receptive to Railpath issues and is trying to make sure room is left for completion to happen.

Here is where a few minutes of your time would be of help. Metrolinx got a fairly large amount of feedback from the community in the stage 1 AND in stage 2 areas stating that people wanted completion. It would still be good for them to hear from as many people as possible about how valuable people feel a COMPLETED Railpath would be to the entire West End of the city. Remember, a completed Railpath and expansion of the use of the rail corridor are NOT exclusive of each other; they should and can co-exist. In fact Railpath augments or compliments the increased use of rail instead of cars. It will just take them making sure that some space is left for stage 2 to happen. The City has already sent a letter expressing the importance of a completed Railpath so there is “official” support in place. If you could, could you take the time to send an email, even if it is brief, to Brian Peltier the Executive in charge of the EA for Metrolinx to let him know that you feel completion is important and that you would like to see Metrolinx be part of this completion. All emails to him will be noted and recorded as part of the EA and remember that Metrolinx has been receptive and helpful. THIS MUST BE DONE BY MARCH 15. (Include your address in the email)

Brian Peltier, Executive Lead
brian.peltier@metrolinx.com
416-874-5959

Metrolinx has a very detailed look at the EA and what they want to do on their website ( http://www.metrolinx.com). Railpath.ca is not the best website ever made but you can find some good info and pix if you dig deep. As we get closer to opening stage 1 look for the site to finally get revamped.

If you have any questions let me know and the whole West End will thank you for helping completion happen. We are really close and every email will help. If you know people who live in the stage 2 area (think Dufferin and Dundas/Queen/King Dovercourt, Lansdowne, Parkdale) pass this email on and encourage them to email as well.

There was a Railpath volunteers meeting today which was more of a catchup and refocusing exercise but there will be lots of news in the spring to get excited about and obviously eyes are now turning southward to get the next stage done regardless of other activities in the rail corridor.

I wanted to remind readers that the Dufferin Jog (at Queen) DOES have space allocated for Railpath south to go through and that building Railpath south is not exclusive to intensification of the corridor. Railpath and increased rail activity can exist together; both being part of a healthy environment.

So stay tuned next year folks as Railpath kicks off with a bang and looks south for stage 2.

From Dave Nosella at Parks, an update on Railpath construction .....

"If you're in touch with the rest of the group, you can let them know to expect to see the following work completed by Christmas:

- The steps north and south side of Bloor,
- Cleaning and painting of Dupont Street bridge, Bloor bridge is probably next year,
- Light poles and fixtures between Dupont and Dundas installed,
- The inside concrete wall and the ramp fine graded up to Dundas Street,
- Two of the metal sculptures installed for sure, the other two will be installed by March, and
- hoping for the base course of asphalt south of Bloor (Not for certain yet)

Also, I have seen the bollards and signs sitting in the metal shop ready to go for next spring. They look great."

I would add that Solways metals still cant seem to understand that the public owns the land at the end of Ernest Avenue not them but Dave has assured me that the contractor will put the rocks that have been stopping Solways trucks from driving over Railpath land back in place.

THere will be a spring meeting with Friends of WestEnd Railpath, parks, and other interested citizens regarding setting up a community stewardship group for WERP.
sd

There has always been a fence component to it. It will take a few seasons for the plants and vines to do their work and make the fencing vanish. But when it happens it will be really good.

Hi Ran,

I still haven't had a chance to check out much of the railpath construction yet myself. If you take photos, feel free to email them to us and we can post to the site (if you don't mind!).

Cheers,
Vic