Missing Links

A History of ’s Controversial Unfinished Expressway System

James B. Alcock

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This book is dedicated to Sam Cass, Commissioner of Roads and Traffic 1968 to 1989

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

1 Introduction 7 2 The Creation of Metropolitan Toronto 1945-1954 10 3 The Age Of New Expressways 1954-1969 16 4 Revolt Against Expressways 1969-1975 27 5 A Brief Revival Of Expressways 1975-1980 36 6 Arterial Highways 1980-1998 42 7 Amalgamation 1998-2006 57 8 Expressways To Boulevards 2006-2015 69 9 Toll Roads 2015-Present 78

MAPS

1947 Plan for Lake Shore (later Gardiner) Expressway 14 Early Toronto Highways Plans from the 1940’s 15 Plans for the Spadina Expressway south from West 21 Scarborough Expressway Plan – 1967 Alignment 22 Crosstown Expressway Plan – 1961 Alignment 23 Highway 400 Extension Plan 24 Richview Expressway Plans 25 Toronto Expressways 1966 26 Scarborough Expressway Plan – 1973 Alignment 32 Proposed Alignments for the Highway 400 Extension 34 Toronto Expressways 1973 35 Toronto Expressways 1985 41 Toronto Expressways Today 56 Schedule of repairs to the elevated 74

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TORONTO EXPRESSWAY HISTORY TIMELINE

1955 Construction begins on first section of Lakeshore Expressway 1957 Lakeshore Expressway renamed as Gardiner Expressway 1958 Gardiner Expressway opens Humber River to Dunn Avenue Construction begins on 1961 Don Valley Parkway opens to 1962 Gardiner Expressway opens to York Street 1963 Don Valley Parkway opens to Lawrence Avenue Construction begins on Spadina Expressway 1964 Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway connected at the Don River mouth 1966 Gardiner Expressway opens to Leslie Street, Don Valley Parkway opens to Highway 401, Spadina Expressway opens Wilson Heights Boulevard to Lawrence Avenue Official plan adopted showing Scarborough, Crosstown, 400 Extension and Richview Expressways 1967 Don Valley Parkway opens to 1969 Spadina Expressway renamed as Allen Expressway Low pressure sodium lighting installed as an experiment on most of Allen Expressway 1971 Construction of Allen Expressway cancelled by the Province at Lawrence Avenue leaving an uncompleted section from Lawrence Avenue to Eglinton Avenue 1973 Eastern extension of the Gardiner Expressway into Scarborough redesigned and rerouted 1974 Eastern extension of the Gardiner Expressway into Scarborough shelved, but lands held indefinitely 1975 Expressway lighting converted from fluorescent to low pressure sodium 1976 Allen Expressway opens to Eglinton Avenue 1980 Allen Expressway renamed as 1982 Drive (400 Extension) arterial road opens (built by Province and transferred to City) Allen Road north arterial opens to at Kennard Avenue 1990 Expressway lighting converted from low pressure sodium to high pressure sodium including some sections with high mast lighting 1996 Province transfers QEW (renamed as part of Gardiner Expressway), Highways 2A and 27 to City 2001 Gardiner Expressway demolished Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street 2012 Lands reserved for Scarborough and Richview Expressways declared surplus and sold 2019 Gardiner Expressway rebuilt to Don Valley Parkway 2021 Gardiner Expressway/Don Valley Parkway interchange rebuilt

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1. INTRODUCTION

By 1980, Greater Toronto became Canada's largest metropolitan area, reaching a population of nearly 3,000,000, and then 4,000,000 by the mid 1990's. This represents over one-tenth of the total Canadian population. It has become the economic engine of the Canadian nation. In 1953, the City of Toronto joined with the surrounding twelve towns and townships to form a federation known as Metropolitan Toronto. In 1966, the twelve towns and townships were merged into five boroughs, four of which achieved City status in the 1980's. In 1998, the Metropolitan federation, commonly known as Metro, with its six constituent municipalities, was amalgamated into one large City of Toronto. This is the largest City in Canada and the fifth largest City in North America. During its existence from 1953 to 1997, the Metro federation was engulfed in vigorous debates over transportation policies. The subject of a transportation system, which would tie Metro’s component parts together, became a very controversial one. Two schools of thought existed on this subject. Firstly, one believed in a balanced system of roads and transit with new expressways serving the entire Metro area. The other believed in a transit-oriented system with little road development, arguing that expressways were a threat to neighbourhoods and the environment. The expressway system was planned in a grid pattern crossing Metro to take the City's ever-increasing traffic out of neighbourhoods by routing it around them on by-pass routes, therefore unclogging local streets. Expressways also provided fast routes for the movement of goods. The system would be expanded to keep the growing traffic volumes moving. New Metropolitan expressways were built from the mid 1950's until the late 1960's, when changing attitudes towards roads halted them. The anti-expressway movement, which became strong in the late 1960's and early 1970's, argued that expressways took out homes, brought more cars downtown and increased air pollution. They wanted a more efficient public transit system instead to decrease people's reliance on cars. The pro-expressway movement, which was far less organized and made up mostly of planners and engineers, argued that, without expressways, traffic congestion increased air pollution, made local streets dangerous and slowed the economy because goods could not be delivered on time due to trucks being stuck in traffic. The car versus transit argument nearly tore Metro apart in the 1970's. However, both roads and transit would be essential to the City's well-being. By 2001, Toronto faced traffic gridlock.

The expressway system that serves Toronto consists firstly of Ontario Provincial highways, built and maintained by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. In the Greater Toronto area, this system consists of freeways including the (Highway 451), Highways 401 (also named MacDonald- Cartier Freeway as of 1965), 400, 427, 404 (Don Valley Parkway extension), 409 (Belfield Expressway), 410, 403 and 407. The Queen Elizabeth Way was the first to be built, being opened in 1939. Highway 401 was originally built as the northern Toronto by-pass in the early 1950's, but with the vast expansion of the City, the new Highway 407, later built further north, took over that role, leaving the 401 as a cross-town route. Highway 400 was also completed north from Highway 401 to Barrie in the early 1950’s. The right of way was also protected to extend it south to Eglinton Avenue West and the first part of this extension to Jane Street was constructed in 1966. The remainder of this extension was built as an arterial road by 1982 and transferred to Metro Toronto. Highway 27 was a major Provincial highway in Toronto’s west end extending north from the Queen Elizabeth Way. In 1970, the section south of Highway 401 was widened and renamed as Highway 427. The short four-lane Airport Expressway, opened with the reconstruction of Toronto Airport in 1964 from Highway 401 to Dixon Road, later became part of Highway 427 and was extended north to Highway 7. Highway 407, the new northern east-west Toronto by-pass first opened in 1997, was originally intended to be a regular Provincial freeway, but instead was sold to a private consortium as Ontario's first private electronic toll freeway. In 2007, Highway 401 east of the Don Valley Parkway was also renamed as the Highway of Heroes to honour Canadian service personnel who have served and died in overseas conflicts. Highways 403 and 410 west of Toronto were built in the 1980’s.

Provincial highways, originally only four lanes, now stretch from six to twelve lanes with a posted speed limited of 100 km/h. A system of express and collector lanes to separate through express traffic from traffic entering and exiting the freeway was built on Highway 401, Highway 427 south of Highway 401, and a 7 short stretch of the Queen Elizabeth Way, within Toronto in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Plans for a new Provincial freeway, known as the East Metro Freeway, to run from Highway 401 near Morningside Avenue, in eastern Scarborough, to Highway 407, were dropped due to local protests from Rouge Valley preservationists due to the route running through the valley. This was the Province's first experience with protests against expressway construction, similar to those which Metro faced with its road plans in the early 1970's.

Secondly, there is the system of Toronto Municipal or City (formerly called Metropolitan) expressways, the subject of this discussion, which was built and maintained by the Metro Roads Department. The Department existed under this title from 1954 until 1968, when it merged with Metro Traffic Engineering to become Metro Roads and Traffic. This title was changed to Metro Transportation in 1990 and finally to Toronto Transportation in 1998 after amalgamation. The Metro Roads Department was headed by a Commissioner, firstly George Grant, then Sam Cass and finally Doug Floyd. The Metro expressways were retained in 1998 by a new department of the amalgamated City of Toronto, known as Works and Emergency Services, headed by its first Commissioner, Barry Gutteridge, with David Kaufman as the first General Manager of Toronto Transportation which directly looks after roads and expressways.

While the Province built the 400-series freeways, Metro Toronto, since its incorporation in 1954, until 1969, provided an expressway network which proceeded continuously with the completion of the Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway to Leslie Street, the Don Valley Parkway between the lakeshore and Sheppard Avenue and the Spadina Expressway, renamed in 1969 as the William R. Allen Expressway, north from Lawrence Avenue – a total of 32 kilometres (20 miles) of new expressways.

Metro's first expressway, the six lane Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, was constructed along the shore of Lake Ontario from the end of the Queen Elizabeth Way at the Humber River in the west, to Leslie Street in the east, and intended to eventually continue through the east end of the City into Scarborough to connect with Highway 401. The Gardiner Expressway became controversial in the 1980's and 1990's due to most of its length being on an elevated structure along the Lake Ontario shoreline. It needed much maintenance and repair. Anti-road critics argued that it was ugly and was a barrier to the lake. They consistently called for its removal or burial, and even got City Council to approve the demolition of the eastern end of it. In 1997, the Province transferred ownership of the Queen Elizabeth Way within Metro Toronto, from Highway 427 to the Humber River, to the City, which renamed it as part of the Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway. In 2001, the eastern section of the expressway from the Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street was demolished and replaced with a new eastern terminus for the expressway just west of Carlaw Avenue. This involved building new exit and entrance ramps east of the Don Valley Parkway, which merged with at Bouchette Street, which is just west of Carlaw Avenue. East of that point, Lake Shore Boulevard was rebuilt to handle the traffic flow. While being shortened by 1.5 km (1 mile) in the east, the Gardiner Expressway assumed 6.6 km (4.5 mi.) of the Q.E.W. to the west. Today, the Gardiner Expressway now stretches from Highway 427 to west of Carlaw Avenue. Plans to demolish another section of the elevated Gardiner west to Jarvis Street are now being discussed.

The six-lane Don Valley Parkway was completed from the Gardiner Expressway to Sheppard Avenue, north of Highway 401 in 1967. It was constructed on the surface and follows the beautiful meandering main Don River valley, which offers drivers a delightful view of nature, particularly in the autumn, with the change of colours of the leaves. The planned northern extension of the Don Valley Parkway from Sheppard Avenue to was ceded by Metro to the Province in 1974, which constructed it as part of their Highway 404 instead. The existing section of the Parkway north from Highway 401 to Sheppard Avenue also became part of Highway 404 in 1974. Today, the Don Valley Parkway stretches from the Gardiner Expressway to just south of Highway 401, continuing further north as Highway 404, which connects to Newmarket. The Don Valley Parkway was designated as part of the City of Toronto’s Route of Heroes in 2010 as it was part of the final route for the bodies of service personnel killed overseas.

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The highly controversial originally planned six lane Spadina Expressway was never completed. Intended to extend into downtown, it was completed only from Wilson Heights Boulevard, north of Wilson Avenue, to Lawrence Avenue. The Spadina Expressway was renamed as the William R. Allen Expressway in 1969, and construction of it south of Lawrence Avenue was cancelled by the Provincial Government in 1971 due to a well-organized public protest against the extension of the expressway into downtown Toronto. South of Highway 401, the Allen Expressway was built as a depressed roadway in a trench, passing under crossing local streets. The section south from Lawrence Avenue to Eglinton Avenue was an incomplete structure for five years after the cancellation, and was nicknamed as "the Spadina Ditch", until a four-lane extension was paved as an arterial road, opening to Eglinton Avenue in 1976. A six lane northern extension, built as a signalized controlled access arterial road, and at first containing bus lanes, was opened to north of Sheppard Avenue in 1982. The southern and northern arterial extensions are now known collectively as the William R. Allen Road. The Spadina Subway line was built in the expressway's median and was opened in 1978.

The only other additions to Toronto’s expressway system since 1971 have been highways transferred from Provincial control to Municipal control. In 1982, a four-lane extension of Highway 400 to known as Black Creek Drive was built by the Provincial Government and transferred to Metro. In 1997, three more Provincial highways were transferred to Metro. In addition to The Queen Elizabeth Way east of Highway 427 to the Humber River becoming part of Metro’s Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, Highway 27 and Highway 2A were also transferred to Metro. Metro became the amalgamated City of Toronto in 1998. With these transfers, the City of Toronto now owns 48 kilometres (30 miles) of expressways. However, all 400-series highways remained under Provincial control.

Metro had originally planned an extensive grid of expressways around the City, which would have consisted of inner and outer ring-roads. Only 40% of the originally planned system was constructed, with the rest being cancelled or shelved. The unbuilt planned Toronto Municipal expressway system consisted of the Scarborough Expressway (Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway Extension), the Crosstown Expressway, the Highway 400 Extension and the Richview Expressway. If built, these would have provided a large expressway network, which would have covered the entire City. It was planned to have an outer ring consisting of a large triangle formed by Highways 401 and 427 and the Gardiner and Scarborough Expressways. An inner ring around downtown would have consisted of the Gardiner Expressway, Don Valley Parkway, Crosstown Expressway and Highway 400 Extension. Radial expressways including the Don Valley Parkway to the north and the Spadina Expressway, Highway 400 Extension and Richview Expressway to the northwest would have connected these two rings. Lands were acquired for the rest of the Spadina Expressway and the Scarborough and Richview Expressways. The Province acquired lands for the Highway 400 Extension to Eglinton Avenue West. All Metro residents would be no more than 4 miles (6 kilometres) from an expressway.

The Gardiner Extension east to Highway 401, commonly known as the Scarborough Expressway, which, in the 1960's was committed to construction after the Spadina, would have extended the Gardiner east to Highway 401 and included the existing Highway 2A. It was shelved in 1974 after another bitter fight with residents along the route. Metro tried to hold on to the Scarborough Expressway by designating it as the Scarborough Transportation Corridor in 1976. This was an undefined strip of land for future transportation purposes. However, since Metro only held parcels of land along the route, and not the entire corridor, attempts to complete acquisition of lands met with more fierce opposition. This led Metro to abandon the route altogether in 1994.

The Crosstown Expressway, Highway 400 Extension and Richview Expressway, together, would have formed a continuous system, which would have crossed, in the middle of the City from the Don Valley Parkway in the east to Highways 400 and 427 in the northwest. The Crosstown Expressway, which would have run east to west, north of from the Don Valley Parkway to the Highway 400 Extension in the vicinity of Christie Street, was in doubt from its inception, so nothing was done and it was later scrapped. However,

9 the existing Bayview-Bloor ramp to the Don Valley Parkway would have been part of the Crosstown route. The Highway 400 Extension, which the Province would have built from Jane Street, south of Highway 401, to Eglinton Avenue, and Metro would have extended further south as a major expressway to the Gardiner Expressway linking with both the Crosstown and Richview Expressways, was instead constructed as a four lane road ending at Weston Road south of Eglinton Avenue, where Weston Road, and Parkside Drive continue it south to the Lake Shore. The Richview Expressway, which would have extended west from the Highway 400 Extension along Eglinton Avenue West to Highway 427 and the Airport, with a possible further connection to Highway 403, became the Eglinton Transportation Corridor, which was an empty strip of land for transit and a widened Eglinton Avenue.

Opposition to expressways in Metro grew very quickly in the early 1970's from just a fight against the southward extension of the Spadina to a fight against the entire proposed expressway network and for a complete change of policy to one of promoting public transit. The proposed expressways disappeared in 1980 when Metro adopted a new official plan, moving the emphasis from a balanced system of roads and transit to a transit-oriented system, in order to satisfy the strong anti-expressway movement in the City. Road-building in Metro would always depend on the political will of the Metro council and the Provincial Government. An agreement with both levels of government provides for a 50/50 split of funding for roads. Metro provides for its half within its capital budget, and the Province is obligated to provide the other half. The halting of construction of the Metropolitan expressway system had little effect on construction of the Provincial freeway system, which has continued as planned.

The only Municipal expressways which are through routes are the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway which connect downtown Toronto with the west and the north. Expressway access from both the northwest and the east to downtown Toronto is missing. There also several incomplete expressway stumps such as the northern half of the Spadina Expressway (now Allen Road), the eastern end of the Scarborough Expressway (Highway 2A), and part of the Highway 400 Extension as an arterial road (Black Creek Drive). The Bayview-Bloor off ramp from the Don Valley Parkway is all that exists of the formerly proposed Crosstown Expressway.

New Metro expressway construction proceeded as planned in the 1950's and 1960's, but none has occurred since the Spadina cancellation in 1971. Politicians, particularly those in downtown Toronto, argued that this situation would encourage people to take public transit instead of using their cars in order to avoid traffic congestion. Accordingly, Metro has made some improvements to the arterial road system and has greatly expanded public transit. No new major expressway has been built within Toronto for over thirty years. Sam Cass, to whom this book is dedicated, was Roads Commissioner at the time of the most intense fight against expressways in the 1970's. He found himself having to defend his policy of by-pass routes across the City. This book is entitled "Missing Links" due to the large gaps which exist in Toronto's expressway system. Whether this was good for the City, in terms of neighbourhood preservation, or bad for the City, in terms of resulting traffic congestion, is up to the reader. In spite of the claims made by politicians favouring transit over roads, the planned major switch from car use to public transit did not come true. The facts of the story will now unfold.

2. THE CREATION OF METROPOLITAN TORONTO 1945 – 1954

In the late 1940's, the City of Toronto was looking at a "Superhighway" system, which would connect its ever-growing suburbs with its vibrant core. The Queen Elizabeth Way, Canada's first expressway, had been completed from Toronto to Niagara and was opened by the late King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their visit to Canada in 1939. It was named after the Queen consort, and was a very picturesque four-lane parkway. A great stone monument was erected in August 1940 at the Toronto end of the Q.E.W. at the Humber River to commemorate the opening of the highway and to the first visit of a reigning sovereign to a dominion of the British Empire and Commonwealth. It used to stand in the median of the road, but was moved off to the side 10 in the early 1970's when the Q.E.W. was widened. This monument to the opening of Canada's first superhighway still stands today at the mouth of the Humber River for tourists to enjoy. After the Second World War, the Province of Ontario was looking at building an east to west highway across the Province from Windsor to Cornwall and this would later take the shape of Highway 401 which would provide a much needed by-pass around the top of Toronto. The City was expanding so much that its growth was starting to spill over into its neighbouring municipalities. Thus, there was talk of some type of union of the City of Toronto with the surrounding twelve municipalities to create an urban metropolis that would control and administer this growth.

