Rejoice, Roncesvalles: the construction has finally come to a close
Up until this past weekend, the word “Roncesvalles” had basically been synonymous with “road construction,” or perhaps even “for the love of God, somebody help us.” Luckily for local residents, the seemingly everlasting roadwork came to a formal end on Saturday as the neighbourhood celebrated the closing of two years of construction and the opening of the renewed strip.
According to the CBC:
The newly paved streetscape in what has long been considered a cultural centre for Toronto’s Polish community was a cause for happiness for Martha Goodings, who has lived in the area for nearly three decades.
“I love it. I just couldn’t believe that we’ve ended up with so many trees, so many varieties,” she said. “Credit to the city, credit to the residents.”
Still, the 100 trees and new cycle paths framing the street are welcome additions that didn’t come without some grief for local businesses and residents.
“Some grief” is a nice euphemism for the construction noise and traffic snarls locals have been put through. The digging began in July 2009 and was supposed to be completed a little over a year later, but then a private contractor realized the streetcar lines would be too close to a natural gas line, requiring more digging and more noise. Still, it’s nice to see the street opened up—and with a freshly painted bike lane to boot.
• Roncesvalles renewal a relief for neighbourhood [CBC]
• Roncesvalles’ revival celebrated with weekend festival [Inside Toronto]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/real-estate/rejoice-roncesvalles/&title=Rejoice, Roncesvalles: the construction has finally come to a close&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/roncesvalles.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_81429" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="The street can now return to more idyllic times (Image: Double Feature)"][/caption]
Up until this past weekend, the word “Roncesvalles” had basically been synonymous with “road construction,” or perhaps even “for the love of God, somebody help us.” Luckily for local residents, the seemingly everlasting roadwork came to a formal end on Saturday as the neighbourhood celebrated the closing of two years of construction and the opening of the renewed strip.
According to the CBC:
The newly paved streetscape in what has long been considered a cultural centre for Toronto's Polish community was a cause for happiness for Martha Goodings, who has lived in the area for nearly three decades.
“I love it. I just couldn't believe that we've ended up with so many trees, so many varieties,” she said. “Credit to the city, credit to the residents.”
Still, the 100 trees and new cycle paths framing the street are welcome additions that didn't come without some grief for local businesses and residents.
“Some grief” is a nice euphemism for the construction noise and traffic snarls locals have been put through. The digging began in July 2009 and was supposed to be completed a little over a year later, but then a private contractor realized the streetcar lines would be too close to a natural gas line, requiring more digging and more noise. Still, it’s nice to see the street opened up—and with a freshly painted bike lane to boot.
• Roncesvalles renewal a relief for neighbourhood [CBC]
• Roncesvalles' revival celebrated with weekend festival [Inside Toronto]){kind=link}
Will someone please explain the cyclist-streetcar rider etiquette when a streetcar pulls up alongside the raised cycle path? I’m assuming: stop and wait for passengers to get on and off? Obviously, getting off the path and around the streetcar is not an option. There’s also a change for pedestrians. This weekend was the first time I had to look right before stepping UP onto a curb to the sidewalk… and there was a cyclist coming up towards me. Yes, I was guilty of jaywalking.
Be thankful that the TTC has 12 board pdreois per year. Most other North American systems only have 4 and you would have to wait until September for streetcars on Roncesvalles. If most of the operators of the shuttle buses were street car qualified then you could put extra cars on and turn the operators at Roncesvalles and have the shuttle operators take them up to Dundas West. This assumes that the TTC has any extra street cars and street car qualified operators. Did the TTC really say that they had assigned the Cars from 502 and 503 to other lines so the buses had to stay for the summer? This sounds like inventive BS. I can understand that the bus crews have already been selected and they can’t change back.Steve: The include the adds and cuts on many routes. At the end of July, scheduled service will return to Roncesvalles with no changes in other parts of the streetcar network, and so vehicle availability is not the issue. This is simply a question of crewing. Any reference to the 502/503 is the product of an ill-informed speaker.I have been travelling slowly up the Hudson River and the train service on Metro North appears better than the street car service on Long Branch. This includes third rail locals, Diesel hauled commuter trains and the odd Amtrak.Steve: Possibly we can extend the Metro North to Humber Loop if GO ever gets around to electrifying the Lake Shore west corridor.