St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia

Transcription

1 St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia A Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit BROWN + STOREY ARCHITECTS

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3 St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia: A Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit This plan was prepared for the Corso Italia BIA by Brown and Storey Architects in the summer of It is seen to be adaptable to the other BIA areas of Wychwood, Hillhurst, St. Clair West, and St. Clair Gardens. This report summarizes the principles and elements of the Corso Italia proposal. St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia - a Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit Brown and Storey Architects

4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This urban design proposal has been developed by the Corso Italia BIA to explore an alternative with regard to the slated improvements to the TTC streetcar line along St. Clair Avenue West, from Yonge Street to a potentially expanded length to Jane Street. This proposal is initiated from a principal of conciliatory urbanism, that is, that the main streets of Toronto, in their most successful / effective state, are the result of complex balances and counter-balances of many systems. It is in the friendly and co-operative relationship of one system to the other where the most effective main street environments can be created and sustained. St. Clair Avenue has a greater than normal right of way (ROW) 30.1 meters which implies that a generosity of public amenity is possible. Instead, the public realm of St. Clair Avenue West is at a minimal state of basic necessity, while the road surface occupies a far greater proportion of the ROW allowance. This proposal suggests a reduction in the asphalt road surface and a modest expansion of the sidewalk area. The road surfaceis composed as shown in the detail plan (following page) of slightly expanded sidewalks, parking lay-bys, cycling lanes, and two lanes of traffic travelling in both directions, one of which is a shared lane with the St. Clair streetcar. This arrangement is consistent for both rush hour and non-rush hour periods. Because of the large number of T intersections, there are many areas where the parking lay-bys are substituted with broader sidewalk areas permitting substantial new tree planting. Parking numbers are essentially maintained with what is now provided on the street.

5 BALANCES AND IMBALANCES - A CONCILIATORY URBANISM By re-calibrating the spaces allotted to the public realm, and achieving a balance between pedestrian, transit, automobiles, parking, servicing and cycling, this proposal suggests that where the TTC streetcar passes through commercial and mixed use main streets area as between Bathurst and Old Weston Road, that the dedicated streetcar lane be modified to become a shared lane with vehicles. This would take up approximately 35% of the entire street length, assuming an extension of the track to Jane Street. By using other techniques like advance traffic signalization, restricted left turns (7 a.m. 7 p.m.) and potential Proof of Payment programmes, that across the full length of the streetcar line, travelling times will still be significantly reduced, while not affecting the commercial viability of the well-established St. Clair Avenue main street culture. This alternative is suggested as a way of determining a balance between commuters passing through St. Clair Avenue West, people who make their livings on St. Clair catering to both local and out of region customers, and to those who both live and work along St. Clair. The communities along St. Clair have historically been among the first in Toronto to introduce a new tradition of public life in our city, and who now look to the City to improve the relationships between basic infrastructures that so effectively determine the health and vitality of Toronto s most Existing view of St. Clair Avenue Diagrammatic view of the Corso Italia proposal potent public space the street. 3-d view of the Corso Italia proposal St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia - a Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit Brown and Storey Architects

6 DETAIL PLAN

7 St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia - a Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit Brown and Storey Architects

8 BALANCES AND IMBALANCES - A CONCILIATORY URBANISM An Example of Balance The photographs on this page show views of several of College Street s more well known intersections - College and Clinton Street looking at the Café Diplomatico, and College and Grace. These photographs illustrate urbane and robust images of Toronto that is used heavily in the attraction of tourists from other city centres. Looking more closely at the images, the following list of things going on can be made: (1) consistent built form (2) street merchandise on display; people stopping to look (3) people waiting for the streetcar stop at the corner (4) the corner outdoor café (5) on street parking with sign showing more parking provided around the corner (6) bicycles (7) vehicles (8) TTC streetcar (9) trees There is a subtle linkage between all these systems that gives the over-riding impression of economic vitality and urbanity a unique robustness. No system overwhelms another. The ability of these different systems to coexist is referred to as a conciliatory urbanism - friendly relations between different functions and networks that allow adaptability, cooperation, and an ultimately comprehensive vitality that characterizes the best qualities of Toronto s main streets.

