What a Mess!

A very nasty accident at Dundas and River has turned organized chaos into total anarchy, at least as far as streetcar traffic is concerned.

The accident occurred at 5 a.m, involving a car being pursued by a police cruiser. The driver of the stolen car lost control and rammed into a Buick, sending one man to hospital. Although pursuit speeds never exceeded 50 km/h and the chase lasted all of forty seconds, the Special Investigations Unit is investigating, and the intersection of Dundas and River is still closed.

501 Queen, 502 Downtowner, 503 Kingston Road and 504 King streetcars were already using this route to bypass the Queen Street bridge over the Don River, closed due to reconstruction. These streetcars, along with 505 Dundas now have to use the Gerrard Street bridge. Adding to the complication is the lack of north-to-west switches from northbound Broadview to westbound Gerrard, meaning that Queen-based cars must travel up to Broadview station on the Bloor Subway before travelling down again and turning right onto Gerrard Street.

Passengers using Queen and Kingston Road services might consider getting off their streetcars at Broadview and taking the subway downtown.