Bike Lanes on Brimley Road

Do you travel on Brimley Road?

It is hard to believe but the City is proposing to shut down one lane of Brimley Road in each direction all the way from Lawrence down to Kingston Road and give it to people riding bicycles.

• The TTC runs the Brimley 21 bus from Kennedy Subway Station east on Eglinton then up Brimley to Scarborough Centre and on up to Steeles. Somewhere around 150 buses travel this part of Brimley every weekday. The latest info we’ve seen from the TTC, dated 6 years ago, but it showed over 9,500 people ride the Brimley bus every weekday.
• Every major street in Scarborough carries the trucks our businesses depend on.
• Meals on Wheels, WheelTrans, visiting nurses/health care services all use our major streets.
• All the parcel delivery trucks we have gotten used to depending on, Amazon, Canada Post, FedEx and more use our major streets.
• People who don’t own a vehicle/aren’t allowed to drive rely on ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft and others or taxis.
• Not one of my favourites but it looks like a lot of people order prepared meals delivered to their homes via DoorDash, UberEats, SkiptheDishes and others.
• A lot of us use Brimley to drive family members and friends to the subway at Kennedy Station when the weather’s bad, during the dark days of winter when the sidewalks to the nearest bus stop are bad when it’s late and not necessarily safe to walk/wait for the bus.

If they get their way they’ll also ‘examine’ all the left and right hand turning lanes at an intersection to see which ones, if any, should remain for people making turns. You can bet, when they’re done, there won’t be many turning lanes left.

Sorry folks: we’ve seen some pretty harebrained schemes come out of City Hall in the last several years. This one is just patently absurd.

If you live on Brimley or travel it regularly you know how busy it is.

The last traffic report we have, for Brimley Road at Ellesmere last year, shows 1,900 vehicles on Brimley in the busiest hour in the morning and another 2,100 vehicles on Brimley in the busiest afternoon rush hour. We know ‘rush hour’ is actually 3 hours long in the afternoon and maybe 2 hours in the morning.

Taking away one lane in each direction doesn’t just reduce the road capacity by 50%. The congestion in the one remaining lane, where a single vehicle waiting to turn left or right holds up everybody for miles, actually knocks out way more than 50% of the street’s capacity.

It’s not just personal vehicles using Brimley.

Can you imagine what Brimley would be like if they pack all those trips into just one lane each way, with no left/right turn lanes at intersections?

We have asked our Councillor Michael Thompson to stop this lunacy. He’s not going to do so. He is going to support the cycling lobby and force everybody else using Brimley into just one lane each way. He calls it a ‘temporary’ measure to help people get around the city during the COVID flu crisis.

By the time they’ve spent the money to paint all the lines, put up all the special signs, install the special traffic signals for bicycles, eliminated left and right-hand turn lanes, you can bet the bicycle lobby will fight like mad to keep it.

We asked all candidates for Council in our Ward back in the October election a couple of questions to help our voters decide. One of the questions was:

If elected will you pay attention to and insist that any proposals for new bikeways, street railways express bus lanes, whatever shall maintain the number of traffic lanes we have today?

Michael Thompson’s answer was pretty clear. He said YES.

Here’s how you can contact Councillor Thompson to tell him what you think:

Toronto City Hall

100 Queen Street West, Suite B31 Toronto, ON M5H 2N2

Telephone: 416-397-9274

Fax: 416-397-9280

Email: councillor_thompson@toronto.ca

Iain McLeod
President

Glen Andrew Community Association

Litter On Our Streets

Every year in April for decades we have had a Clean-up day to pick up litter which accumulates on our streets, boulevards, parks and in our schoolyards.

Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions, we are unable to do so as the city has closed our public parks and ruled that we should not gather in groups, nor meet with family and friends in order to lessen the ability of the virus to spread.

Many of us are going for walks around the community on our streets and in our parks, such as Thompson Memorial and the Birkdale Ravine. Why not take a bag with you and pick up what you see. The west side of McCowan Rd. from Ellesmere to Brimorton Dr. needs some special attention as it is currently overloaded with garbage. 