9 ST. CLAIR AVENUE An Example of Imbalance Looking at photographs of St. Clair Avenue West, with its extra wide ROW (30.1 meters instead of the typical right of way of 20 meters) two things become immediately apparent: 1) the sidewalk is too narrow it cannot accommodate the retail display / cafe zone, walking zone, tree planting, and services (lighting, garbage receptacles, etc.), and (2) the asphalt / vehicular zone has dominated the additional width afforded to St. Clair. This imbalance cars over pedestrians - has severely limited the ability of the street to create an active and robust public space. The shops seem to survive in spite of the diminished public realm. The public sidewalk is not able to handle further compromises to its physical space; in fact, the current imbalance needs to be readdressed to provide a more generous allowance for the basic necessities of public life. The communities along St. Clair West Avenue were the first in the City of Toronto to introduce a more civilized and robust interpretation of the public realm on our streets, bringing a true cosmopolitan character to our neighbourhoods. This new generosity of the public realm has been imported to other streets in the City - St. George Street, Queen Street, College Street - but is strangely absent from the current urban landscape of St. Clair Avenue West. The re-calibration of the streetcar tracks and street section now affords a significant opportunity to address this absence in ways that are mutually beneficial to all systems. St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia - a Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit Brown and Storey Architects

10 CONCILIATORY URBANISM The principle of conciliatory urbanism posits the idea that urbane-ness is created by friendly relations between all systems. By contrast, imbalances of one system over another can create unpleasant environments. As an Example, streets where the provision of parking becomes all important create the undesirable suburban arterial road effect of parking in the front of retail stores, or large gaps in the main street fabric made by parking lots - plenty of parking, but an environment that only caters to people driving. Queen Street - a balace between cars and public space In another example, streets where the fast movement of cars dominates the ROW result in widened road surfaces, usually at the expense of pedestrian space or trees, again creates an environment good for fast driving, but little else. Those streets then evolve to cater only to vehicular traffic drivethroughs, s, big box retails, etc. By contrast, streets that have gone in the other extreme, like Sparks Street in Ottawa, where a busy commercial main street removed all vehicular traffic in favour of pedestrians only, effectively smothering the vitality of that retail area. Similarly the pedestrian mall experiment on Yonge Street in the 1970 s was abandoned because of the adverse effect on the store owners. Where cycling lanes are instituted and parking is eliminated to make room for it, servicing and retail suffers; the elimination of parking in many cases also results in speeding traffic and less pedestrian friendly areas. Changing streets to one way vehicular traffic creates a similar highway effect. The same also applies to public transit: in Chicago, State Street was transformed into a transit only avenue, only to be changed back to a shared ROW with cars because of the damaging effects to the overall vitality of the street. The many benefits of public transit and its importance to Toronto are wellknown. This proposal asks for a balance between the streetcar tracks and the vehicular traffic lanes that would permit a much needed improvement to the public realm. No matter the inherent rightness of whatever system is given dominance, if changes are made to the precarious balance of systems on main street, the vitality and robustness that characterizes the best of Toronto s neighbourhood urban landscapes can quickly deteriorate. College Street - a proposed extension of the public realm

11 Linkages between different systems create continuity and in a more urban vein, animation. Zoning systems of land use, widely accepted in the 1950 s and 1960 s, is now recognized as a stagnating influence to the vitality of cities (hence the success of the Kings in Toronto, where zoning was relaxed and resulted in a new surge of multi-use robust developments in formerly desolate areas of the city). The term mixed use as a desirable building and planning term, has a broader implication for the finely tuned instrument of the city s main streets. By creating multi-use spaces in the public realm, animation, vitality urbanity is created. The sidewalk becomes the public square, its corso, its promenade, a garden, a market, a social event. These are not frills, they are critical to the economic vitality of our neighbourhoods. The co-existence with the streetcar plays an extremely significant role. As a vehicle that stops frequently, particularly in the block by block of busy main streets, the streetcar stops become important points of connection. At a smaller, more finely tuned scale, the streetcar creates moments of intensity people waiting for the streetcar buy a newspaper, a book, the quart of milk. They read a poster, they see someone they know. They decide to have a coffee. These small exchanges are the significant matter of living in a city. Moreover, the short distance between streetcar stops allows that intensity to easily extend itself to the next stop. (Unlike subway stops, where intensity begins and ends at the intersection alone). These fertile moments of linkage are circumvented when islands are used to store transit passengers. One of the elements of the Corso Italia plan is to eliminate the transit islands in favour of an on-street loading at TTC stops. Heidelberg, Germany St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia - a Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit Brown and Storey Architects