This urban expansion would need an expressway system to link it all up. The Queen Elizabeth Way terminated at the Humber River at the City's western border and merged with Lake Shore Boulevard, the old Highway 2. In 1937, became a 50 mph four lane divided highway across Scarborough. This was later extended east to Ritson Road in Oshawa as Highway 2A. The lack of a link between the Q.E.W. and Kingston Road caused a severe bottleneck with terrible traffic congestion towards downtown Toronto. The Q.E.W. would have to be extended east along the Toronto waterfront to its eastern border to connect to Kingston Road (also Highway 2) to solve this problem. So plans were drawn up for a Lake Shore Expressway as early as 1948. By 1952, it was proposed for this route to be a pay-as-you-go toll road, but the Province disallowed this, stating that roads were a municipal budget responsibility. The Province began construction of a Toronto by-pass (Highway 401), stretching from Highway 27 in the west to Highway 2A near the Rouge River. A widened Highway 27 connected it to the Queen Elizabeth Way in the west. This Toronto by-pass would ultimately stretch across the Province as Highway 401, absorbing most of Highway 2A. A Barrie Highway was also built north-south to connect to Highway 401 in the northwest. The City therefore decided that the proposed Lake Shore Expressway would have to be connected to Highway 401 and the Barrie Highway (later Highway 400). It was first proposed to construct a superhighway across Eglinton Avenue and a Don Valley Expressway was planned from the eastern end of the Lake Shore route to run up the Don River valley, to eventually connect to Highway 401. A northwest Superhighway would connect the Lake Shore with the Barrie Highway and a westerly arm of it would extend towards Hamilton. Finally, a northern extension of Spadina Road, approved in principle in the 1930's, was also included. One problem, however, was that expressways planned by the City of Toronto could only go as far as its borders. Approval would have to be gained by the surrounding municipalities to extend them to connect to the Provincial highways and this was not guaranteed. Provincial highways did not have this problem because they were built by a senior government and crossed municipal boundaries with little difficulty. Highways 401 and 400 were completed in the early 1950's as four lane highways and Highway 27 was widened from the Queen Elizabeth Way to Highway 401 from two to four lanes.

The Province purchased a right of way to extend Highway 400 south to Eglinton Avenue at the border of the City of Toronto so that the proposed Northwest Superhighway (Highway 400 Extension) could connect it directly with the proposed Lake Shore Expressway. In 1953, the Province approved the construction of the extension of Highway 400 south to Eglinton Avenue and Weston Road at a cost of $2 million. However, it was not carried out due to limited budgets and a priority being placed on other roads, such as Highway 401. The extension right of way would remain empty for another 25 years.

Due to many reasons, the City of Toronto favoured complete amalgamation with its neighbours to form an urban metropolis. However, the surrounding communities vigorously opposed it because they did not want to be swallowed up by the City and opted to keep their independence. Therefore, it was decided to come to a compromise and create an urban federation instead. The City and the other municipalities, which were still mostly rural towns and townships at that time, would retain their own governments, while participating in a Metropolitan government, which would oversee them all. Major projects such as expressways, public transit, police, major parks and social housing would become the responsibilities of the Metropolitan federation. Fire departments, local streets, garbage collection and local parks would remain with the local municipalities. In 1953, the Province passed the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto Act, which brought the federation, 11 commonly known as Metro, into being. It would have a Metro Council headed by a Chairman, while the municipalities within the federation would retain their councils headed by their Mayors. The Mayors and some Councillors from each member of the federation would also sit on the Metro council. Frederick G. Gardiner Q.C. became Metro's first chairman. The City of Toronto joined with the surrounding Townships of Etobicoke, North York, York, East York and Scarborough, the Towns of Leaside, Weston, Mimico, New Toronto, and the Villages of Forest Hill, Swansea and Long Branch to form the new federation of Metropolitan Toronto. This Act cleared the way for plans, which could now cross the municipal borders because they were the responsibility of the Metro federation. Expressways could now be built across the entire Metropolitan area connecting to the Provincial highways and only required the approval of the one Metro Council. Metro planners set to work in 1954 on an official long term plan. A Metropolitan Expressway system would be a vital part of it. It was observed that more and more people were living in the expanding suburbs and working in the downtown area. They would mostly use their cars to get to work, so expressways were needed to keep them off local streets. The expressway system would be a grid network extending north, south, east and west across the Metropolitan area. It was planned to radiate in all directions from the downtown area to all corners of Metro. The Lake Shore Expressway would go across the lakefront as proposed, but would extend only as far east as Coxwell Avenue, where it would swing north and cross East and terminate on Kingston Road near East. With the addition of the Don Valley Parkway, Kingston Road, which was a divided highway across Scarborough (Highway 2), was considered adequate to carry traffic further east. Complaints from east end politicians about this, who felt that the expressway should extend into Scarborough to avoid the dumping of traffic in the east Beach area, brought about plans for an eastern extension.

The renewal of an old concept to extend the Lake Shore Expressway to Highland Creek along the base of the Scarborough Bluffs to connect to Highway 2A, now just a short divided highway which linked Kingston Road to Highway 401, emerged. This would provide a cross-town Lake Shore highway linking the west end to Highway 401 in the east. The road would be built on 300 feet of landfill placed along the bottom of the bluffs, and it would extend from the beaches area, in Toronto's east end, to join Highway 2A in eastern Scarborough. This idea was conceived in 1923 and was reconsidered by transportation expert Norman D. Wilson in 1954. Chairman Fred Gardiner, who brought it before Metro Council, endorsed it. However, it would be difficult to construct and access would be poor, so it was dropped in favour of an eastern extension further north. Between 1954 and 1956, Metro considered a route which would swing the extension north-easterly and cross Scarborough diagonally along either an abandoned C.N. railway line or a Hydro corridor north of Eglinton Avenue. This route was deemed to be too far north, so a route along the C.N.R. main railway line, parallel to Kingston Road, was recommended. The original proposal terminating the expressway on Kingston Road, east of Coxwell Avenue, would now be extended north to the main railway line near East. It would then swing east alongside the tracks. Land acquisitions from the C.N. railway for the rou+te began in 1957 as lands became available. The extension became known as the Scarborough Expressway. It was first proposed to extend the expressway as far as Birchmount Road, where it would connect into Kingston Road, via the end of . Kingston Road was a wide divided highway easterly from this point. However, in 1958, it was finally decided to extend the expressway all the way to Highland Creek to join Highway 2A, which connected into Highway 401, by purchasing vacant C.N. lands. The expressway would be continued eastwards alongside the main railway line to just east of Manse Road, near Morningside Avenue, where it would swing north again and join Highway 2A at Highland Creek. Kingston Road would be downgraded to arterial road status.

The Don Valley Parkway, as it was now to be called, would run up the Don River valley, on the east side of the river, to Steeles Avenue. The valley had become a dump site for people's refuse and many crooks would hide out in it. The construction of the Parkway would clean it up and turn it into a beautiful park for people to enjoy. The Lake Shore Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway would be Metro's first two expressways to be built. These would be followed by the Spadina Road Extension which would connect Spadina Road in the City's core with Highway 401 and Highway 7 north of Metro. Later, the Highway 400 Extension would extend south from the proposed Eglinton Avenue terminus of the Provincial highway to the Lake Shore Expressway.

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In 1954, consideration was given to proceeding with the Highway 400 Extension as far south as Davenport Road and then swinging it eastwards along a Hydro corridor to connect to Davenport Road where it crosses Dupont Street, just east of . However, this idea was put on hold as a low priority. An East- West Expressway, originally planned along Eglinton Avenue, would now be run parallel to Davenport Road, and would connect the Highway 400 Extension, the Spadina Road Extension to the Don Valley Parkway in the east. An eastern extension of the Province's proposed Toronto-Hamilton Expressway (Highway 403) would run along Eglinton Avenue West to connect Highway 27 with the Highway 400 Extension. A wide Eglinton Avenue East extension was constructed in 1957 across the Don Valley to ultimately serve the Don Valley Parkway. Metro council adopted the overall expressway plan in 1958, however, it did not become an official plan until 1966.

It was decided to honour Metro's first Chairman by renaming the first Metropolitan expressway to be built after him. Construction of the Lake Shore Expressway began in 1955 as an eastern extension of the Queen Elizabeth Way. In 1957, Metro council decided to rename the Lake Shore Expressway as the Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, one year before the first section opened. Additionally, the Spadina Road Extension became known as the Spadina Expressway, the East-West Expressway became the Crosstown Expressway and the Toronto-Hamilton Expressway extension became the Richview Expressway.

As stated earlier, the system would have an inner ring and an outer ring. These routes were included in the Metro Official Plan which was finalized and approved in 1966. "To keep pace with our growing needs" was the stated transportation policy in the 1966 Plan. The creation of this plan was organized by Metro Planning Commissioner Wojciech Wronski (pronounced Voteck Vronski), who believed in a balanced system of roads and transit. Metro Roads Commissioners George Grant and Sam Cass also organized the planning of the expressway system, which was meant to carry traffic around neighbourhoods, acting as community bypasses. Metro's first two chairmen, Frederick Gardiner and William Allen provided the political will and fortitude to get the expressway planning and construction moving ahead. Both had Metro expressways named after them.

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1947 PLAN FOR LAKE SHORE (LATER GARDINER) EXPRESSWAY

The Crosstown Expressway, originally known as the East-West Expressway, was intended to connect the south end of the Spadina Expressway near Bloor Street to the Highway 400 Extension and the Don Valley Parkway. This would keep the traffic flowing through to the Gardiner Expressway. An eastern extension of 14 the Crosstown across the Don Valley and through Taylor Creek to merge with the Gardiner Extension (known as the Scarborough Expressway) at and Danforth Avenue in Scarborough was considered in the late 1950's, but was later deemed unnecessary. The usefulness of the Crosstown Expressway route was doubted at the time the plan was adopted. It would mean massive expropriation of property in the Annex and in Rosedale and was very much opposed by area residents. Planners noted that it was just a short feeder and distributor route for the Spadina Expressway, and it could be deleted. This policy was included in plans up to 1966. However, the Crosstown Expressway would have helped to relieve downtown streets such as Bloor Street, Davenport Road and Dupont Street.

The Metro federation was to be reformed in the future. It was felt by some that it would eventually lead to full amalgamation. In 1966, a partial amalgamation took place when Metro’s thirteen constituent municipalities were merged into six. The Village of Long Branch and the Towns of New Toronto and Mimico joined with the Township of Etobicoke to become the Borough of Etobicoke. The Town of Weston joined with the Township of York to form the Borough of York. The Town of Leaside joined with the Township of East York to form the Borough of East York. The Villages of Swansea and Forest Hill joined the City of Toronto. The Townships of North York and Scarborough also became boroughs. Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough proclaimed themselves as cities in the 1980's. Only East York was to remain a borough. 72% of all municipal services were integrated at the Metro level, and full amalgamation was seen by some as an inevitable final step in Metro's development. The five cities and one borough and Metro were to last until 1998 when the Metro federation was completely amalgamated into one City of Toronto with a City council headed by a Mayor and six small community councils for the areas of the former constituent municipalities. The mid-1950's, when Metro was first formed, was a time of post-war economic growth in Canada and great consumer confidence. Toronto was a growing City which offered many opportunities, but needed new roads. Construction of Metro's first expressway would begin in 1955. People were generally enthusiastic about new roads and expressways at that time, and could not foresee the political trouble that would come within the next twenty years.

Early Toronto highways plans from the 1940’s 15

3. THE AGE OF NEW EXPRESSWAYS 1954 - 1969

THE GARDINER (LAKE SHORE) EXPRESSWAY

The Gardiner Expressway was one of the first projects undertaken by the newly formed government of Metro Toronto. Plans for the highway, first named the Lake Shore Expressway were first developed in 1943, prior to the formation of Metro Toronto. The route of the Expressway necessitated the paving over of parkland, demolition of a popular amusement park, residential demolition and a long elevated section to get through the downtown area. In July 1953, prior to Metro Toronto coming into being, the Metropolitan Executive Committee, chaired by Fred Gardiner ordered the planning of the Lake Shore Expressway as a four or six-lane expressway from the Humber in the west to in the east. The cost was estimated at $20 million dollars.

Route planning was given to engineering firm Margison Babcock and Associates, which planned a route along the shoreline to east of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) grounds and an elevated route from there east, was delivered in April 1954. The roadway was to be constructed in the Sunnyside area and CNE areas to the south of the present Lake Shore Boulevard. In the CNE area, the route would be on lands created from infilling of the shoreline to the breakwaters and an interchange was proposed in front of the Prince's Gate. Interchanges were proposed for , Strachan Avenue, Spadina Avenue, York Street, Jarvis Street, Don Roadway, Carlaw, Keating (the present Lake Shore Boulevard East) and Coxwell, ending at Coxwell and Queen Street East. The cost was then estimated at $50 million. The plan also proposed extending Queen Street westwards through High Park to west of the Humber to connect with '' and extending Keating Avenue east to Woodbine Avenue.

The shoreline route was opposed by the City of Toronto and the Toronto Harbour Commission and Margison was tasked with plotting a route north of the CNE grounds. This plan was delivered in July 1954. The change to an inland route north of the CNE was estimated to cost another $11 million as the homes to the west of the CNE grounds would have to be purchased and demolished. This route moved the route from the Humber to the Ontario Hydro right-of-way next to the railway tracks, saving 11 acres of waterfront. The expressway was moved to the north of the Lake Shore Boulevard in the Sunnyside segment and the Jameson Avenue area.

The inland route, while not opposed in the Sunnyside and Jameson areas, faced opposition in its proposed route in the CNE to downtown segment. Alternate route proposals emerged in 1954 from the Toronto Harbour Commission, which wanted the route moved further north and planner Edwin Kay, who proposed a tunnel through downtown. The decision was then made to proceed with the non-contentious parts of the original Margison plan, to build a new Humber bridge to connect with the QEW, the Queen Street extension, and the Humber River to Dowling section, demolishing Sunnyside Park and South Parkdale. Metro also approved the eastern section of the expressway from Sherbourne Street to the east, but the central, elevated section was left for further deliberation. Metro approved $31 million for the eastern and western sections in its 1955 budget, but omitted the Humber River bridge.

The route to the north of the CNE followed a Hydro right-of-way beside the railway tracks to the north of the Exhibition, using approximately 10 acres of CNE land, the removal of the original Dufferin Gate, and the demolition of two other CNE buildings. To make up for the loss of lands, Metro infilled into Lake Ontario to the breakwater.

East of the CNE, the inland route proposed to fly over Fort York with a westbound on-ramp from Bathurst Street directly over the fort. Opposition from historical societies and the City of Toronto, came to a head when the City refused to transfer the land to Metro Toronto. Gardiner himself and George O. Grant, the Metro Roads Commissioner, at first opposed the re-routing of the highway around the fort as it would mean 16 a "greater than six-degree curve" in the highway, necessitating drivers to slow down. Gardiner rescinded his opposition to the change in March 1958 after visiting the site with a delegation from the City and historical societies. The westbound on-ramp from Bathurst Street was cancelled, and in the end no interchange was built in the area.

In March 1955, Metro started construction on the first piece of its proposed expressway system which was meant to tie the Metropolitan region together and to rid the area of traffic congestion. Construction of the Lake Shore Expressway began at the eastern end of the Queen Elizabeth Way at the Humber River and continued at grade to the C.N.E. Grounds. A hydro right of way existed along the north side of Lake Shore Boulevard, and it was decided that this was a perfect place for the expressway. The right of way was purchased by Metro, cleared of hydro towers and provided a perfect road bed for the expressway, stretching from the Humber River around Humber Bay to Dufferin Street. Sunnyside Amusement Park, located at the foot of Parkside Drive at the Lake Shore, was closed and demolished to make way for the expressway and a widened Lake Shore Boulevard. In 1957, with this stretch nearing completion, Metro Council renamed the route as the Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, after the Metro Chairman. It was felt that he had done an admirable job of putting the Metro federation together and should be honoured in this way for his efforts. On August 8, 1958, the section from the Queen Elizabeth Way at the Humber River to Jameson Avenue near Dufferin Street opened. The first six lane piece of the Metropolitan expressway system was now open to traffic. This was to be the only section of the Gardiner built on ground level.

Engineer R.T. Lyons proposed that the next section of the Gardiner east of Dufferin Street, past the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, be built in a tunnel, combined with a streetcar. However, Metro Chairman Fred Gardiner opposed the idea. Instead, it was proposed for the Gardiner Expressway to continue east on an elevated structure to take it over Lake Shore Boulevard to approximately Coxwell Avenue, where it would later be extended on the surface further east into Scarborough. The Gardiner Expressway would follow the lakefront, which was mostly industrial, and parallel the main Lake Shore railway line. It would be built on 10 metre (30 foot) high bents of prestressed concrete box girders with the road deck of reinforced concrete connected by shear studs placed on top. The total cost of the expressway would be $103 million at $13 million per mile or about $8 million per kilometre. The Gardiner replaced Lake Shore Boulevard as part of Highway 2.

The first sign of controversy came about 1960 when it was planned to run the next section of the Gardiner Expressway on an elevated structure over the Fort York Military Cemetery. Preservationists and historians fought hard to reroute the expressway around the Fort York grounds and were successful in convincing Metro of their argument. The expressway would be a little longer in its route but would arc around the grounds with no difficulty as it passed over everything. This was only a small controversy and was by no means anywhere as large as the battles that awaited Metro in the future. The elevated stretch from Jameson Avenue to York Street opened in 1962 and the section from York Street to the Don Valley Parkway opened on November 6, 1964. Space was provided along the Gardiner structure east of the C.N.E. grounds around Strachan Avenue for an eventual interchange with the future Highway 400 Extension. Construction of the final section from the Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street began immediately and was completed by July 6, 1966. Plans were already drawn up for the next section from Leslie Street to Birchmount Road, known as the Scarborough Expressway. Approval was given for this extension by Metro Council in 1967 and

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GARDINER EXPRESSWAY UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN 1961

GARDINER EXPRESSWAY LOOKING EAST AT SUNNYSIDE IN 1958 GARDINER EXPRESSWAY LOOKING EAST AT SUNNYSIDE IN 1969

THE DON VALLEY PARKWAY

The Don Valley Parkway was constructed simultaneously with the Gardiner Expressway. The middle section through the Don River valley from Bloor Street to Eglinton Avenue was built first. Construction of this six lane first section began in May 1958, just as the first section of the Gardiner Expressway was about to open. This stretch of the Parkway opened on August 31, 1961. Some channelling of the Don River was required and embankments along the valley were reinforced for the Parkway. The ramp from the Don Valley Parkway to join the Extension and Bloor Street was meant to eventually become part of the Crosstown Expressway, stretching west across the City. The next section of the Parkway from Eglinton Avenue to Lawrence Avenue to join Woodbine Avenue going further north was opened in October 1963. The southerly section along the Don River channel from Bloor Street south to the Gardiner Expressway opened on November 6, 1964, the same date as the opening of the central section of the Gardiner Expressway. The old two lane Woodbine Avenue from Lawrence Avenue to Sheppard Avenue was removed and replaced by a northerly extension of the six lane Don Valley Parkway, opening from Lawrence Avenue to Highway 401 on November 17, 1966. The Province constructed the interchange with Highway 401 and retained control of it, including the section of the Parkway through the interchange. The last section of the Don Valley Parkway built by Metro from Highway 401 to Sheppard Avenue was opened in the Spring of 1967, continuing north as Woodbine Avenue. The total cost of construction of the Parkway was $46.5 million. Metro also secured the right-of-way along Woodbine Avenue to eventually extend the Parkway north from Sheppard Avenue to the northern Metropolitan boundary at Steeles Avenue.