Because of Covid19, please make sure to take extra precautions and practise safe measures like social distancing. I would recommend that you wear disposable gloves or use a long pair of tongs.

If we all do a little, we can accomplish a lot. 

Iain McLeod 

President

Glen Andrew Community Association 

Traffic Lights Win for Glen Andrew

Another win for the Glen Andrew Community 

by Lorne Ross,

For the Glen Andrew Community Association


If you have been out and around during this long period of ‘stay at home’ you may have seen the crews working away from where Grangeway comes down and meets Ellesmere, just east of the Blue Danube seniors’ building.

They are putting up the traffic signals. When they’re turned on we will have a safe way to turn left and head north.

We will have three ways to get back to McCowan via Grangeway-Consilium Place:
1. at Bushby,
2. at Progress,
3. and north of Corporate Drive.

We’ll have a safe way to get to the 401 eastbound. All without getting stuck in the backed-up left turn lane at McCowan-Ellesmere. Our friends in the North Bendale community east of McCowan can safely turn left at night to get back home from their travels.

Below are just some of the ways this street takes the load off McCowan-Ellesmere.

It’s been a long time coming. The city knew McCowan-Ellesmere would be overloaded a long time ago. Bit by bit the developers like Blue Danube, the Freshco-Shoppers plaza and Consilium further north handed over the land and built or paid for their part of the new street. The final section was built in 2002 with land and cash from the developer of the Freshco-Shoppers Drug Mart plaza.

Without traffic signals, it was getting more and more difficult to wait for a gap in the westbound traffic on Ellesmere to make that turn into Grangeway. It was really dangerous for our friends living east of McCowan to make a left turn from southbound Grangeway to eastbound Ellesmere.

We began asking our Councillor Glenn DeBaeremaeker to get the traffic lights approved in 2017. Our professional staff resisted once again. We helped Glen make the case that this street and its signals were important to all sorts of people living south of Ellesmere and the businesses on the north side too. He persuaded City Council to approve the signals.
Our professional staff then moaned and groaned they didn’t have the money to put up the signals.

We worked with Councillor Ainslie who was pretty new representing people east of McCowan. We wrote to him and Councillor Thompson and they pushed through the funding.

Long time coming but another victory for Glen Andrew Community Association.

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Some people wonder why you should ever join a community group like Glen Andrew?

To me, the answer is pretty clear: If you cherish your home and your community and if you want to protect what we have and work to make it better, join your neighbours! 

Help us stay on top of what is happening at City Hall. Listen and read and learn. 

Put forward your ideas about what Glen Andrew wants/needs. Ask questions. 
Volunteer and contribute your time by organizing meetings, writing about issues in our blog, help to hand out flyers to your neighbours. Join your neighbours when we speak to the city staff and our Councillors.

We don’t win everything we set out to get. But we try and we win enough to make a difference in our community to create a better place to live and raise our families.

Recent successes and ongoing projects include: 

• Saving the destruction of the Frank Faubert Woodlot from the TTC. A natural green space in our community. 
• Saving homes on Stanwell Drive and local businesses in the St. Andrew’s Fish ‘n Chip plaza from the TTC.
• Our annual ‘Clean Up’ day that gets hundreds of people of all ages out collecting litter from our parks each year.
• Looks like we will get a subway station at our hospital on Lawrence. We worked long and hard against really stubborn people at the TTC and City Planning to get that station.
• We are helping the people who are trying again to get a Farmers’ Market in our Scarborough Centre. Ideas about parking, signs, local food companies that might want to sell in the new market.
• We helped the community think about and speak on the question of a new traffic signal where Packard comes up to Ellesmere. Breaking the median so people and cars could cross safely.
• Looks like we have been successful keeping our major roads open where they cross the GO tracks between Midland and Kennedy Road. We worked with other community associations over the past 4 years against some pretty stubborn experts at GO Transit and City Planning. Metrolinx recently announced they will build either bridges over or tunnels under their tracks at Progress, Huntingwood, McNicoll and Danforth Roads.

Our meetings three times a year in St. Andrew’s Church give you a chance to meet, listen
to and ask questions of all sorts of people:

• developers who want to build in our area
• the people who run Scarborough General Hospital
• City Staff
• our City Councillor Michael Thompson
• our MPP Christina Mitas.

