After a year of drilling bore holes along Albert Street in the downtown the City must have a damn good picture of the underlying geology and hydrology.
However, His Honor moved the tunnel over to Queen Street, because it’s cheaper, and a whole buncha new holes have to be drilled. It’s a boring job but someone’s got to do it.
Below: the drill crew at the west end of Queen Street, on top of the escarpment. The tunnel will be right beside the Juliana Apt Building, and the tunnel will enter at the base of the cliff in a dramatic bit of train-runs-straight-into-cliff imagery.
Despite the angle of the picture above, the train will not go straight into the new LeBreton buildings (don’t wishit!) but will pass to the left/south side of the aqueduct.
This of course, leaves the issue of how cyclists and pedestrians will get from the Flats or the aqueduct bike paths up to the downtown. I’ve seen their current solution, and it ain’t pretty, so I’m holding fire in hopes that they are busy working on something that will be appalling … err, appealing.
Meantime, the subway dentists continue to drill, now under Queen Street:
I would like the LRT elevated at Lebreton instead of elevating Booth St. and then have it pass into the cliff at a higher level. The MUP could then go along side it and then carry on along the edge of the cliff up to the end of sparks. Then you could put a painted line bike path down the length of Sparks Street mall and there would be a very comfortable way to bike into the downtown from the west side.