Sunday, July 23, 2006

Don River Park


Site of future Don River Park (click to expand)

You might be wondering what is happening south of Queen St. on the west side of the Don River. Among other things they are clearing land for a major new park to be called Don River Park. This expanse will be about 16 hectares (38 acres) and will occupy the land between the Queen St. bridge south to the railway corridor. The photo above was taken from the Eastern Avenue bridge so it doesn't include the section to the north. However you can see this is a fairly large area.

The railway corridor will stay in the same place. A berm will be built roughly where Bayview Avenue is now. Bayview will be relocated to the west edge of the site and will link up will Mill St. which is now out of site around the corner. All of this will form the eastern edge of the new West Don Lands development.

They are currently doing some heavy infrastructure work which deals with modifying the railway trestle to accommodate hurricane flood levels. The trestle was a major obstacle for flood waters during Hurricane Hazel. This is a lengthy project and won't be finished until Spring 2007. However, when it is complete, the Lower Don Trail (currently closed south of Queen) will have a new at grade tunnel under the railway (no more metal cage) and a new east west connection that wil link up with the future park.

As things move along Don Watcher will keep you abreast of the details.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Busy Summer

You may have noticed that I have been lax in posting recently. That is because I am taking a course at the UofT this summer that has me insanely busy. It will be over by mid-August but it means my Don travels are severely curtailed until then.

The only thing I am doing in the Don this summer on a regular basis is community stewardship. I am leading a team at the Beechwood wetland. You would think I might post about that but one of my team members created a blog to detail just this one activity so why duplicate the effort. Visit her blog to see updates and great pix.

On another note, now that I am a blogger, I have discovered that I am just a tiny part of a larger blogosphere. In cruising this online environment I have noticed that many blogger's list their favourite blogs on the main page. Not to be outdone, I have now done the same and have listed five weblogs that are more or less related to this blog. Check out the list (including the Beechwood Wetland blog) on the right sidebar.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Run for the Don?



The city plus a loose collection of mountain bikers is putting on this event which allows you to ride the trails in Crothers' Woods or run them. This dual event is ostensibly to highlight the city's latest buzz phrase, ie. multi-purpose trails. Trails users are about 98% bikers and 2% other. Other being runners or walkers. It would be nice if more walkers/hikers/runners used the trails but many people are initmidated by the bikers many of whom insist on speeding through the circuit. What's needed is more technical trail features to slow the bikers down but still allow hjikers to use the trails safely. A interesting balancing act the city is trying but they are not quite there. More on Crothers' Woods soon.