12 TTC Islands The general principle behind all of the improvements suggested for St. Clair Avenue West is a desire to make the different movement infrastructures pedestrians, cyclists, public transit and vehicles - to be more interconnected and balanced. The larger idea of internodal infrastructures which tends to be considered for connections between air travel, public transit and cars, can also be applied to the finer grain imperatives of the everyday relationships of pedestrians, cyclists, cars and streetcars. Place de l Homme du Fer, Strasbourg, France Place de l Homme du Fer, Strasbourg, France Shifting the waiting streetcar users from the islands to the sidewalk at the street corner makes a smoother and more connected relationship between the pedestrian and public transit, and between the pedestrian and the life of the street. The island model implies a completely separated relationship from the normal pedestrian zone of the sidewalk to an area surrounded by vehicular traffic. The sidewalk relationship is a more secure position for the pedestrian in terms of safety. The act of crossing over the traffic island has never been properly defined. Do you cross at the traffic light and then walk down the middle of the road to where the island begins? Or do you cross mid-street, slightly set back from the intersection to cross directly to the island, against jockeying cars at busy intersections? Further, cars are required by law to stop for pedestrians as they board streetcars from the sidewalk, whereas at traffic islands, there are no requirement for vehicles to stop. As both drivers and pedestrians, everyone has experienced the dangerous ambiguity of people crossing over to the traffic islands, whether as a driver you should stop as a courtesy (but setting up an unsafe condition for the impatient car behind or beside you who may then rush through a crowd of people crossing), or whether you allow a crowded TTC island of people to become more crowded as they wait for the cars to pass by. Streetcar Island, St. Clair Avenue West

13 During rush hours, the TTC islands are often too crowded with waiting transit users creating very unsafe conditions at the time of the day most congested with vehicular traffic. Combined with the added congestion of large numbers of riders disembarking, and being literally pushed into oncoming traffic to make room for other disembarking riders, makes the TTC islands seem very unsafe from the passenger s point of view. Other user considerations like parents with strollers, holding on to small children on an island that permits only single filing, school groups, make for strong arguments in favour of the more normalized and connected condition of boarding the streetcar from the safety of the sidewalk. The streetcar islands are in place for the increased flow of vehicular traffic. They are not in place as a pedestrian benefit. In its current state, St. Clair Avenue West only appears to be valued as a fast-moving arterial road, which puts all users at risk. The elimination of the TTC islands in favour of corner sidewalk boarding points allows this greater balance between pedestrians and cars to occur by generally enabling more width to be put into the public realm of the sidewalks. The increased width of the sidewalk will permit more comfortable and secure waiting areas for transit users. The aesthetics of the Corso Italia proposal are a completely integrated notion with the function and balance of the street. The balance between transit, cyclists, cars, pedestrians, businesses and the neighbourhoods are all seen as totally interconnected as a means of improving all aspects without compromising the quality and function of any component. Thus, one could also point out that the waiting transit users, removed from the separated islands and now waiting on the sidewalk, add to the vitality of the street - reading community posters, picking up the local newspapers, deciding to stay for dinner at the nearby restaurant, or popping into the hardware store. These all add in very real ways to the economic vitality of the street and ultimately to the quality of the public realm. St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia - a Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit Brown and Storey Architects

