More than meets the eye on York St.
To unearth the reason that a oneblock stretch of northbound York St. is closed to traffic, it helps to dig beneath the surface.
And since the reason is below ground, drivers stuck in backups caused by it are left to steam, wondering why there’s no apparent construction to justify the lane closure.
One of the things the city could do a lot better is inform drivers why a section of road is closed, especially when the reason is not obvious to people in passing traffic. Temporary signs may indicate a street is closed for a given period. But the signage seldom says why, leaving drivers to wonder what’s going on, particularly when they don’t see anything.
That’s the situation along a oneblock section at the foot of York, which has been closed between Queens Quay W., and Lake Shore Blvd. W., to traffic headed north for at least a month.
Naida Stein sent an email: “I just wanted you to know that northbound York has been closed at Queens Quay for weeks for no reason that I can see. There is no construction going on, and with the Raptors game tonight, the traffic is horrible because it can’t go north on York.”
We went there and found barricades and pylons preventing traffic from accessing York at Queens Quay, right next to the off-ramp from the Gardiner Expressway that curves around and merges with northbound York. Signs on Queens Quay say York is to be closed from Jan.15 to Feb. 15, but don’t say why. Status: Ann Khan, district manager of traffic operations, said the closure is to facilitate work by Toronto Hydro on an underground chamber on the north side of Lake Shore, just east of York. With traffic merging from the Gardiner off-ramp onto York, along with the typically high traffic on Lake Shore, the closure was required to reduce the overall volume in the area, said Khan, adding the job also requires some above-ground work along the north side of Lake Shore. Hydro spokesperson Tori Gass emailed to say “the work involves building cable chambers and duct banks to help support Copeland Station. This is the underground transformer station at Rees and Bremner that’s currently under con- struction. This is a massive undertaking that requires new infrastructure. Once the work is complete, the station will help to power the massive growth in condos and other development in the downtown core. We’re aiming to have it completed by the end of February.” In other words, northbound York will remain closed for now. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Send an email to jlakey@thestar.ca. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.