WTF is up with yongeTOmorrow?

In 2019 and 2020, the City of Toronto held three public meetings regarding the yongeTOmorrow project from College to Queen Streets, while the corresponding environmental assessment was approved by City Council in February 2021. Five years after that approval, yet ANOTHER public consultation has been scheduled for Tuesday, April 21 (5:30 – 8:30 PM) at the Central YMCA (20 Grosvenor Street) and feedback will be collected until Tuesday, May 5. Let’s take a look at what has changed since the previous round of consultations including the timeframe and design.

All images from this post are from the City of Toronto

Significant Project Delays

Originally, the detailed design phase was expected to happen in 2021-22 followed by construction from 2023 to 2025. The latest update on the project website suggests detailed design would happen from late 2024 to 2028 with construction now not expected to start until 2030. That’s SEVEN YEARS from the previous expected construction start date which could mean a 2032 or even 2033 completion date!

To be fair, the COVID-19 pandemic saw numerous city projects get delayed whether it’s for cycling, transit, parks, housing, or other infrastructure. Another major source of delays stems from the Ontario Line construction happening at Queen Street which has closed off parts of Queen Street from Bay to Victoria Streets since May 2023 for at least four and a half years.

Bike Lanes Remain?

Despite the Ford government’s Bills 212 and 60 which collectively banned the removal of traffic lanes for bike lanes and targeted Yonge Street for the removal of bike lanes from Bloor Street to Davisville Avenue, the bike lanes are still part of the plan from College to Gerrard Streets.

This peculiarity was also noted recently with Davisville which has its own consultation scheduled for Thursday, April 16 (6 – 8 PM) at Greenwood College School (443 Mount Pleasant Road). That street is currently four lanes from Yonge to Mount Pleasant, yet the Phase 2 consultations still show bike lanes despite the provincial legislation. Could be worth asking for clarification from city staff for those two projects.

Should these proposed bike lanes on Downtown Yonge and Davisville stand, we should take the opportunity to close other critical gaps in the cycling network as soon as possible! Especially Yonge from Davisville to Eglinton, Eglinton from Mount Pleasant to Brentcliffe, and Danforth from Victoria Park to Kingston!

No Pedestrian Priority Zones?

When the yongeTOmorrow environmental assessment was approved five years ago, it called for pedestrian priority zones from Walton to Elm Streets, as well as from Edward Street to Dundas Square. Unfortunately, those pedestrian priority zones were scrapped in favour of two traffic lanes, while each side would have a four-metre pedestrian clearway and a 2.7 metre furnishing zone. This is a complete slap in the face for supporters of pedestrianization – and fewer cars in general – while we must do everything possible to demand that these pedestrian priority zones be reinstated! The new proposal also scrapped proposed one-way traffic (and large contraflow bike lane) from Gerrard to Walton Streets, Elm to Edward Streets, and Dundas Square to Shuter Street.

A similar thing happened with the Kensington Safe Streets proposal which called for targeted pedestrianization to limit car traffic and saw very strong support, but was ultimately rejected because many of the long-term businesses in the area were opposed. In the case of yongeTOmorrow, Cadillac Fairview – which owns the Eaton Centre – was strongly opposed to pedestrianization (and bike lanes), while the Downtown Yonge BIA effectively copied and pasted CF’s points in their submission.

The previous yongeTOmorrow proposal from September 2020 for comparison purposes

It seems that regardless of whether we push for bike lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian zones, or anything that slightly inconveniences motorists, there will always be car-brained opposition that comes up. 😞

Other Considerations

The new yongeTOmorrow proposal calls for three different character segments such as the “green gateway” from College to Gerrard Streets to connect nearby parks, proposed bike lanes, and tree planting. Gerrard to Dundas Streets is referred to as “innovation” given its proximity to TMU, while Dundas to Queen Streets goes by “performance / retail” to serve Sankofa Square, the Eaton Centre, and a couple of theatres such as Ed Mirvish.

The speed limit will be reduced to 30 km/h, curb radii will be reduced, pedestrian crossings will be reduced and raised, and flexibility will be maintained for special events. (open streets, anyone?)

Next Steps

Given how important Yonge Street is to this city, I encourage you to attend the April 21 public consultation and fill out the survey to demand the reinstatement of the pedestrian priority zones. If you can spread the word to your friends and family, please do so.

For those of you who live near (or visit) High Park, I encourage you to attend the High Park Movement Strategy Implementation virtual meeting happening on Tuesday, April 7 at 6 PM. Jun has a good explainer on his blog which you can refer to.