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DON VALLEY PARKWAY UNDER DON VALLEY PARKWAY SOUTH OF DON VALLEY LOOKING NORTH FROM CONSTRUCTION AT POTTERY ROAD IN 1959 LAWRENCE AVENUE EAST IN 1964 LAWRENCE AVENUE EAST IN 1969

DON VALLEY PARKWAY EXTENSION

Metro intended to eventually extend the Don Valley Parkway north to Steeles Avenue, the northern Metropolitan boundary. It would then be extended further north to Newmarket as a new Provincial Highway 404. However, these plans were considered not yet needed in 1967 and were put off for the future. Metro stated that the Parkway went far enough north for its needs for now, but continued to hold lands along Woodbine Avenue from Sheppard Avenue to Steeles Avenue to eventually extend the Parkway north. This extension would ultimately be taken over by the Province as it would form part of a new Provincial highway going north to Newmarket, however this was not constructed until 1977.

THE SPADINA (ALLEN) EXPRESSWAY

With the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway proceeding as planned in the early 1960's, Metro began to plan for its next expressway link. This would be the Spadina Expressway which would run from Wilson Avenue, north of Highway 401, south to join Spadina Avenue at Harbord Street south of Bloor Street in downtown Toronto. It was this expressway that would bring the first signs of major controversy. Unlike the Gardiner and Parkway, the Spadina would involve much land acquisition and the demolition of many homes. Only north of Lawrence Avenue could be built easily since that section would be through open space. Opposition to the expressway already existed at the south end of the proposed route from areas such as Forest Hill and the Annex. Rosedale residents were already organized to oppose the Crosstown Expressway to eventually be built at the Spadina's south end. However, North York endorsed the Spadina and the builders of the Yorkdale Shopping Plaza insisted that the Spadina Expressway must go through or there would be no plaza built. Therefore, opponents and supporters of the Spadina were of equal numbers at opposite ends of the route. Metro felt that the Yorkdale Plaza was very much needed, so therefore, the expressway would have to be built. Much debate over the route engulfed Metro Council in 1961 and it was decided to compromise for the time being and just build the first section from Wilson Avenue to Lawrence Avenue in order to satisfy the builders of Yorkdale. The short 3 km (2 mile) first section was nicknamed "the Baby Expressway" due to its short length. By 1962, the expressway route was approved, only now it would also provide for a subway line to be built in the expressway's median. Construction began on the first phase from Wilson Heights Boulevard, north of Highway 401, south to Lawrence Avenue in January 1963. The Province would construct the interchange with Highway 401 which would also connect to Yorkdale. This would be built with the reconstruction of Highway 401 from a four lane to a twelve lane highway. Four lanes of the Spadina Expressway were opened to traffic from Lawrence Avenue to Yorkdale Road in 1964 to provide access to the new Yorkdale Plaza which had just opened. The full six lane section from Wilson Heights Boulevard to Lawrence Avenue, including the Highway 401 interchange, opened in December 1966. Allowance for a future subway was made in the expressway's median strip. The Province retained control of the 401-Spadina-Yorkdale interchange, including the piece of the Spadina through the interchange. In 1967, Metro gave approval for plans to be drawn up for the rest of the expressway from Lawrence Avenue south into downtown Toronto. The route would curve south-easterly through the Cedarvale Ravine and go south on Spadina Road to south of Bloor Street. Spadina Avenue would then be widened south to the Lake Shore. The route would tunnel under Cedarvale Ravine and Casa Loma north of Davenport Road. This would push up 19

the cost of the expressway. The Spadina would also eventually be extended north through Downsview Airport to Dufferin Street at Sheppard Avenue. Dufferin Street would then be widened north to Highway 7. The completion date for the Spadina Expressway was set at 1975. This would be followed by construction of the Gardiner Expressway Extension after 1975.

The next section of the expressway south from Lawrence Avenue to Eglinton Avenue was cleared of homes and a huge ditch was dug for the expressway structure. Overpasses were built and grading was done. By 1969, this section was ready for pavement. Also in 1969, Metro decided to rename the Spadina Expressway as the William R. Allen Expressway, after Metro's second chairman, who was about to retire. In that year, Phillips Electronics offered to install new lighting on the existing section of the expressway as an experiment. Metro had used white fluorescent lamps on 10 metre (30 foot) poles on all of its expressways, but Phillips offered to install new yellow-orange low pressure sodium lamps, which were more efficient, on the Allen Expressway. If Metro liked the new lights, they could purchase them and keep them permanently. The low pressure sodium lights were installed just on the expressway, not on the ramps where fluorescent lamps were retained, from Wilson Avenue to Lawrence Avenue. In 1970, Metro decided to purchase the new lights as they were happy with their performance. In 1975, Metro installed low pressure sodium lights on existing poles on the Don Valley, the Gardiner and the Allen ramps. The Spadina Expressway was now to be known as the Allen Expressway and the estimated cost of the expressway was $73 Million. However, by 1969, the cost of the expressway had escalated to $129 Million and Metro needed to borrow more funds to complete it. Most of the original funding had been spent on the first section to Lawrence Avenue and the construction work on the still incomplete section to Eglinton Avenue. Between Lawrence and Eglinton Avenues, many homes had been demolished, two whole streets had to be removed and a park split in two. The beautiful Cedarvale Ravine and Annex homes further south faced the oncoming expressway and this was not acceptable to many people. Opposition to the expressway began to get organized and the Allen Expressway was made the main issue of the November 1969 municipal election. Municipal reformers, such as Colin Vaughan and John Sewell, who favoured public transit over expressways, were elected. The future of the Allen Expressway, and even the whole proposed expressway system, was now in question. Metro responded to the concerns of the citizen groups by ordering a halt to further construction on the Allen in September 1969, before paving the section from Lawrence to Eglinton. The Ontario Municipal Board would be asked to review the project. Metro's age of building expressways was now prematurely over as major controversy had begun.

SPADINA EXPRESSWAY UNDER CONSTRUCTION NORTH FROM COMPLETED SPADINA EXPRESSWAY LOOKING NORTH FROM LAWRENCE AVENUE WEST IN 1963 LAWRENCE AVENUE WEST IN 1969

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PLANS FOR THE SPADINA EXPRESSWAY SOUTH FROM LAWRENCE AVENUE WEST INTO DOWNTOWN TORONTO

LAWRENCE AVE. W.

EGLINTON AVE. W.

THE COMPLETED SPADINA (ALLEN) EXPRESSWAY NORTH FROM LAWRENCE AVENUE WEST IN 1969 BATHURST ST.

ST. CLAIR AVE. W.

SPADINA RD.

DUPONT ST.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE SPADINA EXPRESSWAY SOUTH FROM LAWRENCE AVENUE WEST IN 1965 AND 1968 BLOOR ST. W.

SPADINA AVE.

COLLEGE ST.

THE CEDARVALE RAVINE BETWEEN EGLINTON AND ST. CLAIR AVENUES. THE SPADINA EXPRESSWAY WAS PLANNED TO BE BUILT THROUGH IT

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THE SCARBOROUGH EXPRESSWAY (GARDINER EXTENSION)

Functional plans for the six lane eastern extension of the F.G. Gardiner Expressway were completed in 1965, and Metro Council approved the first section from Leslie Street to Birchmount Road in 1967. It was to be constructed simultaneously with the rest of the Allen Expressway after 1969. However, after much debate, work on the Scarborough Expressway was delayed due to budget restraints. It was now scheduled to begin in 1975 after completion of the Allen Expressway was anticipated with a completion date set at 1985. The Scarborough route would continue east from the end of the Gardiner at Leslie Street on an elevated structure to Coxwell Avenue, where it would swing north and descend on to the surface. It would go north, on the east side of Coxwell Avenue, to the main C.N.R. railway line north of Gerrard Street East. The expressway would then turn east and follow the railway tracks to Birchmount Road, with the eastbound lanes on the south side of the tracks and the westbound lanes on the north side. In a second stage, it would continue east along the railway tracks to just east of Manse Road, near Morningside Avenue, where it would swing north and join Highway 2A, which goes into Highway 401, at the Highland Creek Bridge. In 1958, Metro began to purchase lands along the route and continued to acquire property, mostly from the C.N. railway, through the 1960's. Much of the property was open space and was purchased cheaply. Many houses in Toronto's east end were bought for the route as they came on the market. By 1969, Metro had acquired 60% of the lands needed, but no construction had yet occurred. New overpasses built later for Kennedy Road and Kingston Road over the C.N. railway allowed enough space underneath them for the proposed Scarborough Expressway. In the 1959 Draft Official Plan, a link from the proposed Crosstown Expressway via the Don Valley Parkway to the Scarborough Expressway through East York along the Taylor Creek ravine was proposed, known as the Taylor-Massey Creek Roadway. However, this route was dropped in 1962 due to the negative impacts that it would have had on the ravine. It was also deemed as unnecessary.

*

UNFINISHED EAST END OF THE GARDINER VACANT SCARBOROUGH EXPRESSWAY LANDS KINGSTON ROAD BRIDGE PREPARED FOR THE EXPRESSWAY AT LESLIE STREET PREPARED LOOKING EAST AT McCOWAN ROAD SCARBOROUGH EXPRESSWAY UNDERNEATH FOR AN EXTENSION

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THE CROSSTOWN EXPRESSWAY

The Crosstown, 400 Extension, Richview and Don Valley Extension routes were only in the initial planning stage as they were proposed for long term construction, to start at least by 1985. The six lane Crosstown Expressway would form the north end of the proposed inner ring of expressways. The first piece was actually built from the Don Valley Parkway to Bayview Avenue as a ramp to Bloor Street. It was proposed to continue west through the Park Drive Reservation ravine in Rosedale and then parallel the C.N./C.P. railway line north of Davenport Road west to join the Spadina Expressway at Spadina Road and join the Highway 400 Extension west of Bathurst Street. Some preliminary plans were drawn up in 1961 and revised in 1968, but no lands were yet acquired for the route. Much opposition to the Crosstown Expressway, particularly from Rosedale residents, existed, and some Metro planners even doubted the usefulness of the route because of its short length. In the final 1966 plan, a footnote stated the Crosstown Expressway, along with the Queen Street Subway, may not be needed, since they were in close proximity to other existing major routes. The Crosstown Expressway would be near the Gardiner Expressway and the Queen Street Subway would be near the Bloor-Danforth Subway line. Many people began to feel that the Gardiner Expressway and Highway 401 could deem the short Crosstown route unnecessary.

THE BAYVIEW-BLOOR OFF-RAMPS FROM THE DON THE PARK DRIVE RESERVATION RAVINE IN ROSEDALE. VALLEY PARKWAY. THESE WERE MEANT TO BE THE THE CROSSTOWN EXPRESSWAY WOULD HAVE FIRST SECTION OF THE CROSSTOWN EXPRESSWAY CONTINUED WEST THROUGH HERE

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THE HIGHWAY 400 EXTENSION

This six-lane route would cut in from the northwest on an angle as the western leg of the inner ring road and was proposed in two parts. The section from Highway 401 to Eglinton Avenue would be a Provincial responsibility and from Eglinton Avenue south to the Gardiner Expressway would belong to Metro. By 1966, the Province had actually constructed the first piece from Highway 401 swinging south-easterly to Jane Street and had acquired all the necessary lands from there south to Eglinton Avenue through the Black Creek valley. The Highway 400 Extension had been thought of in the late 1940's before Metro was created. It was then planned for the Province to build their section down to the City of Toronto boundary line south of Eglinton Avenue West. Therefore, after the creation of Metro in 1953, the Province had already secured the route down to Eglinton, since it was mostly open farmland and valley lands. The Provincial section was on the long-term construction schedule and reflected property ownership rather than construction intent. The Metro section would continue south of Eglinton Avenue. It was proposed for the Metro section of the route to follow the main northwest C.N./C.P. railway line east of Keele Street to near Davenport Road and then swing east to near Bathurst Street to join the proposed Crosstown Expressway. The final leg of the Highway 400 Extension, known as the Christie-Clinton route, would continue south to the Gardiner Expressway, west of Bathurst Street. where the Gardiner structure was prepared for an eventual interchange. The exact route of the Metro section of the extension was not yet determined, so no lands were yet acquired. Two other ideas were considered for the Metro section of the extension as less-damaging alternatives. One was a much shorter route, known as the Parkside alignment, which would continue south on Keele Street and Parkside Drive directly south to the Gardiner Expressway. The other, known as the Allendale alignment, would continue the route south along the C.N./C.P. railway line to the Gardiner Expressway west of Strachan Avenue near the C.N.E. grounds. Only preliminary plans were drawn up and no specific route was yet agreed upon. The original Christie-Clinton alignment was shown in the 1966 Metro Plan.

HIGHWAY 400 TERMINUS THE HIGHWAY 400 EXTENSION BUILT AT HIGHWAY 401 IN 1953. SOUTHEASTERLY TO JANE STREET IN 1966

WIDE LANES ON THE GARDINER EXPRESSWAY AT STRACHAN AVENUE PREPARED FOR RAMPS TO A FUTURE HIGHWAY 400 EXTENSION

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THE RICHVIEW EXPRESSWAY

The last proposed Metro expressway was the Richview route and it was planned to run along Richview Side Road, later known as Eglinton Avenue, from the Highway 400 Extension, across Etobicoke, to join Highway 27 (later 427) and connect to a proposed eastern continuation of Highway 403 coming northeast from Hamilton. The route crossed open space and Metro acquired all of the lands necessary cheaply and secured an open corridor for the expressway. By 1969, the land acquisition was completed within Etobicoke and preliminary plans were prepared. It would be a ten-lane route, including a four lane Eglinton Avenue and a six lane Richview Expressway combined together. However, being such a low priority, construction was at least twenty years off after 1970. The battle brewing against the Spadina Expressway began to be heard even on the Richview route as residents began to oppose the acquisition of the last pieces of land necessary for it. The anti-expressway fervour was sweeping the entire Metro area.

RICHVIEW EXPRESSWAY LANDS LOOKING EAST RICHVIEW EXPRESSWAY LANDS LOOKING WEST AT MARTIN GROVE ROAD AT

25

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4. REVOLT AGAINST EXPRESSWAYS 1969 - 1975

CANCELLATION OF SPADINA EXPRESSWAY CONSTRUCTION

The cost of the Spadina Expressway, (officially W.R. Allen Expressway as of October 1969), was estimated at $73 million, but most of this had been spent when construction got only as far as Eglinton Avenue. By 1969, Metro needed to reassess the cost of the expressway and borrow more funds to complete it. Therefore, Metro would have to apply to the Ontario Municipal Board, a Provincial body which approved funding for Municipal projects, to get permission to borrow the funds needed to complete the project. At this point, opponents of the expressway who were still determined to stop the Spadina were getting organized. They were not happy about the number of homes to be taken for the route and the increasing cost of the expressway. They founded the ‘Stop Spadina And Save Our City’ group (SSSOC) to raise funds for their cause and to protest. This group was led by urban sociologist Jane Jacobs, author of "Death and Life of Great American Cities", and urban activists David and Nadine Nowlan. They believed a yet unproven notion that the centres of American cities had decayed due to the existence of expressways, and they did not want this to happen to Toronto. They were also caught up in the fervour of the anti-Vietnam war protests of the time. The Stop Spadina group decided to take this opportunity to force the Board to order a review of the route before allowing any more funding to be spent on it.

In September 1969, Metro stopped all work on the expressway and conducted a review of the route. By then, the expressway was completed north from Lawrence Avenue and unfinished between Lawrence and Eglinton Avenues. In 1970, the results of the review recommended the completion of the expressway and the tunnel under the Cedarvale ravine. Metro then went to the Ontario Municipal Board to ask for the funding to complete the project. In a 2 to 1 decision, approval was then given. Stop Spadina people looked for another course of action to prevent this. Their lawyers advised them that Ontario Municipal Board decisions could be appealed to the Ontario Cabinet. However, Metro was eager to restart construction of the expressway, but agreed to wait until after this appeal and for the Cabinet to make a final decision. The expressway was now falling behind schedule and its completion date was set back from 1975 to 1977. Meanwhile, unemployed construction workers demonstrated at Toronto City Hall for construction of the expressway in order to get jobs. Metro also put land acquisitions for the Scarborough Expressway on hold depending on the future of the Spadina. This was left to the Ontario Municipal Board to handle. In 1971, Ontario Premier John Robarts retired and William Davis took over the Premiership. He agreed to hear the appeal and would make a final decision on the matter that would settle it permanently before the Provincial election planned for October of that year. Both Metro and the Stop Spadina group could not anticipate how the decision would go.

On June 2, 1971, Premier William Davis stood up in the Provincial Legislature and announced that he had reached a decision which would be final and could not be appealed. He agreed with the Stop Spadina group, so therefore the expressway would be stopped at Lawrence Avenue. His famous statement was that "Cities were built for people and not cars. If we were building a transportation system for the automobile, the Spadina Expressway would be a good place to start, but if we are going to build a transportation system for people, the Spadina Expressway is a good place to stop". The Premier approved the construction of the Spadina subway line, which would be completed into downtown Toronto with 75% Provincial funding. It would have parking garages at Wilson, Yorkdale, Lawrence, Glencairn and Eglinton stations. Expressway opponents had argued that the City should promote public transit instead of roads in order to reduce car use to save neighbourhoods and reduce pollution. The Spadina cancellation helped to elect David Crombie, one of these pro-transit urban reformers, as Mayor of the City of Toronto in 1972, along with a number of reformer Councillors elected in the downtown core. This provided the political strength to put these policies into practice.