Things we haven’t won yet but are committed too: 

• Our City Planners want to tear down the bridge that carries Progress Avenue up and over McCowan Road. They would give us another traffic signal on McCowan instead.
• Metrolinx wants to take out the two centre lanes of Ellesmere from McCowan all the way east past Morningside and use it for only express buses.
• We’re trying to make sure Scarborough gets its fair share of the money the city collects to buy and build new parks and recreation centres, fix up the ones we have.
• The never-ending battle to repair potholes and keep our roads and sidewalks operating safely.

We think these issues have been worth fighting for. We hope you do too!
But I have to tell you… your Executive is getting on in years. 

We are going to need new people to keep things going. 

To keep Glen Andrew a great place to live and raise a family.

It’s not scary. It’s not full time. Everybody is a volunteer. We do not endorse any politician or political party. There are lots of roles to play. You don’t have to be a brilliant public speaker. You don’t have to be a technical wizard beyond email. 

You just have to care about your community! Please come out to our regular and special meetings. 

Please contact our President, Iain McLeod at

Phone: (416) 431 - 0097
Email: execulife@bell.net

…to see how you can help get involved.

Volunteer Street Rep Needed

We need a street rep to deliver newsletters on Stanwell Dr. to 58 homes three times a year.

That takes just over an hour. 

Newsletters are delivered at approximately mid-month of March, June and October.

Please call or e-mail Mike Ehlers with your

• name
• address (for delivery)
• phone number
• e-mail address

Mike’s info:  416-438-8932  /  ehlersmike00@gmail.com

Stanwell Drive highlighted in red outline below

Stanwell Drive, Scarborough

Call for new Board Members!

We are looking for new Board Members!

In the last year, two of our long time board members have resigned due to age.
Now two more board members would like to resign for the same reason.

We need a few new volunteers to join our board who are willing to take on one of the following tasks:

• To help with organizing our yearly Litter Clean-Up Day.

• Book the hall at St. Andrews Church for our meetings three times a year and set up for the meetings.

• Find guest speakers for our meetings.

• Collect membership dues from registered members and business partners and keep the membership list up to date.

• Become our new newsletter editor and collect the items for the newsletter.

From the request for volunteers in our last couple of newsletters, two neighbours have come forward and are now doing the following tasks. One is having the newsletters printed, bundle them and deliver them to the volunteers who deliver them to the houses in our neighbourhood and one is now keeping the blog updated. We thank them both for joining us.

We need the Glen Andrew Community Association to survive, so we can do our part in being involved in all the changes coming to Scarborough. 

That means we need some of our neighbours to step up and volunteer to replace the ones who have retired and want to retire for whatever reason.

Become a volunteer and be involved in your community! 

When you ready to get involved, please contact 

Iain McLeod

Phone: (416) 431 - 0097

Email: execulife@bell.net

When the social distancing has ended we can meet to talk about the tasks and answer your questions.

COVID19

By Iain McLeod
March 16, 2020

"From a young researcher who had been transferred from Shenzhen to Wuhan to collaborate with the task force that is fighting the coronavirus epidemic, we receive and willingly transmit to all of this clear, simple and accessible information, which describe exactly what it is.  the virus, how it transfers from one person to another and how it can be neutralized in everyday life.

Corona virus infection does not cause a cold with a dripping nose or catarrhal cough, but a dry throat and dry cough: this is the easiest thing to know.

 The virus does not resist heat and dies if exposed to temperatures of 26-27 degrees: therefore often consume hot drinks such as tea, herbal tea and broth during the day, or simply hot water: hot liquids neutralize the virus and it is not difficult to drink them.  Avoid drinking ice water or eating ice cubes or snow for those in the mountains (children)!

 For those who can do it, expose yourself to the sun!

 1. The virus crown is quite large (diameter about 400-500 nanometers), therefore any type of mask can stop it: in normal life, special masks are not needed.

 On the other hand, the situation is different for doctors and health professionals who are exposed to heavy virus loads and have to use special equipment.

