The city presented its final plan for the
redesign of Dundas West from University to Bathurst on Sept. 27.
The public meeting was held at Alexandra Park Community Centre, in the centre of one of the neighbourhoods that's set for a major overhaul from urban hodge podge to a planned and designed streetscape.
The basic idea is to decongest the strip by designating transit only lanes, a sharrow lane meant for bikes and cars, and more space for pedestrians on wider sidewalks punctuated by trees, new street lights and new street furniture, including redesigned ring and posts, newspaper boxes and so-called "multi-publication structures" for non-newspaper publications like the one currently on the west side of Bay just south of Bloor.
According to the city's web page devoted to the plan, the strip of Dundas, one of the city's most distinctively urban, is "vibrant," "hectic" and "frenetic." "But it's also disheveled and chaotic. With some careful attention to detail, it could be so much more."
Construction has begun, with the replacement of watermains along the strip, a process scheduled for completion by the end of 2011. The re-design will begin after the watermains have been finished, and the entire project is expected to be completed in 2012.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Steve Johnston
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