Metro was infuriated over the Provincial decision on Spadina. They felt that they had been betrayed and were even considering suing the Province for breach of the 1963 contract to build the expressway. However, this did not happen. Metro was now left with a partially-built expressway which went nowhere. A 3 km (2 mile) 27 completed section of the Allen Expressway north from Lawrence Avenue which was so short that it did not serve a major purpose, and an incomplete 2 km (1 1/4 mile) section south from Lawrence to Eglinton that people nicknamed the "Spadina Ditch" or the "Davis Ditch" as a joke about the Premier who had stopped it. It was all prepared with overpasses and space for ramps, but it was not paved. Many suggestions were made as to what to do with this site. They included housing, an arterial street, a park or a parking garage for the subway. Urban designer Buckminster Fuller was commissioned to come up with a development for the ditch site. He prepared an elaborate plan for shops and residential units. However, nothing ever came of these plans and the ditch sat empty for several years, except for snow collected from streets, which was dumped there in the winters. In 1972, Metro carried out a study of feasible uses for the Spadina Ditch. In addition to the approved subway line, they included an arterial roadway to Eglinton Avenue, a parking garage, or possibly closing the completed Allen Expressway south of Highway 401. The idea of closing the expressway was rejected as not feasible from a traffic point of view and would reduce access to the Yorkdale Plaza. The report finally recommended that the Spadina Ditch be completed as a four lane arterial road from the south end of the completed expressway at Lawrence Avenue south to Eglinton Avenue. It also recommended that parking garages be built at the proposed Lawrence, Glencairn and Eglinton subway stations. Metro Council approved the arterial road recommendation only. Some councillors even wanted to call it Wilson Heights Boulevard, as it was directly south of the existing Wilson Heights Boulevard. However, the arterial recommendation was rejected by the Province, which saw it as a southward extension of the expressway, which they had prevented. All ideas for feasible uses of the Spadina Ditch were rejected as not workable, so the site would remain empty for now. The expressway was stopped from going south, but a northern extension was still possible, depending on the future of the Downsview Airport. Without the rest of the Spadina Expressway into downtown, Metro felt that the proposed Crosstown Expressway would no longer be needed, so it was scrapped, eliminating the downtown portion of the proposed expressway system. In 1973, Metro considered reserving two lanes on all three of its expressways for express buses and car pools. It also considered paving two lanes along the Spadina Ditch also for this purpose. However, this plan went nowhere due to disagreement among Metro politicians.

Supporters of the Spadina were not going to give up. They formed a group known as ‘Go Spadina’ and fought for completion of the route. Local resident Esther Shiner led them. They placed their emphasis on traffic congestion on their local streets caused by the abrupt end of the completed Allen Expressway at Lawrence Avenue. They knew that they had an uphill battle to convince Provincial politicians to change their minds, but they were determined to do it. The political situation had made it difficult for Metro to build other expressways in the same area as the Spadina, so Metro turned its attention to building an eastern extension of the Gardiner Expressway. A Metropolitan Toronto Transportation Plan Review was set up in 1972 to draw up a new Metro transportation plan in the wake of the Spadina cancellation. Construction of the Spadina subway in the Allen Expressway's median began in 1974.

With the cancellation of the rest of the Spadina Expressway south of Lawrence Avenue, Metro planners decided to continue on with the rest of the proposed municipal expressway system by proceeding with the Scarborough Expressway or F.G. Gardiner Expressway Extension to the east, which was brought forward in 1972. However, this was to face similar public disapproval. The Province continued to hold on to lands for an extension of Highway 400 south to Eglinton Avenue.

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Anti Spadina Expressway demonstration in 1970.

‘People Power’ demonstration against construction of the Spadina (W.R. Allen) Expressway held at Toronto City Hall in 1970.

Completed W.R. Allen Expressway north from Lawrence in 1971 (Spadina Subway built in the expressway median later). Toronto’s first installation of low pressure sodium lighting was in place here.

Unfinished ‘Spadina Ditch’ south from Lawrence in 1969 The unfinished ‘Spadina Ditch’ looking north from Eglinton Avenue after cancellation in 1971.

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REALIGNMENT OF THE SCARBOROUGH EXPRESSWAY

The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway extension, commonly known as the Scarborough Expressway, was scheduled to be built after the completion of the Allen Expressway some time in the late 1970's. However, with the cancellation of the construction of the rest of the Allen, the Scarborough route was brought forward in 1971. Even though the Ontario Municipal Board had halted all further land acquisitions along the route, pending the outcome of the Spadina situation, they also stated that Metro had the right to appeal and to reopen the Gardiner extension issue at any time. Metro was ready to proceed with the extension in 1972, when it announced construction of the elevated first section from Leslie Street to Coxwell Avenue, which would be aided by Federal Government funding. The next section would immediately follow this to Woodbine Avenue and then the stretch to Birchmount Road in Scarborough. However, Metro was to face fierce opposition again, as Beach area residents, in the City's east end, began to organize to oppose this route because 1,200 homes would have to be demolished and the route would take out a ravine. Most of the homes required were for the interchanges, and not for the road itself. Metro was about to face another major expressway battle like Spadina, so it ordered a review of the Scarborough Expressway, delaying construction until 1974. It would be completed to Birchmount Road by 1981 and to Highway 401 by 1985.

In 1973, engineers came up with a new design, which was very environmentally sound. It realigned the whole extension in a deep ditch entirely along the south side of the C.N.R. railway tracks, keeping it away from neighbourhoods. New parks would then be decked over the route. Interchanges would be stacked over the expressway, looking like standard intersections, requiring very few properties for ramps. A great deal of landscaping would be done and bicycle paths would be included. The extension would now swing off the existing Gardiner Expressway, just east of the Don Valley Parkway, and continue east alongside the railway line, completely below grade. This meant that the elevated section of the Gardiner Expressway from the Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street would not be used as part of the Scarborough Expressway. This new route would keep the extension within the railway corridor and eliminate the north to south section of the original plan east of Coxwell Avenue, which would have taken out the most number of homes. This new plan would hopefully answer the concerns of the Beach area residents by rerouting the extension around their neighbourhoods in an existing transportation corridor. East of Markham Road, two alternate routes were offered. The Kingston Road alignment proceeded east under Kingston Road to Highway 2A, which would be more direct and would not require any homes, so it was the preferred choice. The Manse Road alignment followed the originally planned route to east of Morningside Avenue swinging north to Highway 2A. The new alignment only required 650 homes, while the old one took out 1,200. Metro Chairman Paul Godfrey wanted to start construction of the first half of the Scarborough Expressway to Birchmount Road by March 1974. If the new alignment was approved, Metro would then appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board to acquire the remaining lands needed and start construction. However, despite these improvements to the expressway design as an attempt by Metro to not repeat the Spadina experience and to accommodate residential concerns, Beach area residents were not impressed and formed a group called ForWard 9, led by then City councillor Dorothy Thomas, to push their opposition to the expressway. They even threatened to go to Premier Davis and ask him to cancel the route as he had done with the Spadina. However, a survey of residents along the route showed that they were quite willing to sell their properties to make way for the expressway. Metro insisted that the Scarborough Expressway was still needed, to link downtown with a proposed airport in Pickering, east of Metro, and to a proposed new Provincial highway, the East Metro Freeway, extending north in north-eastern Scarborough.

Other ideas for rerouting the expressway in order to minimize and possibly eliminate demolition of houses and neighbourhood disruption were looked at. One idea would be to run the expressway entirely under Kingston Road in a two-tiered tunnel. This would be very expensive and would be difficult for ramps and ventilation. Another idea would be to route the expressway west of Victoria Park Avenue under Taylor Creek in East York and down the Don Valley Parkway by either widening the Parkway or by decking over it, thus bypassing the Beach area by swinging around it to the north. This would eliminate all demolition requirements

30 within the City of Toronto. The route under Taylor Creek could also connect to a Crosstown Expressway going west from the Don Valley Parkway, as was considered in the 1950's, since the Scarborough Expressway would be a logical eastern extension of a Crosstown route. However, Metro was not going to proceed with any Crosstown Expressway since the cancellation of the Spadina in 1971. The Scarborough route was meant to be an eastern extension of the Gardiner Expressway adjacent to the Lake Shore. The Taylor Creek option would result in a longer route and would be very expensive. Neighbourhoods clearly would not appreciate disruption of the beautiful Taylor Creek ravine during construction. While looked at, these other options were deemed impractical and were not seriously considered. Metro preferred the proposed route along the railway.

Another option would be to build a lakefront causeway. This would take the expressway away from neighbourhoods completely and result in no disruption at all. Norman D. Wilson proposed the first idea for a lake route in 1954. Originally conceived in 1923, the plan would construct a road along 100 metres (300 feet) of landfill placed along the base of the Scarborough Bluffs from the end of Queen Street in the Beach area to Highland Creek. This idea was rejected in 1957 in favour of the proposed Scarborough Expressway along the C.N.R. railway line due to difficult lake construction and dangerous bluffs erosion. More recent ideas included a landfill causeway which would stretch around the Toronto waterfront from Highway 427 in the west to Highway 401 in the east. This has been the concept of a gentleman named Abel Van Wyk, who lives in eastern Scarborough. He had been promoting his idea since 1959; he wanted to convince Metro to build it instead of the Gardiner and Scarborough Expressways. Mr. Van Wyk actively campaigned against the Scarborough Expressway in the early 1970's in order to promote his causeway proposal as an alternative. His plan would be paid for by the construction of a new City on landfill off the Scarborough Bluffs, known as "Bluffs City". This would be sold and the profits would pay for the road project. The route would be tunnelled through Toronto harbour, but for the rest of it, the route would be a surface road surrounded by new waterfront marine parks reclaimed from the lake. This idea would involve the use of considerable landfill either dumped in the lake from subway excavation or from lake-dredging. Metro officials never took the concept seriously, but Mr. Van Wyk persisted in promoting it. Another idea, promoted by two engineers, John Kipping and Edward Perkins, in the early 1970's, was to build a smaller landfill causeway, about 1 mile (1.5 km) offshore which would contain some bridges and some floating sections. It would only stretch around Scarborough, joining the east end of the Gardiner Expressway with Highway 401. However, Metro officials scoffed at this plan because they insisted that it did not provide the access to local roads that the proposed Scarborough Expressway would have. Metro did not pursue this idea because it was considered to be just a through route with very little access. It would be very expensive, had severe environmental impacts and did not have much public support.

The six month review of the proposed Scarborough route carried out by the Metropolitan Toronto Transportation Plan Review, a review set up after the Spadina cancellation to revise the Official Plan, would hold public meetings and would present its recommendations on the Scarborough Expressway by March 1974, when construction was expected to start on the route.

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SHELVING OF THE SCARBOROUGH EXPRESSWAY

In 1973, the new design for the Gardiner Extension was now completely ready and Metro ordered a six month detailed study by the Transportation Plan Review group to determine the need for the Scarborough Expressway in response to the neighbourhood opposition to the route. The study would be reported to Metro Council by March 1974. Public meetings were held along the entire Scarborough route from Riverdale to West Hill. Finally, in March 1974, the transportation plan review presented its findings on the Scarborough Expressway. It stated that there was little need for the expressway and that public transit alternatives should be looked at. The report also mentioned that the Don Valley Parkway and 401 east route could handle the through traffic. However, the report stated that if transit alternatives to the expressway were not pursued, then a road would be needed in the future. The proposed Pickering Airport was shelved in 1974, so that reduced the need for an expressway link from downtown Toronto to the east. Scarborough, however, endorsed construction of the Gardiner Extension and passed a resolution asking Metro to build it, along the new 32 recommended alignment. Lands along the originally-approved 1967 route would be sold off. Metro accepted the Plan Review study report and did not proceed with the Gardiner Extension, shelving it instead. However, it agreed to continue to hold on to lands along the 1973 route as an undefined transportation corridor for future transportation needs. A rapid transit line was built across Scarborough from the east end of the Bloor-Danforth subway north of the Scarborough Expressway route, but a transit line in the expressway route itself, as the plan review had recommended, did not materialize. The expressway corridor would remain vacant for another twenty years, and would also remain a source of controversy.

THE DON VALLEY PARKWAY EXTENSION GOES TO THE PROVINCE

Metro had acquired all of the lands necessary to extend the Don Valley Parkway north from Sheppard Avenue to Steeles Avenue, where it would then be extended further north to Newmarket by the Province as a new Highway 404. This had been a low priority on Metro's expressway construction agenda, but was reconsidered in 1973, as the Province wanted to construct Highway 404. In 1973, the Province announced that they would take over the entire Don Valley extension and construct it as a four lane arterial highway to Steeles Avenue and then as a two lane arterial highway north to Newmarket. Immediately, opponents of the Spadina Expressway who had successfully stopped that route, argued against the Don Valley extension. They suggested express bus lanes instead as they warned that the extension would just bring more cars downtown. The Province already owned the 401-Don Valley Parkway interchange, so they were determined to connect the future 404 to it. They requested that Metro transfer the north end of the Parkway from 401 to Sheppard Avenue to the Province and that Metro sell their Don Valley lands north of Sheppard Avenue to the Province also. Thus, the new Highway 404 could connect to Highway 401, keeping the Provincial highways as a consistent system. In 1974, Metro agreed to the Province's request and the lands were sold for a nominal sum. This also rid Metro of any protests against the route as it would become a Provincial responsibility. Metro also transferred the completed part of the Don Valley Parkway from Highway 401 to Sheppard Avenue to the Province to become part of Highway 404. Once the transfer of lands was completed, the Province announced that they had rethought the Highway 404 proposal and it would now be a six lane expressway from Highway 401 to Steeles Avenue and a four lane highway from Steeles Avenue north to Newmarket. Construction of Highway 404 started in 1974 and the first section opened in 1977.

THE HIGHWAY 400 EXTENSION UNDER CONSIDERATION

The remainder of the proposed Metropolitan expressway system had contained three routes in the northwest. These were the Crosstown Expressway, the Highway 400 Extension and the Richview Expressway. After the cancellation of construction of the Allen Expressway, these routes went into abeyance and were reviewed, along with the Scarborough route, by the Transportation Plan Review group in 1973 and 1974. Metro Council scrapped the Crosstown Expressway as it would pass through the area where the Spadina would have been built and where opposition to expressways was the highest. The Richview Expressway was not considered very necessary and was redesignated as an undefined Eglinton Transportation Corridor for any possible future transportation purposes. Only the Highway 400 Extension was still seriously considered by Metro as a possibility, which could still be built. This would become an issue when the final plan review report was published in 1975. The Province still intended to eventually extend Highway 400 south to Eglinton Avenue. This and the Scarborough Expressway were considered to be the only new expressways to be built south of Highway 401 after 1973. Metro then began to consider possibly building the 400 Extension to the Gardiner Expressway, and by 1975, it was the only proposed Metro expressway in which no decision had been taken, after the Scarborough Expressway had been shelved the year before.

After the cancellation of construction of the Spadina Expressway in 1971, then Metro Chairman Albert Campbell predicted that Metro Toronto would never build another expressway. History was to prove him to be correct. From this point on, highways transferred from the Provincial Government to Metro Toronto would be the only subsequent additions to the municipal expressway system in Toronto, except for a short extension

33 of the Allen Expressway. Metro would now concentrate its efforts on expanding the public transit system with the construction of the Spadina Subway, extensions of the Bloor-Danforth Subway, a Sheppard Subway, Scarborough Rapid Transit, Harbourfront, Spadina and St. Clair Streetcar Light Rapid Transit Lines. A Queen Street Subway was shelved in 1974 as unnecessary, in favour of routes further north. An Eglinton Subway was started, but stopped in 1995 due to funding difficulties.

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5. A BRIEF REVIVAL OF EXPRESSWAYS 1975 – 1980

THE ALLEN ROAD

In 1972, Metro approved a plan to pave the Spadina Ditch as a four lane arterial roadway to Eglinton Avenue. However, it took another three years for the Province to agree. By then, the leader of the Go Spadina group, Esther Shiner, had been elected to North York Council and had gained the support of that Council for the completion of the expressway further south. By 1975, another Provincial election was called, and the Spadina Expressway would be made an issue again. In that year, the Transportation Plan Review group presented its final report, called "Choices For The Future", in which it published its recommendations. Seven alternate plans were offered. Five contained no new expressway development, one contained new expressways only in the northwest, and one retained the original system approved in 1966. The report stated that there was a severe deficiency of roads in Metro's northwest. It stated that if Metro wanted a new expressway in the northwest, the Highway 400 Extension to the Gardiner Expressway, or at least to St. Clair Avenue (the only proposed Metro expressway where no decision had yet been taken) would do a better job than completion of the Allen Expressway because it was further west and did not penetrate downtown Toronto. Therefore, the 400 Extension, possibly with the Richview Expressway as a westerly arm of it, could be given serious consideration. The report recommended that Metro do a detailed study of the 400 Extension. However, the report also stated that it was not necessarily the best option and that northwest traffic was not downtown oriented. Due to opposition to expressways, particularly in the northwest, the report also recommended, as an alternative, that serious consideration should be given to paving the Spadina Ditch as a four lane arterial road from Lawrence Avenue to Eglinton Avenue, with single lane ramps at Eglinton. Additionally, Highway 400 could also be extended as a four lane arterial road south along the Provincially-protected right of way and further to St. Clair Avenue, where existing streets would connect it to the Lake Shore. It also suggested extending the Allen Expressway north to the proposed Highway 407, north of Metro, making use of the Allen as a northern route. Dr. Richard Soberman, head of the plan review group, stated that while he understood the environmental concerns of the anti-expressway groups, he also believed that traffic congestion on expressways proved for some people that expressways work better than other forms of transportation. This is because the expressway is being heavily used and drivers tolerate that congestion. Even though Dr. Soberman's report recommended more road improvements in Metro's northwest, it also confirmed its 1974 recommendation against construction of the Scarborough Expressway in the east, which was seen as unnecessary at that time.

Both sides of the Spadina battle lined up to debate these recommendations. However, this time, the City of Toronto sided with the anti-expressway forces against any road improvements as sympathizers of this opinion had been elected to Toronto City Council. Nevertheless, Metro, which was considering the 400 Extension at that time, but reluctant to face another northwest expressway battle, eagerly passed the Spadina and 400 Extension arterial roads recommendation which it saw as a good compromise, as in 1972. Dr. Soberman, however, was less enthusiastic about the proposal. He stated that he wanted Metro to choose a transportation system and policies before proceeding with any specific plans. He felt that Metro was just lifting a suggested option out of his report without choosing policies first. However, Metro had chosen Plan Number One, which eliminated the proposed Metro expressways south of Highway 401 and included new cross-town transit lines. This plan was not inconsistent with the recommended road improvements in the northwest. Metro wanted to proceed with the new arterials because it agreed that roads were needed in the northwest and that to pursue a 400 Extension as an expressway would be futile due to massive opposition that would occur, similar to the Spadina battle. The Go Spadina group also argued strongly for the new roadways. Anti-road activists saw this plan as a betrayal of the 1971 agreement to stop the Spadina and appealed to Premier Davis to stick to his 1971 statement that the expressway would not go through.

