A $110 million plan to transform Queens Quay into a model streetscape with a wide pedestrian promenade, bike lanes and a new bi-directional streetcar corridor will break ground next month, nearly two years after it was expected to begin.

Environmental assessments, design and co-ordination of construction have delayed the ambitious project, but the makeover, to be finished in 2015, will be worth the wait, Waterfront Toronto officials promised at a press briefing Tuesday.

“The goal is to make (Queens Quay) the signature street for Toronto” — this city’s version of Barcelona’s Rambla, or the Champs Elysees in Paris, said Chris Glaisek, vice-president, planning and design for Waterfront Toronto.

The 1.5-km. stretch from about Spadina to Bay will include a tree-lined, 5-metre-wide pedestrian promenade on the south that will extend to 7.2 metres wide in some places. Fitted with granite curbs and red and white pavers, it will feature a maple leaf pattern.

There will be two bike lanes next to the pedestrian space, providing a continuous link for the Martin Goodman Trail across the waterfront.

A new two-way streetcar corridor will be built along the south side of the street, while vehicle traffic will be reduced to a single lane of cars in each direction on the north. The north sidewalk will feature the same red and white pavers.

A landscape magazine once listed Queens Quay among the world’s worst streets, said Waterfront Toronto President John Campbell.

As it stands, it is “both unattractive and dysfunctional,” he said. “Ultimately it acts as a barrier rather than a gateway to the waterfront.”

Construction has been meticulously co-ordinated into three phases to ensure the street remains accessible for residents and businesses during the work. Once the makeover is complete, there will be a five-year moratorium on tearing up the street.

Queens Quay will remain safe and accessible at all points during the construction, with two lanes of traffic moving at all times and full pedestrian access to businesses and condos on both sides.

Residents and businesses are invited to two open houses: 7-9 p.m. Wednesday in the Brigantine Room at Harbourfront Centre, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the lobby of 20 Bay St.

This story has been edited from a previous version.

Queens Quay construction timelines

Summer 2012-Summer 2013

• Utility installations, storm sewer replacement

• The streetcar corridor will be demolished. The new track, which is being cut and welded east of Yonge St. on Queens Quay, will be moved to the west. The TTC will be permitted to work 24 hours a day, exempt from construction noise bylaws, during the installation. The corridor will be electrified in the spring, when new 2.4-metre-wide platforms with shelters and railings are installed.

Summer 2013-Early 2014

• North-side traffic lanes and curbs will be demolished and the road will be rebuilt with new curbs, turning lanes and lay-bys between Yo Yo Ma Lane and Bay St. Planting trenches and soil cell systems will be installed.

• The sidewalk will also be demolished and replaced with granite curbs and pavers, along with new signature light poles and ground-level lighting. Sixty-eight trees of various varieties will be planted about 10 metres apart.

• The Spadina streetcar loop at the northeast corner of Queens Quay and Spadina Ave., will be demolished and rebuilt. Eastbound traffic will be guided to the new car lane on the north side of Queens Quay at a crossover near Yo Yo Ma Lane. Service on the new streetcar line will be suspended and replaced with buses while that work takes place.

• Bay St. will be repainted between Lake Shore Blvd. and Queens Quay.

Early 2014-Late 2014

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• The south sidewalks will be demolished to make way for a pedestrian promenade made of about 1.4 million pavers. The north sidewalk will require 965,000 pavers. The cobblestone effect will be made of “Royal Canadian” red granite pavers, enhanced by a maple leaf design outlined in grey, between Yo Yo Ma Lane and Bay St.

• A rough paving strip will separate the 3.6-metre-wide bike trail from the streetcar facilities. The east and west cycle lanes will be separated by double lines and every intersection will feature a “slow” box.

• Twenty-five red, backless benches will be installed along the promenade and a double alley of 161 trees, all of the same variety, will be planted on that side of the street. The planting will probably wait, however, until 2015 — a lesson from the Bloor St. makeover, where trees were planted too soon and most died.

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