14 The Corso Italia Proposal The proposed plan for Corso Italia is a reconfiguration of new and current systems to make a cultural infrastructure. This initiative points to the fundamental connection between main streets and neighbourhoods, and the inextricably close relationship between commerce, community, culture and public space. The reinvigoration of the public right of way provides the means to trigger new energy in a cultural infrastructure. Could a more robust construction of this public realm simultaneously incite a new energy for a balanced mobility, a commercial invigoration and the transformation of indifferent sidewalks to linear park space? The exceptional width of the Corso Italia and the adjacent sections of St. Clair Avenue West 30 meters (10 meters more than the norm) have provided the opportunity to rethink and re-calibrate the configuration of the public right of way. This proposal was prepared for the Corso Italia BIA in the summer of It is potentially adaptable to the other BIA areas of: Wychwood, Hillcrest, St. Clair West, and St. Clair Gardens. The following measures for this alternative are suggested: a) A dedicated streetcar R.O.W. along 65% of St. Clair Avenue between Yonge Street and Bathurst Street, and Old Weston Road to Jane Street (assuming a streetcar line expansion) b) In the main street zone between Bathurst Street and Old Weston Road: i) maintain the centre shared TTC / traffic lanes ii) maintain a second vehicle lane iii) remove TTC islands in favour on street passenger boarding iv) restrict left turns at intersections to non-rush hour periods v) provide advance signalization controls to streetcars vi) provide 24 hour lay-by parking / servicing areas alternating with widened sidewalks vii) dedicated cycling lane viii) extensive tree planting

15 The BENEFITS of these measures are: Overly wide crossings separate the two sides of the street a) The dedicated R.O.W. as suggested will travel through predominantly residential areas east of Bathurst and more industrial areas west of Old Weston Road, providing faster travel times, along 65% of the length of the streetcar line, without adversely affecting the businesses on the commercial / retail areas of the street. b) Removing traffic islands and using on-street passenger loading points will create a safer pedestrian condition and promote more street vitality. c) Restricting left-turn lanes and providing advance signalization will remove many of the causes of time delays and help reduce travel times. d) Lay-by parking will reserve 24 hour parking for St. Clair Avenue and benefit to the St. Clair merchants, many whose customers come from other parts of the G.T.A. e) The widened sidewalk areas will create a better public realm and café life, increasing economic vitality for both residents and businesses. f) Two lanes of consistent traffic will improve upon the current traffic lanes, which intermittently weave between two and three lanes, causing traffic congestion at each shift. g) Pedestrian crossing distances at intersections will be reduced approximately from the current 22 meters to 15 meters, promoting a two-sided street life. h) Street Line divisions will be clearly marked to provide a more structural environment for drivers. St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia - a Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit Brown and Storey Architects

16 Detail Plan at St. Clair Avenue mid-block Proposed Plan of St. Clair Avenue - Corso Italia

17 St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia - a Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit Brown and Storey Architects

18 New tracks along St. Clair Avenue West can be seen as an inspiration for rethinking the totality of the spatial nature of St. Clair and creating a new starting point for better conditions for building a new avenue and piece of the city. The nature of the residential precinct east of Bathurst Street and the industrial areas west of Old Weston Road are well suited to the proposed dedicated R.O.W. The traditional main street culture between Bathurst Street and Old Weston Street can be transformed into a better model of a conciliatory urbanism, where all systems co-exist in a balanced composition. The track replacement gives the City the opportunity to address current imbalances that exist between the spaces left over for the pedestrian from the vast asphalt surface given over to vehicular movement, both cars and streetcars. This main street culture needs to be improved from its present deteriorated state in order to sustain the economic vitality of its small and unique shops that have lined the streets for many decades. Detail Section a t St. Clair Avenue

19 The improvements to the larger infrastructure of public transit should also accommodate a broader interpretation of the public good to include St. Clair Avenue s public realm in its considerations of a balanced and healthy street environment, and to give a rediscovered robustness to a community that was largely responsible for the introduction of an urban animated street life to the perfunctory earlier urban landscapes of the City. St. Clair Avenue West and the Corso Italia - a Conciliatory Urbanism for Public Space and Public Transit Brown and Storey Architects