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DEMONSTRATION IN FAVOUR OF COMPLETING THE UNFINISHED ‘SPADINA DITCH’ IN 1974

The completed W.R. Allen Road built in the ‘Spadina Ditch’ looking north from Eglinton Avenue after being paved in 1976. The Spadina Subway was built in the centre median. The expressway would never be extended any further south.

However, the Premier was convinced that this was to be an arterial road and not an expressway, so to the delight of Go Spadina, he approved the plan. The Premier had great respect for Dr. Soberman and accepted his suggestions openly. The Premier was not allowing the extension of the expressway, but allowing the construction of a new and smaller road, something different. The Premier also promised to keep to his earlier conviction that the Spadina would not be extended into the downtown area. Dufferin Street, north of Sheppard Avenue, would be widened and connected to the north end of the Allen Expressway, as a northern arterial extension of the Allen. This would be done instead of extending the expressway north to the future 407 because land acquisition for it would be difficult north of Sheppard Avenue. Construction of the new arterial roads would be very easy since no land expropriation had to take place. They would be built across open space rights-of-way that already existed and were in public ownership. The Spadina Ditch was an existing grade-separated expressway structure, with provision for ramps at both Lawrence and Eglinton. The northern extension would be built across the Downsview Airport, requiring only the shortening of a runway. The 400 Extension would be constructed in an open right-of-way already owned by the Province. There should be no major opposition to these projects in their immediate vicinities and costs would be low due to no land having to be acquired. This was much easier than the expropriation Metro had had to carry out previously for the Spadina and Scarborough Expressways.

In July 1976, the Allen arterial road was opened from Lawrence Avenue to Eglinton Avenue after paving the existing structure. The new arterial road was constructed in the original expressway structure, so it was 37 completely grade-separated. It included double lane ramps which came to a T-junction at Eglinton Avenue. No lighting had been installed on this new road because Metro could not decide whether it qualified for expressway lighting or just regular street lighting. In 1978, the speed limit on this section was raised to the same as that on the six lane expressway section north of Lawrence Avenue, and low pressure sodium expressway lighting, the same as that on the expressway, was installed. This was the only initial installment of low pressure sodium lighting that had not been converted from fluorescent lighting. Also in 1978, the Spadina Subway line opened in the route's median, but there were no parking garages constructed south of Yorkdale Plaza, as had been previously recommended.

In 1980, the new arterial road south of Lawrence Avenue was officially named as the William R. Allen Road, so the Spadina route was now officially the Allen Expressway north from Lawrence Avenue and the Allen Road south from Lawrence to Eglinton Avenue. Also in 1980, construction began on the northern arterial extension, from Wilson Heights Boulevard to join Dufferin Street near , to be built as a six lane arterial road with reserved bus lanes. This extension opened in 1982 and was also named as the William R. Allen Road. In that year, signs on Highway 401 were changed to show the existence of the new arterial extensions. A new Official Plan adopted by Metro in 1980 deleted all of the unbuilt expressways and showed the permanently truncated status of the Allen, which was now just a short local highway instead of a proposed through route.

BLACK CREEK DRIVE

Pro expressway groups such as Go Spadina were elated at the paving of the Spadina Ditch in 1976 as they saw it as a revival of expressway construction. This equally angered expressway opponents who saw it as a betrayal. The Provincial government owned the right of way to extend Highway 400 south to Eglinton Avenue and agreed to construct it as a four lane arterial road. For the time being, it was to be known as the Northwest Arterial Road, though it was still officially the 400 Extension. Metro agreed to build a further extension south to St. Clair Avenue. Anti-Spadina groups fought hard against the 400 Extension roadway and tried to stop it along with the Spadina paving. People who lived further south in Parkdale believed that a 400 Extension as an expressway was coming through their neighbourhoods, so they joined in the opposition. The pro-Spadina group, which had become influential during the 1975 debate supported building the Northwest Arterial Road and were able to convince Parkdale residents that it would not affect them. They were also successful in convincing both Metro and the Province to endorse the new arterial roads. After the completion of the Allen Road to Eglinton in 1976, the Province began work on the Northwest Arterial Road. The City of Toronto objected to the roadway being constructed as far south as St. Clair Avenue. Due to the City's objections and due to the costs of hastily acquiring a right of way, Metro decided to compromise and terminate the new roadway on Weston Road just south of Eglinton Avenue. Weston Road would then be widened south to St. Clair Avenue. Thus, an existing road would be used and the controversy surrounding building a new one would be avoided. The Province constructed the extension south to Weston Road, and Metro widened Weston Road to St. Clair Avenue which connects to Keele Street and Parkside Drive which go directly south to the Lake Shore. Thus, a continuous arterial roadway would now exist from Highway 400 south to the Lake Shore. After its completion in 1982, the Northwest Arterial Road from Jane Street to Weston Road was transferred to Metro. Council decided to rename the extension to reflect its status as an arterial road, rather than call it a 400 Extension. The roadway was built beside Black Creek, so Black Creek Parkway was suggested. However, this name sounded like an expressway, so Metro agreed on Black Creek Drive. The new road was built as a four lane divided high capacity roadway, but with at-grade signalized intersections. Space existed so that a full expressway could be put in later. The space provided for a 400 Extension interchange along the Gardiner would be used for a future interchange. In 1982, Metro Council designated the Allen Road and Black Creek Drive as controlled access roads, thus maintaining them as parts of the Metro expressway system and not as parts of the street system.

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UNDEFINED TRANSPORTATION CORRIDORS

The former Richview Expressway route, designated as an Eglinton Transportation Corridor since 1973, in which Metro owned all of the lands, was retained. Eglinton Avenue existed alongside the corridor, so it was decided that the lands would be used for a future widening of Eglinton Avenue and a possible Eglinton rapid transit line which could fit along the corridor lands. However, attempts by Metro to widen Eglinton Avenue to six lanes met with fierce opposition from residents along the route who saw it as a back-door approach by Metro to turn the existing Eglinton Avenue into a Richview Expressway. Therefore, the corridor sat empty for the next twenty years. An Eglinton West subway line was approved and construction was commenced in the early 1990's, but due to funding shortages, construction of it was halted.

The former Scarborough Expressway was changed into an undefined Scarborough Transportation Corridor in 1976. At first, Metro intended to acquire and hold lands along the entire former expressway route from the Gardiner Expressway along the C.N.R. railway line to Highway 2A for possible future transportation needs such as an arterial road and/or rapid transit. Scarborough supported the retention of the former expressway route as a transportation corridor and allowed Metro to continue to buy land within its boundaries east of Victoria Park Avenue. However, the City of Toronto strongly objected and the route could not penetrate its boundaries. Therefore, the section from Leslie Street to Victoria Park Avenue was deleted. Metro retained the corridor only from Victoria Park Avenue to Highway 2A, within Scarborough, hoping that the Toronto section could be acquired later. The construction of the Allen Road extensions and Black Creek Drive and the protection of the Eglinton and Scarborough Transportation Corridors were seen by some as future new Metro expressways.

ADVANCES AND ARGUMENTS OF EXPRESSWAY LIGHTING

In the 1960's, the Province used blue mercury lighting, with cobra-shaped luminaires on 15 metre (50 foot) poles, on each of its highways and Metro used white fluorescent lighting, with tube-shaped luminaires, on 10 metre (30 foot) poles on each of its expressways. On sections of the elevated Gardiner Expressway, lighting was built into the railings along the side.

In 1969, Phillips Electronics offered to install yellow-orange low pressure sodium lighting with tube-shaped luminaires on the Allen Expressway. This is a type of lighting used in Europe and is particularly popular in Britain. They were installed on the Allen on a trial run from Wilson Avenue to Lawrence Avenue on the expressway, but not on the ramps. Metro liked these lights and purchased the system in 1970. DelCan Corporation recommended mercury lighting on 12 metre (40 foot) poles for the proposed Scarborough Expressway. When the proposed route was redesigned in 1973, this was changed to flush fluorescent luminaires in the expressway walls. However, this never came to be as the Scarborough route never materialized. If the expressway had been built, it is most likely that the flush luminaires would have been installed as low pressure sodium.

By 1975, it was shown that low pressure sodium was most efficient for preventing night time accidents. Some people did not like the yellow-orange colour of these lamps, but the benefits of low pressure sodium lighting, especially in inclement weather, outweighed this. Metro Roads officials pushed for a complete conversion of all the remaining fluorescent lighting on all the Metro expressways to low pressure sodium. Some Metro councillors opposed this and preferred the golden coloured high pressure sodium lighting installed on Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue in 1968 and on Kingston Road after it was widened in 1974. However, Metro staff pointed out that this would mean installing new poles which would push up the cost of conversion. They argued that low pressure sodium was a more efficient light and could be installed very inexpensively because the existing poles and equipment could be used. Conversion to low pressure sodium lamps using existing poles on the Don Valley Parkway would cost $750,000, while conversion to high pressure sodium would mean the installation of new higher poles, because of the glare from high pressure sodium lamps, and this 39 would cost closer to $2 million. Nevertheless, councillors were unconvinced and sent the recommendation back for further review. Metro staff took another look at it and came back to recommend low pressure sodium again because of its efficiency and the low cost of conversion. After some tough convincing, the conversion from fluorescent to yellow-orange low pressure sodium lighting, with its tube-shaped luminaires, was approved by Metro council.

In 1975, Metro Toronto decided to replace the fluorescent lighting systems on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway with the same yellow-orange low pressure sodium lighting system which existed on the Allen Expressway. After much debate and controversy over this plan, due to many people disliking the colour of these lamps, the recommendation was approved and the installation was carried out utilizing existing poles. Metro was responsible for lighting on only its three expressways. Lighting on arterial roads and streets were the responsibility of the individual municipalities within Metro, until amalgamation in 1998. After that, Metropolitan Toronto and its six constituent municipalities were amalgamated into the single City of Toronto and lighting on all expressways, arterial roads and streets were under the jurisdiction of the new City. Lighting on Provincial freeways remained under the jurisdiction of the Government of Ontario.

Low pressure sodium was installed along all of the rest of the Metro expressways between 1975 and 1980. This included the Don Valley Parkway, the Gardiner Expressway and the Allen Expressway ramps. The existing 10 metre (30 foot) poles were used and new poles replaced Gardiner rail lights. Aluminum poles which do less damage to cars in collisions replaced original cement poles. Low pressure sodium lighting would only be used on grade-separated expressways because Metro Police officials stated that these yellow lamps would obscure traffic signals at intersections when they were changing at yellow. In 1978, low pressure sodium was installed on the grade-separated Allen Road between Lawrence and Eglinton Avenues. However, standard street lighting was installed on the northern arterial extension of the Allen Road and on Black Creek Drive because they were built as arterial roads with signalized intersections. The Province opted for bright golden-coloured high pressure sodium lamps to replace the blue mercury lights on the existing poles on its highways. Mercury lighting on Metro's suburban arterial and local roads was also converted to high pressure sodium.

METRIC SPEED LIMITS

In September 1977, in keeping with Canada’s conversion to the metric system of measurement, speed limits were changed from miles per hour (mph) to kilometres per hour (km/h). The posted speed limit on Provincial highways in the Toronto area had been 70 mph on freeways, which was dropped to 60 mph in 1976, became 100 km/h in 1977. On smaller highways, a speed limit of 50 mph became 80 km/h. On municipal expressways, the speed limit of 55 mph on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway became 90 km/h and the 50 mph speed limit on the Allen Expressway became 80 km/h. Black Creek Drive, built by 1982, would be the first Metro road in Toronto to be in metric from the start with a posted speed limit of 70 km/h. Highway 404, opened in 1977, was the first Provincial highway to start in metric.

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6. ARTERIAL HIGHWAYS 1980 – 1998

THE END OF THE PROPOSED METRO EXPRESSWAYS

In 1980, Metropolitan Toronto adopted a new Official Plan to replace the one it had been using since 1966, which had proposed an extensive expressway system. This new plan was based on the recommendations of the transportation plan review group which had been set up in 1972, after the Spadina cancellation, which had presented its findings in 1975. When the new plan was officially adopted in 1980, all of the proposed Metropolitan expressways were deleted. Undefined transportation corridors replaced the Scarborough and Richview Expressways, the 400 Extension had become an arterial road and the Crosstown Expressway was taken out altogether. As expected, the rest of the former Spadina Expressway route, south of Eglinton Avenue, also disappeared. The next twenty years was a period of the priority of public transit and almost no road development. The new plan contained a clause that stated that "the Metropolitan Corporation does not support the construction of any additional expressways, except for Highway 427 extension". North York council tried to get this clause amended to include a Spadina Expressway extension also, but, as expected, they were unsuccessful. This clause now made the victory of the anti-expressway lobby an official Metro policy for the first time. In 1985, Metro adopted a big subway expansion plan called "Network 2011 ".

In 1983, Premier William Davis announced his retirement and one of his last actions as premier was to keep his promise not to allow the Allen to go south of Eglinton Avenue. He announced that Metro would receive Black Creek Drive from the Province for free, if it transferred the Allen lands from Eglinton Avenue to Bloor Street to the Province which would lease the lands out for purposes other than for a road. A 1 metre (3 foot) strip of land south of Eglinton across the route would be given to the City of Toronto, thus barring any possible further extension. If Metro did not agree, the lands would be siezed and Metro would be billed for half of the costs of the construction of Black Creek Drive. Metro reluctantly agreed. Metro believed that a new Ontario Premier might have a different opinion and would allow the expressway to be completed. Mr. Davis's successor, Frank Miller, even supported some idea of completion of the Allen in a tunnel. However, he was reminded that a promise had been made and the government could not go back on its word. Future governments also would honour the promise to not let the expressway be extended southwards.

The Allen Road came to an abrupt end in a T-Junction with Eglinton Avenue. This caused traffic to back up on the Allen and to use local streets to go further south. A traffic management plan of no left and right turns was put in place at the request of residents restricting the use of local streets south of Eglinton by through traffic. However, Metro wanted a permanent solution. Additional ramps from the Allen to Eglinton were considered in 1983. Metro also looked at a southern extension of the Allen, along the original Spadina route. It could extend to Davenport Road, north of Bloor Street, to connect to Spadina Road which goes further south, along with an extension of Leslie Street south to Bayview Avenue. At the very least, Allen Road could connect to Bathurst Street, north of St. Clair Avenue, which also goes further south. Metro was even willing to build it just as a two lane local road in order to get it through and provide some relief for congested streets at the bottom of the expressway. However, Metro had to later abandon these plans due to the Spadina lands agreement with the Province. A stricter traffic management plan south of Eglinton was implemented, and it was hoped that increased use of Black Creek Drive and the Spadina Subway would alleviate much of the Allen traffic, but this was not becoming apparent. Also at this time, Esther Shiner, the leader of the Go Spadina group, died, so the Spadina Expressway issue was brought to an end, as nobody was willing to take over the leadership of the pro-expressway lobby. Meanwhile the anti-expressway lobby which had changed the course of Metro's transportation planning were firmly entrenched in the City of Toronto's Council and blocked Metro from planning any new roads. By 1990, it was determined that the Spadina route would permanently end at Eglinton. Plans for grade separated interchanges at Eglinton and at Sheppard were shelved due to local opposition. The original six lane Allen Expressway, between Wilson Heights and Lawrence, is very short and is no longer considered a proper functioning expressway because it is not a major through route. 42

The issue which had been so controversial for over a decade was now quiet. By the 1990's, the battle which had been one of the fiercest in Toronto's history and the main issue of the 1969 municipal election, was almost forgotten.

The Spadina battle represented the gradual maturing of Metro and the changing of attitudes. By the mid 1970's, the City of Toronto's earlier enthusiasm of new expressways had gone. Pro-expressway politicians within the City had either retired or had been defeated by anti-expressway politicians. The City of Toronto became fiercely anti-road in its planning and policies. This caused a serious rift with the other municipalities within Metro, particularly North York, which had remained pro-expressway. Anti-Spadina forces were concentrated mainly at the south end of the route within the City of Toronto, while pro-expressway forces gathered at the north end within the City of North York. People at the north end wanted to get downtown to their jobs, while people at the south end of the route wanted to preserve neighbourhoods. The City of York, which existed in the middle, opposed extending the Spadina route when it stopped at Lawrence. However, it switched sides and favoured completion into downtown Toronto, when the arterial extension opened to Eglinton Avenue within York's boundaries. This now left the City of Toronto opposed to all of its neighbours when it came to issues like expressways. The Spadina had been stopped at Lawrence in 1971 and at Eglinton in 1975. The name Spadina Expressway became unfamiliar to young people in the 1990's who had got used to its newer names of Allen Expressway and Allen Road. Leaders of both the pro and anti expressway sides had become elected officials, but it was now believed by Metro that with the Spadina Subway located in the expressway's median, the Allen should not be extended south to compete with it.

Since Metro was unsuccessful in its attempt to extend the Allen Road further south, attention was turned to the newly-completed Black Creek Drive, which Metro had acquired from the Province in 1982. Metro left open the possibility in the distant future of converting Black Creek Drive into an expressway as originally planned. Retaining lands alongside the roadway to eventually widen it to six lanes and build interchanges at Lawrence and at Eglinton at some point in the future provided this. In 1989, Metro did study the possibility of an extension of Black Creek Drive south to the Gardiner Expressway using the Allendale route, along the C.N./C.P. railway corridor. A southern extension of Black Creek Drive to the Lake Shore was considered because the Allen Road could not be extended further south. This would make Black Creek Drive a functional part of the expressway grid and would provide, for the first time, a completed northwest high capacity route into downtown Toronto. However, these were quietly dropped when it became apparent that the City of Toronto would strongly oppose the extension and the high cost of acquiring a right of way. Another suggestion was to widen Keele Street and Parkside Drive to connect Black Creek Drive directly south to the Lake Shore, but this would require demolishing properties along these streets, so this also proved to be difficult. This extension has been ruled out as there was no available route and optimal use of the existing street system south of Eglinton Avenue would have to be pursued instead.

THE EGLINTON TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR

Metro had acquired nearly all of the lands along the Richview Expressway route and continued to hold them as an undefined Eglinton Transportation Corridor into the 1990's. The Province decided to swing Highway 403 northward at Highway 10 to terminate it on Highway 401 so there would now be no connection to the former Richview Expressway route. When Highway 27 was rebuilt as 427 in 1970, a Richview Expressway connection was provided for, which is now used to get to Eglinton Avenue. Eventually, it was decided that since Eglinton Avenue (formerly Richview Side Road) already existed alongside the Richview lands, a high capacity arterial road could be provided by widening Eglinton Avenue. In 1994, Metro decided to widen Eglinton Avenue West to six lanes from Black Creek Drive to Highway 427, effectively creating a Richview route. However, when Metro held public meetings on the proposal, there was so much opposition from local residents, that the widening plan was quickly shelved. The Eglinton West Subway, which would run from the Spadina Subway, along Eglinton Avenue, making use of the transportation corridor, was approved by Metro in 1994, and construction was started. However, in 1995, the Provincial Government withdrew funding for

43 the subway due to extremely tight budgets and construction of the subway was halted. The Eglinton Transportation Corridor remained open to some type of development and Metro still retained the idea of eventually widening Eglinton Avenue, making use of the corridor possibly for bus lanes.

