海角社区官网

For years the intersection of Bloor and Dundas on Toronto鈥檚 west side has been called the ugliest intersection in Toronto. Traffic chaos, shabby conditions and are the main culprits in a place that should be the beautiful nexus of four different neighbourhoods alongside a major transportation hub.

On the southwest corner is a strange amalgam of what seems like three separate buildings: retail at the sidewalk, office in the middle and residential on top. Actually rather funky and of its mid-century era, its unique qualities are certainly diminished by the surroundings.

A former tavern on the northwest corner is a rare example of a 海角社区官网ruin. Converted into a condo presentation centre, the 鈥淕iraffe鈥� project has been stuck in development limbo since first being rejected a decade and half ago. Now the giraffelike graphics on the seemingly abandoned building slowly decay.

On the northeast corner is The Crossways, another amalgam of shops, offices and residential, with two classic 海角社区官网slab apartment towers sprouting from a midrise base that cascades towards the street. Not bad actually, as its interior mall full of useful services is, but the building is a hostile presence at sidewalk level with steep stairs and blank walls. People transferring from Dundas West TTC station to the UP Express must drag their suitcases along here in the heat, cold, rain or snow.

On the southeast corner is Bishop Morrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic high school. It also doesn鈥檛 give a lot to the sidewalk beyond pouring jubilant students onto its freedom each afternoon. The 1968 building remains in good condition though, and there are trees lining Bloor, a rare bit of green here.

Bloor and Dundas is a particularly challenging intersection. In Toronto, railway lines are like natural land formations: barriers we have to get around. The Grand Trunk Railway corridor here, used by GO and UP Express trains today, was established in the 1850s聽and ran largely through open countryside then. As the city grew around it, the relatively few crossings became congested pinch points, but there鈥檚 also opportunity here: this is one of the most connected places in the city, a hub of heavy commuter and airport rail as well as subways, streetcars and buses using Dundas West station.

The quick fixes

The intersection feels windblown and forlorn. In fact, there is often a fake hawk on a pole and rope on the Crossways roof, perpetually circling in the wind to scare other birds away. Making it more comfortable for people requires public and private efforts.

The city can do some bare-minimum maintenance by repaving the rough areas of the intersection and repainting the faded lines, especially crosswalks. Both the Crossways and the franken-building on the southwest corner could benefit from retail tenants that don鈥檛 cover up their external windows, and both could lean into their inherent awkward funkiness by adding some colour and graphics and more greenery, like the nice flower pots currently along Crossways.

The serious changes

The traffic glut here could be mitigated with a more sophisticated traffic light system. The 505 Dundas cars going into and out of the station are routinely stuck in traffic, frustrating everyone. Give the streetcars priority so that when they are near they can sail in and out of the station and through the intersection quickly. Surely more space can be found for pedestrians too, widening the uncomfortably narrow sidewalks along Dundas.

The decades-in-waiting Metrolinx connection between the TTC station and the Bloor GO needs to actually be finished. Metrolinx says聽 with new stairwells and elevator shafts created, but the pace has been excruciatingly slow.

The decaying Giraffe site must be finally built upon, ideally as a rental building with some affordable aspects, but earlier concerns about too much density seem like misguided and unnecessary roadblocks, and at such a major transit hub simply building it without parking, as city regulations now allow, could placate concerns about added traffic.

While the school is a bit of a fortress, at this busy corner perhaps there鈥檚 a way to showcase what students are up to inside. A pop up shop of student work, or something far more creative. Let the students figure it out and run it.

The pie in the sky

The big plaza on the southeast side of the intersection, beyond the school, has the potential for creating a people-friendly nexus for all the adjacent neighbourhoods. Plans have been submitted for , including a new public park.

That park must be thought of as a public square for surrounding neighbourhoods too, and as many pedestrian connections as possible should lead to and from it, like an octopus into surrounding neighbourhoods. Even to the Bloor GO and nearby West 海角社区官网Rail Path. Imagine if people didn’t have to cross at Bloor and Dundas at all.