A broken button and mysterious pair of feet
A temporary pedestrian crossing button in the middle of Spadina Ave. looks like it’s in the wrong place, as does the giant foot next to it.
Spadina Ave. has been heavily reconfigured in the past few years to make room for the streetcar right-of-way that allows two sets of tracks to run along the middle of the street.
Traffic had long been disrupted to accommodate the construction, but it wrapped up at least a year ago, with streetcars and vehicles now able to keep out of each other’s way and move a bit quicker.
But telltale signs of the project still linger in some places, including the busy intersection of Spadina Ave., and Bremner Blvd., where a button to activate a pedestrian crossing seems totally out of place.
Joel Zigler, who lives in one of the newly built condos in the area, says there was a lot of construction at Spadina Ave. and Bremner Blvd., to lengthen the streetcar platforms so they’d align with the new and longer TTC streetcars.
After the work was completed, “both sides of the track were left cluttered with debris, including two very large concrete barriers that are ill placed and frankly remind me of that giant foot statue in the TV show Lost.
“On the west side of the tracks, there’s also a pedestrian crossing button, but even that is wrapped up on a pole that’s connected to nothing. The situation has been like this for just about a year.
“There are thousands of people in (nearby) buildings, including parents with strollers, seniors and a surprisingly large (number) of children. One just has to watch pedestrians trying to cross Spadina and manoeuvre around this mess.
“It’s a wonder why there hasn’t been some sort of serious accident.”
We went there and didn’t find an overwhelming amount of debris, but the crossing button, which doesn’t work, is mounted to a two-metre metal pole held in place by heavy blocks.
The two concrete feet on either side of the streetcar tracks are a mystery and don’t seem to serve any purpose other than getting in the way. Status: James Chandler, who’s in charge of traffic signals, emailed to say he’d send someone to check out the temporary button right away, “I’m not aware of why this is here in the first place,” he added.
We’re also waiting to hear back from a roads official about what the deal is with the two big feet. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer or call us at 416-869-4823 email jlakey@thestar.ca. To read our blog, go to thestar.com/news/the_fixer. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.