THE SCARBOROUGH TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR

Metro owned about 65% of the lands along the Scarborough Transportation Corridor, the former Gardiner Expressway easterly extension. The City of Toronto opposed the existence of the corridor within its boundaries because the City saw it as an attempt by Metro to try to keep the expressway alive. Metro insisted that this was just a corridor for future transportation uses, but would respect Toronto's wishes. Meanwhile, Scarborough strongly supported the corridor and endorsed Metro holding the lands. Therefore, Metro deleted the section from the Gardiner Expressway to Victoria Park Avenue and only held on to lands east of Victoria Park Avenue, within Scarborough. Metro hoped that by retaining the section within Scarborough, the Toronto section could be acquired later. None of the properties in Toronto's east end, which had previously been acquired for the Scarborough Expressway, were sold off. Metro hung on to them for a possible extension of the corridor west to the Gardiner Expressway. Metro made several attempts to go before the Ontario Municipal Board to purchase the lands using funds from the sale of surplus properties elsewhere. However, opposition from the City of Toronto blocked almost every attempt, except for a few small properties which were privately sold to Metro. The Board also did not want to give Metro approval to buy land for an undefined corridor which they would not say what it would be used for.

Opponents of the route continued to remain adamant because they saw this land acquisition as a secret agenda to build an expressway without public awareness. Metro insisted that this was not the case, and that they were acquiring the lands to keep all future options open. In 1981, Scarborough asked Metro to extend the corridor west to join the end of the Gardiner Expressway at Leslie Street. While Metro agreed with this, they decided not to do it at that time due to the strong opposition of the City of Toronto to the corridor. Metro looked at building an arterial road along the Scarborough Transportation Corridor, swinging off Gerrard Street East at Victoria Park Avenue and extending east across Scarborough, along the expressway route paralleling the C.N.R. railway line, to join Highway 2A and Highway 401. However, without a connection to the Gardiner Expressway, Beach area residents feared traffic would be dumped on to their local streets trying to get to the Gardiner. They opposed the idea, but it was actively pursued by Metro. Scarborough considered a shorter arterial road, coming from Highway 2A in the east and terminating at Midland Avenue, to be carried west by St. Clair Avenue, avoiding the Beach area. Metro did not want this, as they supported retaining the entire corridor to Victoria Park Avenue and Gerrard Street. Residents living near the corridor were concerned about the uncertainty over the future of the route, especially how it could affect the values of their properties. Community residential associations pressured the Metro and Scarborough governments for a clearer definition of the Scarborough Transportation Corridor and to at least outline the alternate transportation system to be considered for the route. In 1983, in response to this public pressure, Scarborough decided to study the future of the corridor and to determine what was needed along the route. The study concluded that there was still no need for a major road and that local roads and GO Transit improvements were all that was necessary. It was recommended that the corridor be designated as a "Special Study Area" to determine the exact needs along the route. Scarborough Council was bitterly divided over this report, but eventually accepted it. Scarborough now joined Toronto in opposing the retention of an undefined corridor. Metro remained adamant that the corridor was still necessary for future transportation options and voted to retain it, though now it would be alone in its support. Since Metro was a higher government than Scarborough, the corridor remained in the plan. Metro Councillor Ken Morrish, who represented the far eastern end of Scarborough, continued to highly endorse the corridor, since he saw it as the only answer to traffic congestion on Highway 401 and Kingston Road. This stalemate over the future of the Scarborough Transportation Corridor was unresolved as Kingston Road traffic was growing.

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In 1974, when the transportation plan review group had recommended against construction of the Scarborough Expressway due to little need, the Don Valley Parkway ended just north of Highway 401. Eastbound traffic could then be carried by the Parkway and Highway 401 east. Also, Kingston Road was being widened at that time from four to six lanes across Scarborough. However, after the construction of Highway 404 north into York Region, the Don Valley Parkway now had a much bigger north to south traffic flow and could not take eastbound traffic also, which was causing heavy congestion. Durham Region, to the east of Metro, was mostly rural in 1974, but by the 1990's, it was considerably built up, which added more traffic to the existing roads in eastern Metro. For this reason, Metro insisted on retaining the Scarborough Transportation Corridor and keeping arterial road options for the corridor open. Private sales of properties were made to Metro, so that 80% of the lands for the Scarborough Transportation Corridor were acquired east of Victoria Park Avenue by 1990.

In the 1990's, Metro carried out another plan review leading to the adoption of a new Official Plan in 1994. The "no expressways" clause from the 1980 plan would be deleted from the new 1994 plan, because Metro officials stated that it was redundant. Metro would now adopt a basic plan and any new routes would have to be added only after approval. However, this process had become so politically difficult, that it was unlikely that new potential expressways would be added. Metro staff pointed out that due to traffic growth, the City could not rule out new expressways for the future, and that they should leave open the possibility of them having to be considered with future traffic studies. Definitions of different types of roads were suggested. It was stated that an expressway was "a road carrying traffic at high speed over medium to long distances with access only by means of grade-separated interchanges". Only the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway fit this definition. The expressway part of the Allen Road, between Wilson Heights and Eglinton Avenue, did not fit this definition of an expressway because of its short length. Arterial roads were defined as "roads which carry traffic at medium speeds over short to medium distances". All regular arterial streets belonging to Metro fit into this definition. However, the arterial highways were identified as being of a higher standard than regular streets, but not quite carrying out the fully intended function of expressways. They carried traffic at moderate to high speeds, were often grade-separated, but extended only over short to medium distances. A new category of "primary arterial road" was recommended for these. This primary arterial category, created for the first time, was a recognition that certain stretches of road had a unique high capacity function that existed between arterial streets and expressways. The road segments identified would be the Allen Road, Black Creek Drive, a future Leslie Street Extension and a future Scarborough Transportation Corridor roadway. However, when the province reviewed the final draft of the plan, they stated that it was confusing and asked Metro to go back to just two categories for roads. These would be expressways and arterial roads. The recommended primary arterials were therefore included with the arterial roads, leaving only the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway defined as proper expressways. The plan would only reflect the official definitions of these roads, but in reality, Metro continued to recognize the arterial highways, such as Allen Road and Black Creek Drive, as being of a higher standard than regular streets and that they were extensions of the expressway system. Allen and Black Creek were recognized as controlled access highways by municipal bylaw.

During the review for the new plan, a special study, known as the East Metro Waterfront Corridor Transportation Study, looked at the Scarborough Transportation Corridor again, which had been retained in the draft of the new plan. The City of Toronto stuck to its conviction that it did not want the route to penetrate its boundaries. The report stated that a route coming from the east and stopping at Midland Avenue or at Victoria Park Avenue, without a connection to the Gardiner Expressway was of no use to Metro. The report recommended that the Scarborough Transportation Corridor be deleted from the plan, and that Kingston Road be extended from where it ends near Coxwell Avenue to join Lake Shore Boulevard and the Gardiner Expressway, providing a continuous arterial route to the east. It also recommended that Danforth Road, which runs parallel to Kingston Road across Scarborough, be connected to Gerrard Street East, also providing a continuous arterial road. Improving GO Transit rail service along the C.N.R. railway line was also recommended. Metro Council hotly debated these recommendations in May 1994. Councillor Ken Morrish

45 still believed that the expressway route was necessary, so he introduced a motion to support retention of the corridor, however, it lost by seven votes. On June 1, 1994, Metro adopted the new Official Plan, which was to be its last, and the Eglinton and Scarborough Transportation Corridors were deleted. The forty year uncertainty over these issues finally came to an end. The Province also deleted the proposed East Metro Freeway, planned near the Rouge River in north-eastern Scarborough, due to objections from Rouge Valley naturalists. The lack of a Scarborough Expressway also made the East Metro route less necessary.

Lands within the City of Toronto acquired for the former Scarborough Expressway would be sold off and the City of Scarborough could now pass its plan amendment declaring the former Transportation Corridor as a "Special Study Area", as it had recommended in 1983. Planners would decide what parts of the corridor they wanted for arterial roads or other public uses, such as bicycle paths, parks or housing. Any sections that they did not want were to be declared surplus and sold off. New uses for some of the lands were recommended by the summer of 1996 and approved by plan amendment. Vacant lands owned by the C.N.R. along parts of the former Scarborough Transportation Corridor were sold and developed into housing. The Metro-owned lands along the Scarborough route remained vacant, but planners continued to design specific uses for them, such as streets, housing and parks, which would be subject to lengthy approvals, however nothing came of these plans. Lands along the former Eglinton Transportation Corridor were kept open for possible transit uses and a future widening of Eglinton Avenue West. Continuous bicycle paths along the routes of both former corridors were approved immediately. In 1996, Metro began to sell off the surplus lands along the former Scarborough Transportation Corridor. Also in that year, Metro passed its last act on the Spadina Expressway route south of Eglinton Avenue by putting houses it had acquired along the route up for sale. The rest of the Spadina Expressway south of Eglinton and the Scarborough Expressway were now as dead as the Crosstown Expressway. The policy of Metro's new 1994 plan was to discourage automobile use and to promote other forms of transportation such as public transit, bicycling and walking.

Toronto’s policy regarding the ultimate length of the Gardiner Expressway had changed. It had been assumed that the expressway would eventually stretch from the Queen Elizabeth Way in the west to Highway 401 in the east, even with a gap between Leslie Street and Victoria Park Avenue in the short term as this was a heavily built-up area. However, after 1994, when any idea of an eastern extension was dropped, it then became policy that the Gardiner Expressway would only stretch from the Queen Elizabeth Way to the Don Valley Parkway. The acquired lands to the east would be put to other uses and the future of the existing elevated eastern section from the Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street was now in doubt.

BURYING THE GARDINER EXPRESSWAY

In the 1980's and 1990's, as the proposed Metro expressways were being deleted, major repairs were being carried out on the existing ones. A controversy that was to arise at this time was the future of the elevated Gardiner Expressway. Metro started making major repairs to the structure in 1978. This involved patching and recovering the concrete pillars and waterproofing the road deck. In 1985, Metro began to study the future of the expressway and what they should do about it. Some local downtown politicians, who were mostly anti-expressway in their thinking, suggested that the expressway was a barrier to the lake and should be taken out or at least buried underground. They said that it was ugly and would cost too much to maintain. Former Toronto Mayor David Crombie, head of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust, was a strong proponent of dismantling or burying the Gardiner Expressway. Crombie proposed two options to Metro: Firstly, demolish the expressway and bury it underground. Some type of watertight tunnel or open ditch could be built along its present alignment or under the lake. Bill Teron, an engineer who had tunnelled parts of the Boulevard Peripherique in Paris, France, came up with an idea for a cut and cover tunnel along the shore with development of the existing lands that the expressway stands on to pay for it. Another variation would be to build an underwater expressway across the Toronto Harbour. Secondly, demolish the expressway and not replace it. Lake Shore Boulevard would be expanded into a highway and lakefront transit improved.

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These options, plus the option to rehabilitate the expressway, were studied in detail. Cost and practical construction were the key factors. Removing the expressway and doing nothing was dismissed as impractical because it carried over 230,000 vehicles per day. The Gardiner is the backbone of the City and carried a great amount of traffic, so Metro could not do without it. Lake Shore Boulevard would have to be widened to 18 lanes if the Gardiner was eliminated in order to handle the traffic and that would create the biggest barrier to the lake of all. A proposal to bury the expressway from Bathurst Street to the Don Valley Parkway in a watertight tunnel along the shore was put forward in 1985. Metro engineers stated that rebuilding the expressway underground would cost $2.3 Billion because the structure would have to be watertight, as the expressway stands on landfill. Twenty years of rehabilitation of the existing structure would cost $400 million. It was finally recommended to keep the expressway as it is and do repairs with a special maintenance budget. Former Mayor John Sewell stated that it would be cheaper to just dismantle the expressway between Bathurst and Jarvis Streets, but this idea was rejected as impractical.

A Gardiner/Lake Shore Task Force, set up by the City of Toronto, suggested that the section east of the Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street could be demolished because it did not carry the traffic volumes that the rest of the expressway had and no extension across Scarborough would now ever be built. Relocating the Gardiner Expressway/Don Valley Parkway interchange further north beside the C.N.R. railway line could eliminate the Gardiner/Don Valley “sweep”, where the Gardiner curves over to join the Parkway at the Don River. The Parkway could go straight into the Gardiner near and new ramps to Lake Shore Boulevard east would be constructed near Cherry Street. The eastern Gardiner to Leslie Street would then be torn down. In 1973, relocating the interchange to the north had been suggested to accommodate the proposed Scarborough Expressway. However, this idea would cost too much, so it was decided to leave the Gardiner/Don Valley interchange as it was.

REPAIRING THE GARDINER EXPRESSWAY

Officially, the decision on the future of the elevated Gardiner Expressway had been made and a budget of repairs would be set up every few years. However, unofficially, a debate over the future of the expressway would go on. A growing number of Metro citizens, mainly anti-car proponents, argued that the existing Gardiner was an eyesore and that it is a waste of money to keep repairing it. People will continue to call for its burial in a tunnel or an open ditch at some point in the future. Repairs may become so expensive that Toronto may be forced to choose this option. However, new technology of waterproofing and cement protection may make the Gardiner stand forever. A 1983 traffic study recommended that the western section of the Gardiner Expressway from the Humber River to Strachan Avenue be widened from six to eight lanes due to heavy traffic congestion. The old Humber River bridges would be replaced and a new interchange with Front Street would be constructed utilizing the space intended for a 400 Extension interchange near Bathurst Street. Replacement of the Humber River bridges began in 1991 and would be completed by 2001, but the widening and the new interchange had not yet occurred by 2001.

Since the Gardiner Expressway apparently was to stay, a group of engineers and planners were asked in 1987 by Metro and the City of Toronto to look at ways it could be beautified or made to fit in with the City. The project was called "A Charrette In The City" and the team divided the route into three parts. The western, central and eastern sections. Each section was carefully analyzed and a plan was drawn up for each to make the Gardiner more acceptable. Since it would be too expensive to rebuild it, the expressway could possibly be hidden. For the western section, which is on the surface, it was suggested that a grand gate be built across the route at the Humber River and that parks and housing be decked over the route. For the elevated central section, a switch with Lake Shore Boulevard was suggested. The existing tunnel-like Lake Shore Boulevard under the expressway would become the Gardiner and the arterial Lake Shore Boulevard would run along the top, where the expressway is now. It would also be lined with trees. It was suggested that buildings, such as stores and apartments, be placed alongside the route which would hide the expressway columns. The roadway could also be decorated with modern art, and lighting under the structure should be improved. For the eastern

47 section, the Charrette agreed that the expressway should be removed east of the Don Valley Parkway. However, only the road deck would be removed. The columns would remain as art and be decorated. The plan was not taken seriously in its entirety, but parts of it, such as improving lighting under the expressway, cleaning and painting the structure and removing the east end were eventually approved.

In 1995, Metro adopted a twenty year plan of repairs for the Gardiner structure which would strengthen it to make it stand for a long time. However, many people saw this as more of a short term solution. A long term permanent solution will still have to be faced by the City in the future. There was little doubt that there most likely would always be a Gardiner Expressway because it is such a vital route to the City. However, the shape it might take, elevated, surface or underground, would be a subject of debate for many years to come. The deciding factor would be finances and public opinion. A minority of transit enthusiasts would continue to push for the removal of the expressway, but this was totally impractical as other roads such as Lake Shore Boulevard would not be able to handle the traffic the Gardiner carries. Some type of Gardiner rebuilding was possible. At the time of the Charrette in the late 1980's, the City of Toronto had set up a Gardiner/Lake Shore Task Force, chaired by Councillor Jack Layton. Its purpose was to try to find ways to develop and beautify the City lakefront in order to reconnect the City with the waterfront. The trend in the past had been to build a heavily-used transportation corridor along the waterfront because it was a natural route. This resulted in the construction of the railway lines, Lake Shore Boulevard and the Gardiner Expressway. Some people in the downtown area felt that the City had been cut off from the lake, as the transportation corridor along the lakefront was seen as a barrier. With the construction of the C.N. Tower and the Skydome stadium, now called the Rogers Centre, around the foot of Spadina Avenue, development of the Lake Shore area became a concern to City politicians. A plan to develop the railway lands into new housing and a park were drawn up. This would certainly add more traffic to the waterfront. The 1987 Charrette was an attempt to work around the existing Gardiner structure. The Gardiner/Lake Shore switch would mean that the City could be built up to the top of the structure and the expressway would be relocated underneath. However, these ideas were promoted by the City of Toronto, but the Gardiner belonged to Metro, which was only interested in repairing the expressway and paid little attention to ideas to make it look ‘nicer’. By 1990, most of Metro's expressway battles were now in the past and the situation had quietened down. Metro would now concentrate on maintaining the road system it already had in existence. Only the decision over demolishing the eastern section of the Gardiner from the Don River to Leslie Street would remain yet to be dealt with.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Since there were to be no new Metropolitan expressways built, priority would now be placed on keeping the existing system well maintained, updated and in good repair. Limited budgets would also keep the emphasis on this. As time passed, new technologies for expressways came about requiring the system to be kept updated. Often it required replacement of equipment. By the 1990's, much of the expressway system had been repaved, signs were replaced, new lighting, and new concrete median barriers shaped to reduce collisions with cars, were installed. Lights on signs for night-time display were replaced by lettering with luminous, reflective paint so that they could be seen clearly at night without the fear of burned out illumination of signs. However, the newest technology is the Freeway Traffic Management System, involving the installation of cameras and electronic signs which display warning messages to motorists. Many of these advances were implemented on the Provincial freeway system and then were adapted by Metro soon after. Cameras placed along each of the expressways kept the Metro Transportation Department informed of trouble spots. They could then warn motorists by a phone-in line and messages displayed on electronic signs. Information such as traffic congestion, accidents and closures is displayed on the electronic signs along with regular ramp and exit information. The camera system installed on the Provincial highway system is known as COMPASS and the cameras installed on the municipal expressways in Toronto is known as RESCU. These cameras and new signs were installed along the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway in 1994 and later on the Allen Road between Highway 401 and Eglinton Avenue in 2009. Most of the elevated Gardiner Expressway structure has been rehabilitated, strengthened and made to look new again, except for the section east of the

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Don River. The Don Valley Parkway and Allen Road have also been repaired. An idea introduced onto many Metro arterial roads in the 1990's is High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes. These are lanes reserved on roads for buses, taxis and cars with three or more passengers. It was hoped that this would help to speed up the flow of traffic and reduce congestion. The first introduction of these lanes on major roads was on the northern arterial continuation of the Allen Road.

