Yonge Street through Toronto's downtown could soon look very different than it does now – a pedestrian-friendly boulevard with wide sidewalks, just two lanes of car traffic, and whole sections turned into one-way streets or closed to all but local traffic during the day.
Plans to remake downtown Yonge Street would close sections to cars during the day
New pedestrian-friendly Yonge St. to include event spaces and curbside patios
For one of Toronto's most important streets (if not the most important street), Yonge sucks for pedestrians and cyclists.
The sidewalks are narrow at points, there are no bike lanes, and the public realm is quite "bleh." Save for construction scaffolding and a smattering of bike rings, there's little streetscaping at all along Yonge Street throughout the downtown core.
Rebirth of the Promenade
In Toronto, University Avenue could get an overhaul on a grand scale. The landscape architects PUBLIC WORK, the Michael Young Family Foundation and the non-profit Evergreen have a vision they call “University Park.” Their plan would convert 9.5 acres of asphalt into green space, creating a larger network that could be Toronto’s equivalent of La Rambla in Barcelona.
This would deliver huge benefits: green space to serve thousands of hospital workers and patients from neighbouring institutions; cycling infrastructure; and a place of great symbolic power. “Public space is more important than it’s ever been,” Adam Nicklin, a partner in the firm PUBLIC WORK, said. “And this is Ontario’s street. It’s Canada’s street. It could be the heart of the city.”
Yonge St. bike lane would prove hugely popular
Yonge Tomorrow, which would pedestrianize portions of Yonge St. between Dundas St. and Gerrard St. and install bike lanes between Gerrard St. and College St., is backed by 79 percent of residents. That’s up from 72 percent in January. It enjoys support from diverse groups: 70 percent of motorists, 78 percent of folks making over $120,000 and 77 percent of residents 55 years and older.
YongeTOmorrow Starts Today: Now’s The Time To Redesign Downtown Yonge
Improving the pedestrian experience has always been a core goal of the yongeTOmorrow project. But over the past few months, physical distancing measures have made Yonge Street’s narrow sidewalks and insufficient pedestrian space all the more apparent, while the rise of curbside pick up, open air retail activity, and patio dining has pointed to the need for an expanded and enhanced public realm in this busy commercial corridor. Meanwhile, increasing reliance on parks throughout the pandemic has highlighted the neighbourhood’s lack of quality, welcoming, and accessible public space.
New plan for downtown Yonge Street includes pedestrian-only zones and bike lanes
The City of Toronto has been working on a plan to completely overhaul downtown Yonge Street from Queen to College/Carlton, and the recommended design was just released to the public for feedback.
The watermain beneath Yonge Street will also soon need replacing, so this construction will provide an opportunity to implement a new street design to better serve road users.
The post-pandemic future: Toronto’s main streets will become European-style pedestrian hubs
Yonge Street is Canada’s business pedestrian thoroughfare. Some 180,000 Torontonians live within 10 minutes of the downtown stretch, stacked into the country’s tallest residential towers. There are thousands of people, including my own family, who don’t have backyards where they can stretch their legs or get exercise, who have to use narrow sidewalks to get groceries and run other critical errands. Many low-income renters live in older buildings without balconies, let alone a porch where they can get fresh air. This trend will continue: 94 per cent of new housing today is in buildings taller than five storeys.
50 Reasons Why Everyone Should Want More Walkable Streets
“The benefits of walkability are all interconnected,” says James Francisco, an urban designer and planner at Arup, the global engineering firm that created the report. “Maybe you want your local business to be enhanced by more foot traffic. But by having that benefit, other benefits are integrated. Not only do you get the economic vitality, but you get the social benefits–so people are out and having conversations and connecting–and then you get the health benefits.” A single intervention can also lead to environmental and political benefits.
Is COVID-19 a turning point for active travel in cities?
The need for physical distancing in the midst of COVID-19 has laid bare the absurdities of transport in our public realm. With people confined to their homes the roads, which have dominated urban planning thinking, lie empty. Simultaneously the same people allowed out of their homes to exercise, find that the space given to sidewalks, and near non-existent cycle ways, are not nearly enough to maintain physical distancing. In our piece, we ask: Is COVID-19 a turning point for our urban transport systems and where the arguments made in favour of sustainable transport finally breakthrough?
How the ‘15-Minute City’ Could Help Post-Pandemic Recovery
An international coalition of cities believes that the only path forward for mayors is funding green stimulus plans focused on job creation. The newly released Mayors’ Agenda for a Green and Just Recovery, released July 15 by C40 Cities, an international coalition of urban leaders focused on fighting climate change and promoting sustainable development, was developed by the organization’s Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force. One core idea: Cities are the “engines of the recovery,” and investing in their resilience is the best way to avoid economic disaster.
