Friday, May 16, 2008

New Traffic Lights on Bayview


Traffic lights being installed at entrance to Brick Works

If you've driven down the Bayview Extension recently you may have noticed a works crew installing a new traffic light at the entrance to the Don Valley Brick Works. If you've ever tried to turn left when leaving the Brick Works you have to wait forever with all the traffic that goes by these days. What with Evergreen starting work on their new headquarters and another summer of programs and activities this is a must have addition to making the Brick Works easier to get into and out of.

I've always advocated for this, not only for car access but for cyclists and pedestrians too. If you think crossing Bayview is hard for a car just try it on a bicycle - you need nerves of steel. If they install a pedestrian button as well it could facilitate a long proposed pedestrian connection to the other side of the valley. There is just enough room between the road and the railway tracks to install a path for pedestrians. This would provide a necessary link to the Lower Don trail and to Todmorden Mills. There still needs to be some re-working of the Pottery Road bridge across the river but it wouldn't take too much effort. Once finished it would alleviate some of the isolation that has prevented the Brick Works from becoming a frequent destination for visitors to the Don Valley.



Future path connection between Brick Works and Todmorden Mills. The green square is the location of the new traffic light.

2 comments:

Marnie said...

That path would be great. It's frustrating to be able to see the place and know that "you can't get there from here." Granted, there's the shuttle bus now, but it would be nice to be able to walk to the Brickworks.

Anonymous said...

That is good news. It would also be great if one day there was a short path heading east out of the brickworks site to the west/north side of Bayview, right at the middle of the corner, or even father north. Cars heading south really seem to hug the inside of that corner, so the least amount of time you'd have to spend on Bayview to get up to the Pottery Road exit the better!