REPLACEMENT OF EXPRESSWAY LIGHTING

By the late 1980’s, lighting equipment on Toronto’s expressway system was getting old and was consistently burning out. Cables were rotted and wearing out and certain parts were no longer available. After a review, a decision was made to update the whole system with a complete replacement. In 1975, Metro Council approved the remodelling of its existing fluorescent lighting system on its expressways into yellow-orange low pressure sodium lighting using the existing poles and equipment for an inexpensive conversion. This was done to provide a more efficient lighting system which would reduce night-time accidents. Low pressure sodium had been tried out on a trial basis on the then Allen Expressway since 1969, and was very successful, so it was installed on the rest of the Metro expressways. By 1990, the lighting equipment on the Metro expressways was now thirty years old and needed major repairs. Metro officials announced that they were going to do a major repair to expressway lighting, and the Don Valley Parkway was given top priority. Metro Councillor Howard Moscoe, representing the area that the Allen Road passed through, noted that 60% of the lights on the Allen had burnt out, so he pushed for a complete replacement instead of just repairs. He also urged that the Allen should be done first due to the urgency of the bad state of its lighting. He even took staff on a tour of the expressway to show them how bad it really was. Metro staff agreed, and looked at a complete replacement, with the Allen Expressway being done before the Don Valley Parkway. A detailed lighting study was then carried out and it recommended that high pressure sodium was now the best long-lasting system. For the first time, lighting on the Provincial freeways and on the Metro expressways would be the same, except for different types of poles used. Fenco Engineering, a company which designed lighting for the Provincial highways, was retained to also design new lighting for the Metro expressways. Metro would replace the entire lighting system on all of its expressways for a cost of ten million dollars and the replacement would take five years to complete. However, since Metro wanted to widen the west end of the Gardiner Expressway from six to eight lanes, replacement of lighting on the Gardiner would be deferred until after the widening was done. Therefore, approval was only given for new lighting on the Allen Expressway and on the Don Valley Parkway. The existing low pressure sodium system would be maintained on the Gardiner Expressway for a while longer. Elsewhere, low pressure sodium would be replaced by high pressure sodium.

On the Allen Expressway, the existing 10 metre (30 foot) poles would be used. The low pressure sodium lamps would be replaced by new shaded cobra-shaped high pressure sodium luminaires designed so as not to obstruct the subway signals. Installation of new lights on the Allen began in 1991 and was completed along the entire length of the expressway from Eglinton Avenue to Wilson Heights Boulevard by 1993. Most of the poles were replaced because they were in poor condition.

On the Don Valley Parkway, due to its winding nature, Metro was having to replace four poles per week. Therefore, in order to solve this situation and to give drivers a better view of the Don River valley parkland, Metro decided to use a new technology known as high mast lighting. This consisted of tall 30 metre (100 foot) poles with a cluster of powerful high pressure sodium lights on the top. One of these poles would replace seven conventional poles on each side. The cluster of lights at the top could be brought down the pole mechanically to repair crews on the ground and then sent back up again. The Province was starting to use high mast lighting on its highways and planned to eventually convert all of the Provincial freeways to this technology. The Provincial Government had installed high mast lighting on sections of Highway 401 and was receiving complaints from nearby residents that these powerful lamps were giving off too much light, disturbing neighbourhoods. Metro councillors argued this point, but engineers came up with a solution. High mast lights would be uniquely designed for Metro which would be different from Provincial high mast 49 lighting. Metro would use state-of-the-art technology with shaded clusters of lamps which could be focused. The poles would also be painted black so they would blend in with surrounding parkland. High mast lamps would be installed on most of the Parkway on the east side, except for two sections which were alongside the Don River channel south of Bloor Street and under Hydro Towers south of Eglinton Avenue and on some of the ramps. A new type of 10 metre (30 foot) low mast pole, similar to conventional poles, also painted black, would be used on these sections. They would contain new round luminaires, rather than traditional cobra- shaped ones.

In 1991, Metro council approved the plan to install a combination of high and low mast lighting on the Don Valley Parkway in several stages. It was scheduled to be completed from the Gardiner Expressway to Bloor Street by 1995, to Eglinton Avenue by 1996 and to Highway 401 by 1997. Due to limited budgets, the scheduled replacement went on for much longer and would take several more years to complete. The replacement proved to be very expensive and was finally completed to Highway 401 by 2001.

In 1996, another new lighting system known as metal halide appeared. This was a white light with round luminaires. The City of Toronto needed to replace its obsolete incandescent lighting, which dated from the 1930's. City council did not want high pressure sodium, because they complained that these lights discoloured the community. They decided to convert their lighting to these new metal halide lights. Toronto streets were now unique in Metro in that they would have a different type of lighting from the rest of Metro, which now used high pressure sodium.

In 1997, Metro decided that it was time to go ahead and replace the lighting on the Gardiner Expressway. The system to be used would be designed to accommodate the proposed widening of the western end of the expressway, which had not yet occurred. A detailed lighting study was done and both high pressure sodium and metal halide were looked at. It was decided that metal halide was not bright enough for expressway use and that high pressure sodium was still the best system. Using the existing poles with new cobra-shaped luminaires, as had been done on Eastern Avenue at the Don Valley Parkway and on the Allen Road, was studied, but was ruled out, because the existing poles had deteriorated. Fenco Engineering was retained and the same new lighting system being installed on the Don Valley Parkway would be used on the Gardiner. It would be a combination of the shaded high mast and low mast high pressure sodium lighting, with poles also painted black. High mast lighting would be installed along the south side of only the surface section of the expressway around Humber Bay in the west end from the Humber River to Dufferin Street, with low mast on some of the ramps. High mast poles could accommodate any widening of the Gardiner. They could not be installed on the elevated section of the expressway, so low mast poles would be used on this section from Dufferin Street to Leslie Street in existing davits. The Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway were now to have the same style of new lighting. The replacement of lighting on the Gardiner Expressway would be done in three phases. Firstly from the Humber River to Dufferin Street, secondly to , and finally to the expressway's east end. Work was scheduled to begin on the first phase at the west end, in the summer of 1998. A 1997 proposal to turn off some of the lighting and only leave them on at interchanges, due to severely tight budgets, was dropped due to safety concerns. Metro was planning to demolish the east end of the Gardiner Expressway from the Don River to Leslie Street, so the plan for the new lighting would now only stretch from the Humber River to just east of the Don Valley Parkway interchange. Opposition to these new lights existed, and some appeals against them were heard. Some people complained that they would be too bright and that the existing low pressure sodium was sufficient. Nevertheless, the first phase of lighting replacement for the Gardiner, around Humber Bay, was approved and carried out in 2000 with a combination of high and low mast high pressure sodium lighting. New high pressure sodium lights on black low mast poles were also installed on the new ramps at the new east end of the expressway at Bouchette Street after the section to Leslie Street was demolished. The remainder of the elevated expressway from Dufferin Street to the Don River continued to have low pressure sodium lighting, as the replacement was put on hold in 2002 due to the discussion of the possibility of burying the expressway. It was also decided in 2002 to install new shaded high mast high pressure sodium lighting on 50 the section of the Gardiner across Etobicoke which had been transferred from the Province, formerly part of the Queen Elizabeth Way. This work was started throughout 2003. However, due to a problem with the manufacture of parts for these new lights, completion of this work was delayed until 2005.

By 2004, no final decision had been made over the future of the elevated central Gardiner Expressway. Plans were still being discussed on whether to bury it or to leave it as it is and spruce it up and beautify it. However, in the meantime, maintenance on this section of the expressway would continue. During maintenance, the Toronto Transportation Department found that they could not get any more low pressure sodium lamps; so high pressure sodium lamps were installed into the existing poles between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue and at the Don Valley Parkway. When new low pressure sodium lamps became available again, the remaining low pressure sodium lighting on the elevated Gardiner between Strachan Avenue and the Don Valley Parkway would be maintained until a final decision on the future of this section of the expressway is made.

Black Creek Drive and Highway 27 are controlled access arterial roads, so they are lit with regular high pressure sodium street lighting and Highway 2A has no lighting, as it is a rural expressway. Therefore, upgrading expressway lighting was only required on the Allen, Don Valley and Gardiner Expressways. By 2005, uncertainty over the future of the elevated Gardiner Expressway continued, so low pressure sodium lighting was retained for now on this section of the municipal expressway system. The total replacement of lighting on the rest of the three Municipal expressways would finally take over twelve years to complete due to budget constraints.

The City of Toronto’s budget did not adequately cover all basic services, so the City had to come up with ideas to raise extra funds. This included a controversial plan to sell its street lights to help pay for basic services such as police and parks The deal would sell an undisclosed number of street lights and the poles they hang from to Toronto Hydro Street Lighting Inc., a subsidiary of Toronto Hydro Corporation, which is wholly owned by the City of Toronto. There are 160,000 lights on City streets in Toronto, half of which shine from City-owned poles. The other half hangs from Toronto Hydro poles supplying electricity to the City. On average, it costs $3,000 to erect each pole, plus $800 for the light, but they devalue over their 40- year lifespan. The deal would also include the lights on the Don Valley Parkway, Gardiner Expressway and Allen Road, which include 15,000 conventional poles and 145 high-mast poles. In May 2006, the last low pressure sodium lighting on the Gardiner Expressway from Strachan Avenue to the Don Valley Parkway was replaced by conventional high pressure sodium lighting utilizing existing poles. Toronto’s entire expressway system was now lit with high pressure sodium lighting.

PROVINCIAL TRANSFERS

Although no new construction took place in the 1990's, the Metro roads system was expanded in a different way. This has been through the transfer of certain Provincial highways to Metropolitan Toronto's responsibility. This began with the Highway 400 Extension. The Provincial Government decided that within the boundaries of Metropolitan Toronto, it would only retain its 400 series freeways. Any stretches of smaller highways, constructed as arterial roads, would go to Metro. The Province constructed an arterial from the end of Highway 400 at Jane Street extending south to join Weston Road north of St. Clair Avenue, instead of extending Highway 400 as an expressway. This roadway was completed in 1982. In that year, Provincial Order In Council transferred the road to the Metropolitan Toronto street system and Metro renamed it as Black Creek Drive. With this, Metro gained control of the lands alongside Black Creek Drive, which were originally acquired by the Province for the 400 Extension as an expressway to Eglinton Avenue, as well as the valley itself. This means that Metro could build interchanges and turn Black Creek Drive into a full Metro expressway at some point in the future. Certain other Provincial arterial highways within Metro were originally planned to become freeways. However, these plans were abandoned so these roads were declared surplus and transferred to Metro. Highway 27 originally stretched from the Lake Shore north to 51

beyond Steeles Avenue. In 1970, the Province reconstructed the section from the Queen Elizabeth Way to Highway 401 as Highway 427, a multi laned freeway. North of Highway 401, the plans were changed. Originally, Highway 427 would have extended north along Highway 27, but due to property requirements, it was realigned to jog west and continue north in place of the Airport Expressway and Indian Line along the Etobicoke Mississauga boundary line. Thus, the arterial Highway 27 was declared surplus.

ORIGINAL FLUORESCENT LIGHTING LOW PRESSURE SODIUM FIRST LOW PRESSURE SODIUM LIGHTING ON ALL METRO EXPRESSWAYS IN THE 1960’S INSTALLED ON THE ALLEN EXPRESSWAY ON ALL METRO EXPRESSWAYS 1970’S TO IN 1969 1990’S

CONVENTIONAL HIGH PRESSURE SODIUM LIGHTING HIGH MAST HIGH PRESSURE SODIUM LOW MAST HIGH PRESSURE SODIUM ON THE ALLEN EXPRESSWAY AND THE ELEVATED LIGHTING ON THE DON VALLEY AND LIGHTING ON THE DON VALLEY AND GARDINER EXPRESSWAY TODAY GARDINER EXPRESSWAYS TODAY GARDINER EXPRESSWAYS TODAY

In the east of Metro, the arterial Highway 2, and Highway 2A which is a very short expressway extending west from Highway 401 to join Kingston Road at Highland Creek, were also declared surplus. Highway 2A would have been used to connect the east end of the now-shelved Scarborough Expressway to Highway 401. The other stretch of freeway that the Province decided was surplus to their needs was the last stretch of the Queen Elizabeth Way from Highway 427 east to join the Gardiner Expressway at the Humber River. This section was more suited to Metro's needs as part of the Gardiner than as a major Provincial highway. On January 1, 1996, the Province announced the transfer of Highway 27, Highway 2, Highway 2A and the Queen Elizabeth Way east of Highway 427 to Metropolitan Toronto. These transfers gave Metro an arterial highway in the far northwest; a short stretch of expressway in the east and the Gardiner Expressway was lengthened by 6 km (4 miles) to the west. The Queen Elizabeth Way was added to the Gardiner Expressway and Highways 27 and 2A became municipal expressways. These highways needed repairs and some of the bridges, which date back to the 1950's, needed rehabilitation.

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Metro discovered that these highways were in very poor condition, so they asked the Province to delay the transfers and carry out necessary repairs to bring them up to standard. The Provincial Government agreed, and carried out the work. They also gave Metro 10 million dollars towards further repairs on these roads. The Province then officially transferred these highways to Metro on April 1, 1997. The province would now only keep its 400-series freeways within Metro's boundaries. Metro decided to rename some sections of these highways to make them fit in more with the Metro roads system. The Queen Elizabeth Way became part of the Gardiner Expressway because it was just a western extension of the expressway. The transferred part of Highway 2, in Metro's extreme eastern end, became part of Kingston Road. It was proposed to rename Highway 27 as Etobicoke Drive, but this was not carried out because Metro wanted to give it expressway status. The roads given to Metro by the Province would prove to be a strain on Metro's budget for many years to come.

DISMANTLING THE EAST END OF THE GARDINER EXPRESSWAY

In 1971, four expressways in the Metro area came to abrupt and incomplete ends, prepared for extensions. These included the north end of the Don Valley Parkway, the east end of the Gardiner Expressway, both ends of the then Allen Expressway and the south end of Highway 400. By 1997, all but one of these had been extended and finished off to some degree, though maybe not as originally planned. The exception was the east end of the Gardiner Expressway, which, to that date, was still unresolved. By the mid 1990's, rehabilitation of the elevated Gardiner Expressway was completed from the west end to the Don Valley Parkway. Metro was committed to repairing the last section of the Gardiner east from the Don Valley Parkway to the end at Leslie Street. This section was completed by 1966 to carry traffic over existing railway lines and was intended to connect to the proposed Scarborough Expressway, which would have continued to Highway 401. With the deletion of the Scarborough Transportation Corridor in 1994, Metro dropped its interest in extending the Gardiner further east. At that time, the Gardiner Extension still came to an incomplete end at Leslie Street, prepared for a further extension, with an unfinished structure. This temporary situation had become a permanent one.

In 1996, Metro's budget was cut back to the bare essentials allegedly due to funding cutbacks from the Province, so Metro wanted to take a look at ways to save money. Metro's Transportation Department took a look at the east end of the Gardiner and decided it was time to replace the unfinished structure at Leslie Street with a permanent terminus. They were still committed to rehabilitation of this final section of the Gardiner and considered building new ramps at the end of it at Leslie Street in order to finish the expressway off into Lake Shore Boulevard and get rid of a traffic queue lining up to get on to it via a single-lane ramp. Jack Layton, Councillor for the area which this eastern piece of the expressway passed through, believed that since this section carried lower traffic volumes as the downtown section, it should be torn down as had been recommended by his Gardiner/Lake Shore task force a decade earlier. He felt that Lake Shore Boulevard could handle the traffic and that the boulevard could be transformed into something beautiful. He became Chairman of Metro's Transportation Committee and asked for a study on this section. A 1993 study stated that it cost $20 million more to dismantle the eastern portion of the expressway than to rehabilitate it if the costs were amortized over twenty years. The policy of council was to proceed with rehabilitation. Some repair work was done just east of the Don River. However, in 1996 when Metro was about to proceed with the next stretch of rehabilitation on the eastern Gardiner, Councillor Layton asked for a new study on whether it would be cheaper to dismantle it in the long run.

The existing elevated structure in the east was deteriorating rapidly and needed attention urgently. A new study was initiated in 1996 and, this time, the cost figures would be amortized over fifty years. Four options were open to Metro. 1) They could retain and rehabilitate the existing structure, with possible improvements to the Leslie Street interchange to provide a proper expressway terminus, such as a new single lane on-ramp from Lake Shore Boulevard between Leslie Street and Coxwell Avenue. 2) Metro could demolish the elevated extension of the expressway from the Don River to Leslie Street and replace it with new double lane ramps

53 descending into the middle of Lake Shore Boulevard, either east of the Don Valley Parkway near Carlaw Avenue or (3) west of it, near Cherry Street. Lake Shore Boulevard would then be widened and improved to the east to provide similar traffic capacity as the Gardiner Extension had carried. Finally, 4) Metro could demolish the Gardiner structure and provide no new ramps, requiring traffic to come on and off the expressway at Jarvis Street, further west. Demolishing the expressway and providing no new ramps was ruled out as unworkable. Placing the new ramps west of the Don Valley Parkway would be too dangerous due to the merging traffic from the Parkway. Therefore, it was decided that with the dismantling option, the new ramps would have to be east of the Don River, in the proximity of Bouchette Street, two blocks east of the river. After studying the situation, Metro officials decided that the most cost-efficient option was to dismantle the expressway and build new double lane ramps rather than rehabilitate the expressway. It allegedly would cost $34 million to demolish and $48 million to rehabilitate, if these costs were amortized over fifty years. The rehabilitation cost would come to $54 million if the new ramps were to be added at the end of the expressway at Leslie Street. The recommendation was therefore to proceed with constructing a new eastern terminus for the Gardiner Expressway with double lane ramps, but it would be located east of the Don River rather than at the end of the existing expressway structure at Leslie Street. The rest of the expressway from Bouchette Street, near the Don River, east to Leslie Street would be demolished. Lake Shore Boulevard, which ran beneath and beside the expressway, would be improved to accommodate additional traffic and it would also be landscaped. Rail spurs crossing Lake Shore would remain, but level crossing gates would be installed. It was generally felt that the lower traffic volumes on this section of the Gardiner did not warrant further rehabilitation costs, which would eventually include road deck replacement. It was agreed that an improved surface boulevard could handle the traffic, saving Metro further repair costs, and would supposedly open up green landscaping possibilities. Traffic flow would improve with double lane access and egress to and from the Gardiner instead of the existing single lane ramps at Leslie Street.

