Transit Toronto

Thanks to Transit Toronto reader David Fisher for alerting us to these detours.

Tonight, Saturday, November 21, all day tomorrow, Sunday, November 22 and early Monday, November 23, the TTC is detouring tranist services during construction at Queen Street West and Dufferin Street.

(Construction contractors are moving the railway bridges that cross at the intersection. We’re not sure which project requires moving the bridges: the project to eliminate the Dufferin Street jog at Queen or the project to expand the Canadian National / GO Transit rail corridor above the same intersection — or both.)

The detour is detouring streetcars and buses operating along the 29 Dufferin, 329 Dufferin overnight, 301 Queen overnight and 501 Queen routes.

Buses no longer replace trains along the 3 Scarborough rapid transit line after midnight tonight (early tomorrow morning.)

The events take place in Barrie, Beaverton, Bowmanville, Bradford, Brampton, Georgetown, Keswick, Kitchener, Newmarket, Oakville, Oshawa and Waterloo.

The TTC / City of Toronto “City on the Move: Young Artists in Transit” program spotlights visual artists, photographers, dancers, singers and other performers until summer 2010.

Las Mujeres, an exhibit at Spadina Station, features Juan David Gavira’s paintings, reflecting women’s emotional experiences and is on display until Thursday, December 17.

Municipalities have been busy this summer and fall with many infrastructure projects. And, transit agencies have been busy diverting or adjusting their regular services so that they could continue to serve passengers during the construction season.

(The large number of construction projects may have resulted from provincial and federal funds to create construction jobs and stimulate local economies.)

As winter approaches, many of these projects are winding down and transit services are settling back into their regular schedules and routines for the winter.

Projects affecting transit that we’ve been watching and that have now ended for the season — or permanently — include:

• Burton Avenue in Barrie.
• Bathurst Street — two projects, one in King, Richmond Hill and Vaughan and one in Richmond Hill and Vaughan.
• Highway 7 in Markham and Vaughan.
• Kingston Road — two projects, one in Ajax and one in Pickering.
• Leslie Street in Markham.
• McLaughlin Road North in Brampton.
• Sheridan College’s Davis Campus in Brampton.
• Warden Avenue in Markham.
• Weston Road in Vaughan.
• Yonge Street — two projects in Richmond Hill.

Mississauga Transit is detouring buses off Woodchester Road because of a collision south of Dundas Street West.

MT expects to continue detouring buses until about 2 p.m.

GO Transit is looking how GO could upgrade rail infrastructure to expand rail service to the Niagara Region.

It will study possible sites for building new rail stations and layover facilities and how to improve current rail lines. GO starts an environmental assessment this week and hopes to finish by summer 2010. It will host the first open houses during the process to consult with members of the public in January.

Earlier this week, GO Transit expanded parking facilities at Unionville GO Station by opening 300 new parking spaces.

Starting Monday, November 23, the City of Mississauga is closing Bromsgrove Drive east of Seagull Drive in the Park Royal neighbourhood of Clarkson for a project to build sanitary sewers.

Mississauga Transit is detouring buses during the project.

Update — November 20, 2:33 p.m.: YRT has confirmed detours during the parades in Keswick and Newmarket.

Santa is a busy man as Santa Claus Parades and other events affect transit services this weekend.

This week’s posting appears in two parts.

This part describes events in Acton (Halton Hills), Barrie, Beaverton (Brock), Bowmanville (Clarington), Bradford, Brampton, Georgetown (Halton Hills), Holland Landing (East Gwillimbury) and Keswick (Georgina).

Part two describes events in Kitchener, Milton, Newcastle (Clarington), Newmarket, Oakville, Oshawa, Weston (Toronto) and Waterloo.