Blazing their own Lower Don Trail

People who want to use the Lower Don Trail are so fed up with the ongoing closure that they’re finding ways around barricades intended to keep them away.

The Lower Don Trail, which runs between the Don River and Don Valley Parkway from an underpass at Corktown Common to Pottery Road, is a key path for recreational users and cycling commuters to get in and out of the downtown core from points north.

But various problems have conspired to keep it closed for at least a year, much longer than original estimates provided by the city. It is frustrating for downtown residents whose options to access the great outdoors are much fewer than in suburban areas.

I talked to a regular trail user who said it’s annoying that the entire trail has been closed, while only small sections appear to be where work needs to be done.

“It just keeps taking longer and longer,” he said, adding, “there’s a lot of impatience with it.” He said that trail users are making their way back onto the trail, and “have separated barricades so they can get around them.

“There’s no change, so people are using it,” he said.

The sorry tale of issues that need to be resolved before it can reopen is told on the City of Toronto’s website. It says that from May 2023 to late summer 2024, the trail is closed from Corktown Common to Pottery Road for Phase 2 construction. It goes on to offer mindnumbing bureaucratize: “The City is preparing to study the Lower Don area as a followup to the 2013 Lower Don Trail Master Plan.

“The updated plan will provide a framework that will reflect the guiding values and guiding principles for recreation planning in the Lower Don Valley. It will also identify improvements in this area that are consistent with these guiding values.

“This plan is proposed to be collaborative, to enable Indigenous rights and treaty holders to lead Indigenous public art and Indigenous stewardship and programming in the Lower Don River valley lands.”

See what I mean?

Status I thought if I sent the city a note, I might get better information than what’s on the website. No siree Bob. Here’s what they said: “Work on the Lower Don River Trail improvements project continues to progress, with revised foundation design work for the elevated sloped path underway.

“This foundation work will help stabilize the ground to address poor soil conditions discovered in late 2023. Further updates related to the project will be posted to the project webpage by mid-May 2024.”

JACK LAKEY Entrances to the Lower Don Trail, including this one on the south side of the Queen Street bridge over the Don River, have been closed for years, in a futile attempt to keep people away. People are growing impatient and are finding other ways to access the trail.