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This poor intersection has been the subject of much debate on how to relieve the congestion. Do you think it is congested? Should parking be removed close to the intersection (south of Wellington, east of Yonge)? Should the stop light patterns be changed? Should we test the diagonal cross walks being tested in Toronto? What suggestions do you have?
9 comments:
The Region of York just re-contructed it this past summer with the lane changes along Wellington East.
How much did that cost the tax-payers?
I find the congestion much less since the changes.
The problem I find is drivers gunning yellow lights, and I regularly see red light runners.
Maybe traffic cameras are an option.
I too find the congestion much less. The only way to deter bad behaviour of drivers is thru enforcement and unfortunately, that's expensive. However, traffic safety affects us all and the resources must be allocated by the police to deal with this. Time for our local politicians to advocate on our behalf at the Regional level. Cameras are a cash grabbing alernative and there's really no evidence they work.
Even though our population has grown drastically with the addition of the homes east of Bayview, I bet if you did a poll, you'd find a great number of people living in that area do not venture over to Yonge Street. They do not have to. Everything they need is either on Bayview or the 404. So much for one of the Mayor's pillars for 2009...a large majority of people in Aurora could care less about the downtown core.
No Left Turns
then you have Gordie Barnes nutty idea of a traffic circle at Y/W.
must of been a slow week for stories for Mr. Wallace this week.
In the past, the idea of making Yonge St south of Wellington a pedestrian-only mall has been floated. There is potentially ample parking on the north end with the Price Chopper property sitting empty. The pedestrian mall could extend south to Church St., and the by pass for the area could become Edwards/Engelhard/Industrial. That would suit people headed north and east, but people headed west would have some trouble. There is no viable bypass to the west because all the streets are residential. Still, the amount of development to the west is significantly less than to the east, bot in terms of residential and commercial development, so there is likely less traffic headed west.
Making a pedestrian mall would turn the Yonge and Wellington intersection into a T-junction. It is easy to imagine the flow of traffic would then become easier because it would all be traffic for other parts of town. Much of the turning traffic would be re-routed to Wellington and Industrial Parkway, an intersection that is larger and has more potential growth.
NO PARKING ON YONGE ST.
It's not complicated, the wisdom of Solomon is not required, and it should have been dealt with years ago but too many people in this town insist on living in the past.
We're not a living museum and it's not 1977 - today's traffic volume simply can't accommodate lane closures due to "convenience" parking. Parking is available behind Yonge St. businesses on both the east and west sides. If business owners don't find that acceptable then they should move. On the other hand, if they are there to serve "old Aurora" then parking isn't necessary anyway as they are within walking distance.
Major roads are for traffic. Traffic must move. Period.
I agree with some comments, and disagree about others.
I think one of the biggest problems is the parking. Between the library and Wellington going north there is little chance of sailing through the intersection. There is ample parking behind the stores (what stores there are).
The traffic circle is a joke. They require much more real estate than is available. I would hate to see the council approve the exporpriation of the banks in order to contruct a round-about. That would strip away our small town flavour (tongue out of cheek now).
A pedestrian mall does not address the traffic problem, it would make it more of a problem. Like it or not, Yonge Street is a major north/south artery. YRT/Viva have and are building their public transit around that route. Closing it off to pedestrians only would throw a spanner into the works. There is no adequate alternate until you hit Bathurst to the west and Bayview to the east. That would not fly.
I think the only way to address the flow of traffic is 1. eliminate the on-street parking and 2. eliminate left turns (at least during peak times).
Fuimus
The Region should post more imaginative signage at St John and Yonge intersection to inform out-of-town drivers of the better than excellent bypass provided by the Industrial Parkway.
A few years ago,a resident of Jasper Drive received a traffic ticket while going home by a route he had used for forty years. He turned right at Irwin and found himself in breach of the law.Who knew?
Making one's way through charming old streets has always been one of the pleasures of living in Aurora.
We spent twenty-five years bringing old roads to modern standards,installing sidewalks, storm sewers and replacing sanitary sewers. After we paid for it all, we found ourselves personna non grata.
We were further burdened with a cost of almost three-hundred thousand dollars for a system created to keep us off the same streets we paid to build.
Where's the logic? Or the fairness? The region didn't do it to us. We did.
I avoid Yonge and Wellington by travelling through the traffic-calmed area. I find the speed bumps and chicanes add to the experience.
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