Junior School - November 21, 2024

I am reaching out to you regarding coming construction just north of The York School (Junior) on Yonge Street. The City is implementing a pedestrian refuge island to improve the safety of uncontrolled mid-block crossings at Yonge Street and the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. I’ve included some details below, but we are also available for a phone call and/or to meet on site to go over the planned works and answer any questions you may have.

While there may be some limited investigative works this week, we anticipate that construction will start on November 25th and be substantially complete by December 6th. Our contractor will be working during the day (generally 9 am to 4 pm) but some works will occur overnight. A Paid Duty Officer may be present depending on traffic conditions and traffic control personnel will always be on site during the work. The contractor and our inspectors on site will maintain safe and accessible walkways and entryways for everyone during construction. We have also instructed the contractor to avoid any parking or obstructions to parking/pick-up and drop-off in front of The York School.

The scope of the work includes:

• Adding a centre median refuge island and two islands between the bikeways and the travel lanes

• Adding pedestrian ramps at the sidewalk to the islands

• Adding signage and new pavement markings

• Adjusting parking on the north side to maximize sightlines, with no impact to parking directly in front of The York School, where pick-up and drop-off activity occurs 

• No changes to the motor vehicle operations at the Mt Pleasant Cemetery driveway and no impacts to the number of travel lanes on Yonge Street

A visual is included below.

Regards,
Nataliya Pekar, P.Eng.
Sr. Project Manager, Cycling and Pedestrian Projects
Transportation Services
City of Toronto