That horrible screetching you hear at Queen and Parliament? Get used to it.
The other day, Jenna and I awoke to the sound of screaming steel at Queen and Parliament as TTC streetcars diverted south. Streetcar after streetcar made the turn, and I thought, “I wonder what’s wrong. I wonder how long long they’ll divert traffic.”
Turns out we’re in for more than a month of this. From TTC.ca:
Route diverting during watermain replacement
Starting 6:00 am, Monday, July 20 until 7:00 am, Tuesday, September 8, The City of Toronto and the TTC will conduct watermain replacement and streetcar track reconstruction affecting Queen Street East, between Berti Street and Jarvis Street. During construction, route 501 QUEEN and 502 DOWNTOWNER streetcars and 301 QUEEN route all-night streetcars will divert eastbound via Victoria, Adelaide, Church, King and Parliament. Westbound streetcars will divert via Parliament, King , Church Richmond and Victoria.
The stops on Queen Street East, between Victoria Street and Parliament Street will not be served.
Want to know what it sounds like? I made a quick and dirty recording. Make sure you listen all the way through before reading on: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-501Eastbound101.mp3]
One more thing: the 501 passes by our corner often. From 6am to 11pm, it comes by about every ten minutes. In both directions, east and west. So if we’re lucky, we hear this once every five minutes.
How long before I go crazy, I wonder.
[original image by mattjiggins]