Among the many road projects scheduled for this summer is the rehabilitation of the Mt. Pleasant Bridge over Rosedale Valley Road. This is the overpass just south of Branksome Hall and north of Bloor Street. The Works Department has no estimate of the time required for this job but it will be extensive. The challenge of finding alternative routes doesn’t seem too rewarding either.

The new trash cans created by Astral Media a couple of years ago seem to have given a whole new meaning to the term Garbage Can. Once again the foot pedal on one of these slick looking cans along Bayview has snapped off. The public is left to push open the filthy flaps to dispose of litter  just as they’ve been dong since trash cans with doors were invented. This is the second recorded case of the Astral can coming apart on South Bayview. Wonder what the city-wide record is like? 

Drivers swamped service stations along South Bayview and across the area this afternoon in response to fears that gas prices will rise as much as 4.5 cents a litre overnight. At the Esso station at 1840 Bayview (above) cars were lined up into both Bayview and Broadway Ave. as drivers waited to get into the station. Motorists were both backing up and wheeling desperately to get their cars into position with the filling pumps. The reason for the increase? According to information published by the CBC, gas prices usually rise in the spring as refineries shut down to convert from producing diesel to gasoline as the summer driving and vacation months approach. But this year, a shutdown of four refineries in Pennsylvania as well as five more in Europe has severely cut North American supplies. The price hikes could also be due to a confluence of other factors, mostly geopolitical events outside of Canada’s borders as domestic prices tend to follow those in the U.S. closely. The reasons for the rising price of gasoline vary — ranging from higher crude prices on the back of a falling U.S. dollar to refinery supplies, seasonal demand and Middle Eastern political instability. Speculation in wholesale markets can also be a factor. The threat of oil shortages as a result of a potential escalation of a conflict between the U.S. and oil-rich Iran is another contributing factor this year. CBC News

Link here to a CBC video of the aftermath on Mt Pleasant Rd. South of Blythwood Rd.  Details on charges are on that page as well. Listen to the bystanders amazement at the damage done to the Range Rover which was driven into a utility pole on the S curve on Mt Pleasant near Stibbard Ave. 

The secret convertibles built by Ford and GM continue to be frozen out of the North American market for reasons that are vague. The German built Ford Focus drop top (left) and its similarly sleek GM counterpart, the Opel Astra (right) are non-gratis here. It’s doubly odd because the German owned auto makers (Mercedes, Audi, BMW and VW) all eagerly ship their cabriolet models to North America — and do very well with them thanks. But the magic advertising juice of “German Engineering” apparently has no sell in the corporate headquarters in Detroit. Why? It may have to do with GM and Ford being intent on selling their muscle convertibles, the Mustang and Darth Vader-like Camaro Remember the old saying: “You can sell an old man a young man’s car.” That’s what seems to be at work in Detroit. But, as sales of the German owned cabs show us, there is an incredibly large market for these types of vehicles.