 If an infected person sneezes in front of you, three meters away they will drop the virus on the ground and prevent it from landing on you.

 2. When the virus is found on metal surfaces, it survives for about 12 hours.  So when you touch metal surfaces such as handles, doors, appliances, supports on trams, etc., wash your hands well and disinfect them carefully.

 3. The virus can live nested in clothes and fabrics for about 6/12 hours: normal detergents can kill it.  For clothes that cannot be washed every day, if you can expose them to the sun and the virus will die.

 How it manifests itself:

 1. The virus first installs itself in the throat, causing inflammation and a dry throat sensation: this symptom can last for 3/4 days.

 2. the virus travels through the humidity present in the airways, descends into the trachea and installs in the lung, causing pneumonia.  This step takes about 5/6 days.

 3. Pneumonia occurs with high fever and difficulty breathing, it is not accompanied by the classic cold.  But you may have the feeling of drowning.  In this case, contact your doctor immediately.

 How can you avoid it:

 1. Virus transmission occurs mostly by direct contact, touching tissues or materials on which the virus is present: washing hands frequently is essential.

 The virus only survives on your hands for about ten minutes, but in ten minutes many things can happen: rub your eyes or scratch your nose for example, and allow the virus to enter your throat ...

 So, for your own good and for the good of others, wash your hands very often and disinfect them!

 2. You can gargle with a disinfectant solution that eliminates or minimizes the amount of virus that could enter your throat: in doing so, you eliminate it before it goes down into the trachea and then into the lungs.

 3. disinfect the PC keyboard and mobile phones

 The new coronavirus NCP * may not show signs of infection for many days, * before which it cannot be known if a person is infected.  But by the time you have a fever and / or cough and go to the hospital, your lungs are usually already in 50% fibrosis and it's too late!

 Taiwanese experts suggest doing a simple check that we can do on our own every morning:

 Take a deep breath and hold your breath for more than 10 seconds.  If you successfully complete it without coughing, without discomfort, a sense of oppression, etc., this shows that there is no fibrosis in the lungs, indicating essentially no infection.

 In such critical times, do this check every morning in a clean air environment!

 These are serious and excellent advice from Japanese doctors who treat COVID-19 cases.  Everyone should make sure that their mouth and throat are moist, never DRY.  Drink a few sips of water at least every 15 minutes.  WHY?  Even if the virus gets into your mouth ... water or other liquids will sweep it away through the esophagus and into the stomach.  Once in the belly ... Gastric acid in the stomach will kill all the virus.  If you don't drink enough water more regularly ... the virus can get into your trumpets and lungs.  It is very dangerous.

 Share this information with your family, friends and acquaintances, for * solidarity and civic sense * !!!!

Go Expansion Update

By Lorne Ross, February 2020

Grade Separations: Info. Sheet 5

Metrolinx is increasing its services as part of the GO Expansion program, which will increase train frequency and the number of trains on the GO rail network. To increase traffic flow and transit capacity, Metrolinx has identified the need to build a number of grade separations.

This Info Sheet describes:

•       What is a grade separation?

•       Why are grade separations needed? What are the benefits?

•       What is involved in designing a grade separation?

•       What is involved in building a grade separation?

•       How will Metrolinx design, build, and address effects of grade separation?

•       Why doesn’t Metrolinx move tracks instead of the road?

What are the benefits of grade separations?

•       Improved traffic flow and elimination of the potential for conflicts between trains and vehicles;

•       Increased on-time performance and operational reliability;

•       Better connections and crossings for pedestrians and cyclists;

•       Reduced noise from level crossing signals and train whistles; and

•       Air quality benefits from reduced car idling;

•       Opportunities to bring roads up to new standards, such as wider lanes and wider walks, separated bike lands, or improved lighting.

What is a grade separation?

A grade separation is a tunnel or a bridge that allows a road or rail line to travel over or under the other, without the need for vehicles travelling on the road to stop. If the road is lowered below the rail line, it is called rail over road, while if it is raised above the rail line, it is called road over rail.

Why are grade separations needed?

