Good evening! Hope you have been getting some riding in during the Labour Day long weekend! Given it had been almost a year since I last checked out The Meadoway and there have been a few new developments, I decided to check it out this afternoon.
The Park Drive Reservation Trail – which I use to get to the Bayview and Lower Don Trails – was in terrible condition. Last week’s storm likely had a role, though the Bayview, Lower Don (from Pottery to Taylor Creek), and East Don Trails were mostly unaffected.
The Scarborough Busway – which will officially open on September 30 – has a new stop at The Meadoway with a new path and stairs connecting the busway to the trail.
The Meadoway crossing signals at Midland Avenue are now operational.
Despite having been only built last year, The Meadoway is dug up again just before Marcos Boulevard. The TRCA expects this work – part of public realm improvements for the Midland to Marcos segment – to be done by October. Fortunately, you can still get around on the north side of the closure.
New crossing signals have been added at Scarborough Golf Club Road …
Along with new cycle tracks on that road! The west side will have a bi-directional cycle track from The Meadoway to Ellesmere to act as a connection for the trail, while bioswales have been added for barriers.
Protected intersection corner islands (and aprons) can be found at Scarborough Golf Club and Ellesmere. I appreciate how these are increasingly becoming the norm with new cycling projects.
This seating area just before the Highland Creek bridge – and the trail branches off to connect with the Highland Creek Trail – is a recent addition. Unfortunately, there was a lot of loose gravel just before getting to this point.
Some construction can be visible just before reaching Morningside Avenue.
The good news is a multi-use path will be built on the west side of Morningside to Tams Road and Pan Am Drive. This is expected to be done by December.
A look towards the south.
At the eastern end of the parking lot across from the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre is an opening with a grass and dirt trail.
That informal trail takes you to Chartway Boulevard which takes you to Conlins Road and on to the Toronto Zoo where The Meadoway ends. UTSC and TRCA should just formalize this connection already with a sufficiently wide trail to avoid having to go back to Ellesmere!
Time to turn back.
Here’s the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.
The chiseled “The Meadoway” text wasn’t there at the Neilson Fields roundabout last year.
The crossing at Brimorton Road got a minor upgrade, though it’s unfortunate they couldn’t install the Toronto barriers on the other side as well.
A new trail was installed west of Midland Avenue including this bridge crossing West Highland Creek.
Unfortunately, this trail dead ends at Arsandco Park. The plan is to eventually install a bridge here across the Stouffville GO line, though it remains unknown when this will happen.
This is my first time riding the Victoria Park to Eglinton segment of The Meadoway.
I will be curious to find out how this trail will end up crossing Eglinton Avenue, as well as connect to Bermondsey Avenue and the East Don Trail. This crossing and trail segment has been delayed on a number of occasions with the latest timeframe calling for installation next year. Fingers crossed.
Slowly, but surely, The Meadoway is getting closer to completion. Given how close we are, we need to call on candidates for public office to push for completing the trail by 2030 and finally provide a continuous trail from Lake Ontario to the Toronto Zoo.
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