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This week I went to the second public meeting about the Six Points Reconfiguration, which is basically a complete redesign of the Bloor - Dundas - Kipling intersection in Etobicoke (west Toronto). The purpose of this reconfiguration is to make better use of land that is swallowed up by this highway-style interchange (new civic, residential and commercial development), and better pedestrian and cyclist access to the area. Click the photo for some map displays that I photographed. Here's the Google Map of the area.

There's a ton of information about this project on the City's website, but I just wanted to share some of the things I learned at the meeting, and comments that people made. Note: I don't necessarily agree with many of the comments and concerns, but I'm quite pleased at the turnout (probably over 100 people) and the enthusiasm of the attendees.

Several options had been discussed, but the planners are currently favouring the "Fully at-Grade Dundas St. Loop" solution, which would eliminate all bridges, introduce more traffic lights, and re-route Dundas St. with a south-east loop. The rest of the commentary in this article will deal with this proposed solution.

Here's what I like about it:

• Pedestrian-friendly
• No longer a high-speed highway-style interchange.
• Much better east-west bike access, particularly along Bloor St. They are even talking about putting in bike lanes, and the Dundas St. loop will have a wide curb lane. Several times they mentioned this was part of the city's Bike Plan (I didn't think the Bike Plan actually included any of Bloor, but I could be wrong).
• Better pedestrian and cycling access to Kipling Station.
• Seems to make good use of the land to open up for development.
• Should eliminate some of the blind spots that the current bridges and turns cause.
• I'm looking forward to the new "downtown" style area that will happen here (that's quite a few years away...)

Some potential problems:

• More traffic congestion due to all the traffic lights and intersections.
• Traffic spillover into neighbouring streets.
• More cars idling?
• Potentially slower bus access, particularly Mississauga transit going to Islington Station
• Probably create some traffic hell during the two years of construction

Here are some of the topics that were brought up during the Q&A session at the end of the meeting:

• Will this cause more traffic from Dundas St. to spill over onto Bloor (residential, west of Kipling)?
• A resident from the south-east section of the study area wondered what kind of land use the city will keep for itself. And if they don't know yet, why are they so ready to sell it off? Current thinking is to use the land for some city services such as parks, a community centre, possibly school board use. The city does not need all parcels of land here, maybe only two.
• Dundas St. will have four new sets of traffic lights, while there are zero now. This will significantly slow down traffic flow.
• Will they publicly publish the survey results?
• How will they manage all the TTC and Mississauga Transit bus service through this area? TTC is currently studying it, and they plan to maintain good connections to Kipling station.
• An 80 year-old resident wants to keep it the way it is. He has no trouble walking, cycling or driving through there the way it is now.
• How to handle Dundas St. traffic during construction? Enforce Dundas HOV lanes, use different routing, better use of highway 427, etc.
• Are there any plans for the area north of Bloor to Burhamthorpe? Will traffic get worse? They say they are hoping to decrease traffic.
• Regarding traffic disruption, someone commented that they need to try to create a community here, not a highway interchange (what it is now). There was much applause from around the audience.
• A local condo resident had two concerns: 1) Density at the Tridel complex (there's a 20 storey 60m height limit), and 2) How will they provide recreational facilities for all this increased density? (creating parks, public facilities and lands, possibly a school)
• Are there any plans for Beamish Ave.? It will continue to connect Bloor and Dundas, right-turn only at Dundas, not totally planned yet.
• A resident from Kipling and Bloor, and member of the ratepayers assoc. was concerned that a big planned community here might end up a disaster like Jamestown or Jane and Finch.
• What about air quality? Expected to stay about the same. The increased idling and accelerating is expected to be offset by more cycling, walking, and transit.
• How long will it take? About 2-3 years once it gets approved and started.
• A resident of the north-west part of the study area commented: This is an opportunity to be creative. Need to plan for all the new families. Concerned that it might just end up being more condos and industry/commercial.
• A TTC user who has "no sympathy for drivers" was concerned that traffic will increase on the side streets. Tyrone Ganzi (sp?) responded saying that they plan to make intersections as efficient as possible to keep cars out of the side streets.
• Someone asked about the bike lanes on Bloor: Will they just be painted lines, or will there be any curbs, medians, or other physical barriers? Staff said they will just be painted lines, as other bike lanes are. Again, mentioned that this is part of the Bike Plan.
• A woman who favoured the at-grade solution said, "think 10-15 years ahead!"
• Someone asked how big the divided land parcels would be. Are they actually big enough for anything useful? One of the designers responded that they vary in size, but pointed out that some of the parcels are over 150m per side, etc.
• The last person to comment was very happy with the proposed at-grade solution.She likes the idea of more walkability, and that it is a very progressive idea that fits in with the city's Pedestrian Charter. She said "we want mixed land use!" and commented that currently the area "has a long history of being very car oriented."