Although each rail line is different, trains may run as little as one or two times per hour on some Metrolinx corridors. This means that each road crossing may need to be temporarily closed about once or twice an hour to let the trains pass.

With GO Expansion, all-day 15-minute service could mean that a train will pass every 7.5 minutes – greatly increasing the number of interruptions at each road crossing.

By grade separating crossings, Metrolinx can safely increase travel speed and capacity on our roads and rail lines. Grade separations allow trains to freely pass over or under roads without the need for the road traffic to stop.

What is involved in designing a grade separation?

Road overpasses require a new structure to raise the road above ground level. The structure could be held up by piers or retaining walls. Depending on the width of the road, the rail line would pass under the new structure through a tunnel or under a bridge.

Road underpasses usually involve excavating a trench for the road, that is held by retaining walls on each side. Depending on the crossing, a new rail bridge is usually built to cross the underpass at the lowest point.

In designing grade separations, Metrolinx is guided by a variety of objectives, including:

•       maintaining and/or improving connectivity and access to properties and businesses;

•       minimizing noise and negative visual impacts;

•       minimizing construction and maintenance costs; and

•       minimizing the project footprint, including acquiring properties and removing vegetation and trees only when necessary.

What is involved in building a grade separation?

Grade separations are large construction projects, and Metrolinx is committed to managing construction to minimize their effects on communities.

Temporary construction effects are similar to most construction projects, and may include:

•       Traffic disruptions, including possible detours or closures around construction areas;

•       Nuisance effects such as noise and dust;

•       Removal of vegetation or temporary property impacts near construction zones; and

•       Possible service disruptions to utilities from relocations.

As part of the GO Expansion program, Metrolinx is planning the following grade separations (also see the Discussion Guide):

1.    Denison St, Road Underpass

2.    Kennedy Rd, Road Underpass

3.    Passmore Ave, Road Underpass

4.    McNicoll Ave Road Underpass

5.    Huntingwood Dr, Road Underpass

6.    Progress Ave, Road Overpass

7.    Danforth Rd, Road Overpass

8.    Wellington St, Road Underpass

9.    McNaughton Rd, Road Overpass

As GO Expansion continues along with population growth in our urban centres, Metrolinx will work with local municipalities to consider the need for more such crossings.

How will Metrolinx design, build, and address the effects of grade separations?

Metrolinx will work closely with local municipalities, stakeholders, and residents to identify and manage the potential effects of grade separations. This process will include:

•       Completion of relevant environmental assessment studies to identify effects and appropriate mitigation measures, including specific studies to address key community concerns, such as traffic, tree removal, and effects on adjacent land uses;

•       Community consultation related to project design and mitigation;

•       Working groups with municipalities and utilities to address conflicts and look for opportunities to coordinate construction work;

•       Early engagement with potentially affected property owners to discuss compensation options; and

•       Construction management plans to minimize construction effects related to noise, dust, traffic, and other environmental impacts (e.g. keeping two lanes open for local traffic in construction zones).

To learn more about Metrolinx’s new approach to construction management, please read Info Sheet #6.

Why doesn’t Metrolinx move the tracks instead of the road?

Although it may seem simple, even small changes to a rail line can have big challenges, including:

•      Stricter standards for trains – trains have stricter standards for curves and slopes to operate safely, meaning that raising or lowering a rail line similar to a road could require up to six times as much space.

•      Higher costs – Because of the design and engineering challenges, redesigning and reconstructing a rail line is more expensive than road work.

•      Limited options for detours – The ability to detour a rail line is very limited because of the size of the corridor and can affect service along the entire route. Roads on the other hand can be addressed by limiting lanes, building detours, or using adjacent streets.

•      Safety risks – Construction within a rail corridor presents safety concerns, so limiting the amount of work next to active trains is always preferred.

This Info Sheet is part of a package of Info Sheets and a Discussion Guide provided by Metrolinx to share updates on system-wide studies and policies. The current set of Info Sheets cover a number of different topics, including: GO Expansion benefits, heritage conservation, vegetation removal and compensation program, electromagnetic fields and electromagnetic interference, and new approach to construction management.

For more information

For more information about GO Expansion and to download other materials, check out our website: MetrolinxEngage.com