From Underground to Above Ground

Elicar: 16th Apr 2006 - 14:56 GMT

I forgot to include this. The TTC subway track under the Bloor Street Viaductwww.answers.com/topic/bloor-street-viaduct.

The viaduct itself became the centre of controversy when the city council approved in 1998 the construction of a barrier due to a number of suicides from that bridge (treat the root of the problem, people wanting to kill themselves will find another way to do it, etc.). There had been over 400 suicides (one every 22 days) from that bridge making it only second to the Golden Gate Bridge. The barrier, now known as the Luminous Veil was finally completed in 2003 after delays due to funding. Total cost, $6.5M, $2.5M of which came from the taxpayers.

In the Barenaked Ladies' 2003 album, Everything to Everyone the song War on Drugs contains the lyrics Near where I live there's a viaduct / Where people jump when they're out of luck / Raining down on the cars and trucks below. / They put a net there to catch their fall / Like that will stop anyone at all / What they don't know is when nature calls, you go. The Barenaked Ladies are from Toronto, and would have been writing this song around the time of the Luminous Veil's completion.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_Veil

The design by Professor Derek Revington of University of Waterloo is award winning, but some residents of the area call it the Porcupine Bridge because of its utter ugliness.

I will take a picture of the Luminous Veil when I travel above ground.

Jamie: 23rd Apr 2006 - 13:53 GMT

The first photo for me is the most inspiring. It looks like somewhere humans go to be recycled once they have reached the end of their work-cycle.

been: 17th Feb 2007 - 01:11 GMT

Speaking of the Luminous Veil--travelling over the Viaduct (on top) it seems more like the Oninous Veil, owing to the fact that they never installed the planned lighting. Very dark actually.

(Some have also suggested Ludicrous Veil because of the above concerns and how it looks from below--like the bridge is under construction or something. I couldn't figure out what was going on the first time I saw it from below, until I got close)

anon (bas13-toronto63-1178013163.dsl.bell.ca): 30th Jul 2008 - 18:19 GMT

ttc subway is the best