Junction Triangle

The Clay & Paper Theatre's Cycling Oriented Puppet Squad (CYCLOPS) are hosting a series of Friday night group bike rides this summer. There will be a ride along the West Toronto Railpath on Friday July 8th, starting from Dufferin Grove Park.

Here are the details from the CYCLOPS events page:

This is to let you know the Davenport West Bike Project fundraiser is happening on Friday April 8 at DPNC (1900 Davenport Rd) in the Sanctuary. There will be great food and music.

The Davenport Perth Community Ministry is organizing the Coffee House to help us share the project with the community and to raise funds for helmets and locks to help community members protect their bodies and their bikes.

Karen Williams has some great friends who will be performing: North of Queen (bluegrass/folk) and Thane (R&B). One of the bike project volunteers, Gustavo, will be performing some traditional South American Music, Equadorian Amistad. There will be an opportunity to make some interesting jewelry out of bike parts (small ones). The event is pay what you can and family friendly.

Attached is a flyer for the party (BW is black and white). Please share the information to your contacts. We are looking for volunteers to bring food for the event. We will also be accepting used bikes in good working order.

Hope you all have a day filled with love. :)

Photo: Part of the Dupont St. cycling mural, under the West Toronto Railpath, August 17 2009.

The following notice was sent out by Metrolinx to inform the community of upcoming road closures on Dupont St. between Osler and Dundas (under the tracks), and along the West Toronto Railpath above Dupont St. You can download the original PDF of this notice here.

GEORGETOWN SOUTH PROJECT

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

The Georgetown South (GTS) Project will provide infrastructure improvements to meet existing GO Transit ridership demand and future growth. It will also accommodate the new Air Rail Link service between Union Station and Pearson International Airport.

Dupont Street Bridge

Road Closures: December 15 (Overnight) and 17-19

Project Description
The Dupont Street bridge currently has five tracks. As part of the GTS Project, a new bridge span will be installed between the existing GO tracks and the West Toronto Rail Path bridge to accommodate one additional track. The work will involve modifying the existing concrete abutments, constructing a new steel pier, and installing the new steel beam span.

The following notice comes from Gabrielle Langlois, Davenport West Bike Project Coordinator at the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre:

Hi,

I am writing to let you know about a new health promotion initiative in the Davenport west area.

The Davenport West bike project aims to create/further develop bike culture and increase physical activity and awareness that physical activity can help improve health and well being. We ran a successful pilot this past summer (13 free bike clinics) and with new funding from the Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport, will run a more developed project until the fall of 2011. From Dec. 2010 to March 2011 it will include training for volunteers (bike repair, health promotion, healthy eating, safe riding/injury prevention), and in the spring/summer of 2011 will include free community bike clinics and community rides.

Free Bike Clinic Sat. Sept. 18, noon-2pm at DPNC.

New bike project at Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre, 1900 Davenport Rd. A health promotion initiative to increase use of bikes as a healthy, affordable, environmentally responsible means of transportation. To bring together a range of community members to ride, re-use, fix bikes. Join us at the bike clinic to connect with others interested in cycling or contact glanglois@dpnc.ca or 416.656.8025.

The annual Bells on Bloor bike parade takes place on Saturday May 29th, departing from High Park at noon. I estimate it will come through our neighbourhood sometime between 12:30 and 1:00pm. Anyone with a bike can participate, or if you prefer to watch, bring some bells or musical instruments down to Bloor St. More details at www.bellsonbloor.ca.

Bells on Bloor 2010 Poster

Poster for the Bells on Bloor parade, May 29 2010.

West Toronto Railpath: The bridge over Bloor Street, Jane's Walk 2010

Today's Globe & Mail has an article about the possible future extension of the West Toronto Railpath.

A few quotes from the article:

A completed trail “would be amazing,” said Daniel Egan, manager of the city’s cycling infrastructure and programs. “What’s in place now doesn’t really go anywhere, but you can get a sense of what’s possible. ... You don’t need much imagination to understand how important it could be.”

But the completion of the trail into downtown is likely several years off, and still faces significant design and construction hurdles.

But if it is to become more than just a recreational trail, and open up a new commuting route for cyclists, the southern portion of the trail down to King and Strachan needs to be completed. That depends on whether room can be carved out alongside the rail corridor that is being expanded to provide more frequent GO train service and a rail link to the airport.

Metrolinx, the government agency planning the GO expansion, says it will try to make room for the railpath alongside its tracks. The city is willing to pick up the tab for construction costs, and will accommodate the trail on adjacent land or streets in the sections where it can’t be accommodated on rail land. And the grassroots group Friends of West Toronto Railpath, which pushed for years to get the path under way, is lobbying hard and helping with the design of the extended path.

Note: This was cross-posted to ibiketo.ca

On Saturday February 21 2010, Scott Torrance, the landscape architect behind the design and implementation of the West Toronto Railpath led a walking tour of this wonderful new public space. The walking tour was hosted by the Lost Rivers Committee, Toronto Field Naturalists and the Toronto Green Community.

During this walking tour, Scott Torrance described various aspects of the history, design, and implementation of the Railpath. He provided a great insight into some of the choices made about how the path was landscaped, the materials used, the plant life, and more. I didn't attend this walk, but fortunately someone brought a video camera!

The first video posted here (above) is the short 3-minute summary. If you want to see the whole thing, it's broken up into 3 parts below.

There's more info about Scott Torrance's work on his website, and you can also watch these video on his Youtube channel.

Interested in another walking tour of the Railpath? This Saturday, May 1, there will be a Jane's Walk on the Railpath. It's not hosted by Scott Torrence, but rather by some knowledgeable locals. Check it out if you want to learn more about the current state of the Railpath, and plans for future south/east expansion.