Every ridiculous available argument was put forward as fact in support of demolition and it was even referred to as ‘dismantling’ which applies an ability to reconstruct, while the real agenda was to demolish it at all costs.

Councillor Layton endorsed the ‘dismantling’ plan and even offered to have the demolition filmed. However, Metro Councillor Paul Christie and City Councillor Tom Jakobek, representing the Beach area further east, were far less enthusiastic about the idea. They were very concerned about traffic flow and its effect on the already-congested Beach area streets. Councillor Jakobek questioned how the study was done and where the cost figures came from. He wanted a more detailed study and more open discussion of the plan. The proposal would include traffic detours for Lake Shore Boulevard but would keep access and egress to and from the Gardiner open at all times. The new ramps would be built first and would merge with Lake Shore Boulevard just west of Carlaw Avenue. A widened and beautified Lake Shore Boulevard would then become the main thoroughfare to the east. 1.28 km (slightly less than 1 mile) of elevated expressway would be removed and the rebuilt Gardiner would slope down into Lake Shore Boulevard between the Don River and Logan Avenue. Metro Council approved the plan in 1997 and would complete it by 2003. It was delayed due to budget constraints until after Metro amalgamation in 1998. By no means was everyone happy with this proposal. Councillor Tom Jakobek, who became the new amalgamated City's first Budget Chief in 1998, was very opposed to the idea and was determined to stop it. He feared the possibility that more through traffic would infiltrate local streets after the expressway was removed. Public meetings were held and residents on both sides of the issue spoke up. The Gardiner East dismantling was meant to just provide a new permanent terminus for the Gardiner Expressway at its east end because there was not going to be any Scarborough Expressway. It became a battleground for pro and anti expressway groups who saw it as a moral victory for either side. Work was due to begin in 1997, but was now delayed until late 1998 or 1999. Opposition from angry residents, who believed that expressway traffic would use their local streets, was growing. This was the first time that residents had turned out to keep an expressway rather than preventing one. By spring 1998, the issue was still unresolved. The decision to tear down the eastern Gardiner was the last action on expressway development taken by the federated Metro council before the new amalgamated Toronto council took office on January 1, 1998. The new council would have to give the final approvals for the tenders for the dismantling

54 project. Supporters of the project stated that approval had already been given, so therefore the new council was bound to rubber stamp it. However, opponents stressed that the old Metro council had approved it, and the new amalgamated council, which replaced Metro, could review the project, and even cancel it. Coincidentally, the City also planned to dismantle the Lawson Road bridge over Highway 2A at the same time as dismantling the eastern Gardiner Expressway. Toronto Transportation officials said that the bridge, which dated from the 1950's, was in poor shape and should be torn down and replaced with an at-grade intersection with traffic signals. It was the only grade separation over Highway 2A, located at its western end, near where it crossed Highland Creek. The timing of this proposal, to take place at the same time as the Gardiner East dismantling, was seen by road supporters as a deliberate plot to stop any possible revival of a possible future eastern expressway link by removing the two existing ends of the route where it could hook up to the completed highway network. This infuriated commuters and local residents more. Eventually, council voted to maintain and rehabilitate the Lawson Road bridge.

The Metro Roads and Traffic Department, which had always produced an unbiased technical engineering standpoint, recommending road improvements as they saw a need, felt political pressure. This department came under intense attack as the "standard bearer for the automobile" from anti-road activists. In 1990, the name of the department was changed to Metro Transportation to make it sound more politically acceptable and to give the impression that roads were for cyclists and transit as well as for cars. The name became Toronto Transportation after the amalgamation of the Metro area in 1998. Engineers in this department highly endorsed the East Gardiner dismantling, stating that they wanted to "improve the urban character" of the area by ridding it of an old elevated structure and providing landscaping and bicycle and pedestrian paths, decorated with public art. This new politically acceptable attitude won favour with the anti-automobile and anti-road activists. However, it caused a backlash from commuters, trucking firms and pro-road groups, who saw it as a cave-in to a political minority. They had previously endorsed the work of the Transportation Department, but were now attacking the department for becoming too politically correct and accusing them of putting this above the long-term needs of the City. This caused pro-road activists to start to organize public opinion against the East Gardiner dismantling and to fight the issue at public meetings. They found themselves in the same position as their opponents against expressways had been in during the 1969 debate when they opposed the Spadina Expressway construction. The situation was now in reverse and the future of transportation planning in Toronto was again a controversial issue. A generation had passed since the anti-expressway revolt of the late 1960's and early 1970's and younger people were beginning to question the success of the transit priority in planning. Many people considered it to be a total failure because they saw rising traffic congestion, lower transit use, businesses fleeing the City and the existence of dangerous, overcrowded streets with impatient drivers. A bid by Toronto to get the Olympic Games in 1996 failed partly due to its inadequate roads. Some people began to talk of promoting another change of policy back to one of a balanced system of roads and transit, as had been the case in the early 1960's. A compromise was even being put forward, which would provide new roads as by-passes to take through traffic out of neighbourhoods, so that local streets could accommodate more public transit and bicycle use. Former Toronto Mayor David Crombie, who headed Toronto's 2008 Olympic bid, strongly endorsed the east Gardiner dismantling plan. He wanted the proposed Olympic village to be located in the eastern Portlands, and he felt that a new landscaped boulevard replacing the elevated expressway would help to secure the Games for Toronto due to its beautifying the area. One of the biggest concerns with the dismantling project was the use of the railway lines crossing Lake Shore Boulevard. The proposal was to leave them in place. Metro staff stated that only two trains per week used them, so there would be little interruption of traffic. Councillor Tom Jakobek did not believe this, so he ordered an independent study done by the Toronto Harbour Commission. This study discovered that the Metro staff had insufficient data and that there were in fact over 20 trains using the crossings per week. The study also suggested a compromise plan to bring the expressway over the tracks by placing the new ramps east of Carlaw Avenue. Metro staff were embarrassed by the findings and promised further detailed study of the project. Any further decisions on this project were postponed until after amalgamation in 1998.

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NEW HUMBER RIVER BRIDGES

The bridges which carried the Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Boulevard over the mouth of the Humber River were obsolete and in need of replacement by the 1990's. The first of these bridges, which carried Lake Shore Boulevard and the eastbound Gardiner over the river, was constructed in 1935. At that time, it was built for traffic merging from the then soon to open Queen Elizabeth Way on to Lake Shore Boulevard. The Gardiner bridges, built beside it, were constructed in 1955 when work first began on building the Gardiner Expressway. At that time, these bridges were located at the end of the Province's Queen Elizabeth Way. However, in 1997, this section of the Provincial highway was transferred to Metro to become part of the Gardiner Expressway, so no Provincial approval was now needed. Metro could proceed to rebuild or repair these bridges. The original bridge, built in 1935, was built on sediment, rather than solid bedrock, so the piles it stood on had sunk, producing a buckled roadway. This created a roller coaster-type of ride for the eastbound Gardiner traffic. This became known as the "Humber Hump", a huge bump in the middle of the roadway. Due to the age of these bridges and the buckled condition of one of them, Metro decided in the early 1990's to replace them entirely. Six new bridges at a cost of $30 million would be constructed by 2001, one at a time in order to keep the traffic flowing. The eastbound bridges would be replaced first, and then the westbound ones would be rebuilt afterwards. These were complimented by a new arch pedestrian bridge built at the mouth of the Humber River south of the Gardiner-Lake Shore bridges. On May 24, 1998, the new eastbound Gardiner bridge was opened and the old buckled one was demolished. The infamous "Humber Hump" was now history. The Humber Bridge replacement project for the Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Boulevard was completed by 2000.

7. AMALGAMATION 1998 – 2006

SIX MUNICIPALITIES BECOME ONE

By the mid 1990's, Metro had come full circle. The federation had been created in 1953 because urban development of the City of Toronto was spilling over into the surrounding municipalities. At that time, there were thirteen municipalities in the Metro area. Frederick Gardiner, Metro's first chairman, was instrumental in getting these municipalities to work together and form a federation. Originally, full amalgamation was preferred and was desired by the City of Toronto, but the suburban communities objected, so a federation was formed as a compromise. Partial amalgamation occurred in 1966 when the thirteen municipalities within Metro were reduced to six. In 1974, the West Rouge area of Pickering, to the east, joined Metro as part of Scarborough in order to get better services. Twenty years later, most people were opposed to the continuation of a two-tiered municipal government. They felt over-governed and even voted in a referendum held by the City of Toronto to abolish Metro. By then, most of the Metro area was built up and development was spilling over into Metro's neighbours such as Mississauga, Markham and Pickering. However, a serious rift within Metro itself between the City of Toronto and the other parts of Metro was leading to Toronto considering leaving Metro. Duplication of services from both Metro and the local government was a concern. Complete amalgamation of Metro into one City might have prevented this rift, but the cities would not support this idea. Meanwhile, a provincial task force, led by Anne Golden, was set up to review the situation. This review recommended that Metro merge with its four neighbouring regional municipalities of Halton, Peel, York and Durham to form an enlarged federation called the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in 1998. The proposed new federation would have its responsibilities altered to make it more acceptable. However, when the Progressive Conservatives returned to office in Ontario in 1995, municipal reform was one item on their agenda. They stated that a new system for Metro would be in place in time for municipal elections in 1997. They felt that a GTA government would be too big, so they dropped that idea. The government began to look at reforming Metro and leaving its boundaries intact. Two models were offered. One would merge the Metro area completely into one City and the other kept a Metro federation, but with only four cities within it, absorbing York and East York into the larger cities.

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Former Toronto Mayor David Crombie headed a commission, which recommended complete amalgamation of Metro and the setting up of a board to oversee the whole of the Greater Toronto Area. Almost everyone wanted to rid the Metro area of duplication of services and high taxes. Many people wanted to retain the local councils, because they felt that they were good for neighbourhood issues. However, many others, including the Province and Metro, felt that the Metro area had been moving towards amalgamation into one government and that one set of services for the whole area was far more efficient. Therefore, the one City model was chosen. However, it was believed that a Greater Toronto Area Services Board to coordinate region-wide issues, including planning, was also necessary. Metro and the six local councils would be abolished and replaced by one City of Toronto, headed by a new Mayor. The surrounding regional municipalities of Halton, Peel, York and Durham could also be amalgamated into respective single cities eventually. The new unified Toronto and a Greater Toronto Services Board, headed by a chairperson, would oversee its surrounding regions. Metro expressways and all arterial and local roads would now be handled by a new City Works and Emergency Services Department. A new plan for the unified City would be drawn up which would replace the existing 1994 Metro plan.

After much difficulty due to bad press from groups opposed to amalgamation, the Provincial Government passed the City of Toronto Act in 1997, which merged Metro and its consistent municipalities into one City of Toronto, headed, by a Mayor. The last Metro chairman, Alan Tonks, was appointed to head a transition team, which would lay out how the new government would work. In response to the opposition from some people to the amalgamated City, which opponents nicknamed "the Megacity", the Province agreed to set up community councils with the same boundaries as the six old cities to deal with very local issues. However, important region-wide issues such as transportation and planning would be dealt with by the new amalgamated City council. Elections were held in November 1997 and the new City was proclaimed on January 1, 1998. North York Mayor Mel Lastman was elected the first Mayor of the amalgamated City of Toronto. East York councillor Case Ootes became Deputy Mayor and East Toronto councillor Tom Jakobek became budget chief. The Council started with 56 members, but was reduced to 44 members in 2000. The number of Community Councils was also reduced from six to four.

A NEW ROAD CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

By 1999, City of Toronto staff was putting together the Official Plans of the seven former municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto and creating a new Official Plan for the City of Toronto. It would be ready for adoption by 2001 and was meant to take a visionary long-term look at the City's future. With traffic congestion expected to double by 2021, transportation would be a major part of that Plan. Official policy to promote transit instead of roads was being upheld by some, and coming under attack by others. This would open up a whole new debate in transportation planning in Toronto by 2000, which will shape the City's future in the 21st Century.

In 2000, a new classification system for the entire roads system for the amalgamated City was approved to be part of the new Official Plan to be adopted in 2001. It consisted of local, collector, minor arterial, major arterial roads and expressways. The Gardiner Expressway, Don Valley Parkway, Allen Expressway/Road from Eglinton Avenue West to north of Wilson Avenue, and Highway 2A were recognized as municipal expressways because they were all grade-separated. Highway 27, Black Creek Drive and the northern Allen Road, from north of Wilson Avenue to where it joins Dufferin Street, were classified as major arterial roads because they had signalized intersections. These major arterial roads, however, are limited access highways and are still considered parts of the municipal expressway system because of their high capacity function. Provincial 400 series highways are still referred to as freeways. The plan just confirmed situations which existed. The Allen Road had regained its expressway status, which was a reversal of previous policies.

In 2001, the new City of Toronto draft Official Plan was available, which as far as transportation goes, stuck to the existing policies of providing no new roads and encouraging the use of public transit and other forms of transportation. It specifically recommended massive expansion of streetcar transit, involving taking away

58 some road capacity from car drivers. After heated debate, Council adopted this plan in 2002. The old idea to extend Leslie Street south from Eglinton Avenue East to join the Bayview Avenue extension, which was in the previous 1994 plan, died because it was not included in the new Official Plan. The policies of the new Official Plan clashed directly with the trend of the public, which is towards more auto use, driving cars more and further. The Greater Toronto Services Board under its new chairman, Gordon Chong, a former City Councillor, was expected to ask the Province for more powers over the municipalities, including over transportation. Mr. Chong wished to tackle the problem of traffic congestion levels and wanted to see new road improvements. As traffic levels grow, problems, such as loss of business, road rage and accident levels also increase. This would only rekindle the debate over new roads and expressways. In July, 2001, Toronto lost the bid for the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing, China, however the City pledged to continue the waterfront development plan with financial aid from the Federal and Provincial governments.

A LAKE ONTARIO EXPRESSWAY

In the early 1970's, two ideas had been put forward for a landfill causeway to be constructed about 1.5 km (1 mile) offshore. One idea, put forward by Scarborough resident, Abel van Wyk, was for an in-filled landfill causeway stretching along the entire Toronto waterfront replacing the Gardiner Expressway and providing for an eastern connection. It would provide 50 square kilometres of new parkland and a new waterfront City. The other idea would just provide an eastern link by swinging around Scarborough only, coming off the east end of the Gardiner Expressway. The plan would utilize mostly landfill, with some bridging and some floating sections. Constructing a causeway would involve traditional fill and some lake dredging. It would create a new waterfront which would carry an expressway around the City, keeping it away from neighbourhoods. It would also provide new waterfront parkland and would deflect the waves away from the Scarborough Bluffs, drastically reducing the erosion of the magnificent cliffs. However, this idea was not well received by environmentalists and would involve very high expense. This idea had been considered as an alternative to the Scarborough Expressway, but was dismissed by Metro planners.

In the 1990’s, then Toronto east-end City Councillor and Budget Chief Tom Jakobek was determined to try to find a solution to the severe traffic congestion in the east Beach area after complaints from his constituents about local streets becoming dangerous due to heavy through traffic.

A Riverdale engineer, Kevin Walters, suggested, as early as 1985, that since the Scarborough Expressway was now defunct, a lake route was the only way to go. He stated that a landfill causeway and tunnelling was too expensive and disruptive, but a trestle-style bridge, similar to those built off the coast of Florida, could easily and inexpensively be built along the Toronto waterfront. He suggested using this bridging technology for almost the entire route. He would utilize the existing elevated Gardiner Expressway through downtown because an inexpensive bridge could not be built across the harbour. His idea would construct a bridge across Humber Bay to eliminate the need to widen the western Gardiner, called the Humber Bayway, and to construct a bridge offshore from the Scarborough Bluffs to connect the eastern Gardiner with Highway 401, known as the Offshore Expressway or Offshore Extension. The route would have twin four lane bridges that would be 5 metres (15 feet) above the water level. Some sections could rise to 20 metres (60 feet) to allow boats to pass. The route would be paid for by tolls and the sale of Scarborough Expressway lands. Councillor Jakobek and other Councillors liked the idea and wanted it studied in detail.

CITIZENS' TRANSPORTATION ALLIANCE PLAN

In 1998, Citizens for the Retention of the East Gardiner Expressway (C.R.E.G.E.), which was the grassroots citizens group fighting to retain the east end of the Gardiner Expressway which was scheduled for demolition, decided to come up with their own plan for Toronto. They began to merge with other transport lobby groups to form a coalition called the Citizens' Transportation Alliance (C.T.A.), in order to have a bigger voice. Engineers and planners within the group, which also included ordinary citizens, started to work on a

59 transportation plan for the City which they felt would help to make Toronto's later-failed bid for the 2008 Olympics successful. Kevin Walters, the Riverdale engineer who had come up with the offshore bridge idea to extend the Gardiner, analyzed the entire City with the help of several other members of the group. Within six months, they had produced a plan which they felt would be politically acceptable. It was meant to be a compromise of both pro and anti expressway arguments. The plan showed expressway extensions only in existing vacant corridors along with arterial road extensions, an extensive subway network and a system of off-road bicycle trails. The transportation plan was renamed as ‘Get Toronto Moving’. This plan would not be taken seriously until the mayoral election of 2010.

In 2003, Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman announced that he would retire from politics and not seek another term of office. The election of left-wing Councillor David Miller, endorsed by anti-Spadina activist Jane Jacobs, as the second Mayor of the amalgamated City of Toronto, and some new left-wing councillors, in November 2003, guaranteed that a pro-transit bias in Toronto’s planning, with no new road or expressway construction, would continue for the foreseeable future. The policy of transit priority on City streets would be pursued with road space being given over exclusively to transit. This also put the future of the elevated portion of the Gardiner Expressway in doubt.

DON VALLEY PARKWAY CONGESTION

In March 2001, Councillor Paul Sutherland, who represented the northern Don Valley area, put forward a proposal to widen the Don Valley Parkway by adding two new lanes in both directions. These would be toll express lanes. Drivers would pay $2.00 each way, but would have a quick route along the Parkway. This would, in effect, widen the Don Valley Parkway from six to ten lanes. It would cost about $200 million and could involve some major reconstruction of bridges and interchanges. The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Pension Fund would fund it. By 2001, the Don Valley Parkway was carrying 160,000 vehicles, when it was designed for only 60,000. Sutherland's plan represented the first new expressway expansion idea put forward by a municipal politician, since the stopping of expressway construction by Toronto in the mid- 1970's. It met with expected opposition from anti-car downtown politicians, who wanted to improve only public transit and were worried about the effect a wider Don Valley Parkway would have on the Don River valley which it ran through. Motoring advocates, however, preferred the redirection of gasoline taxes by the Province into road building. However, there was general public support for Councillor Sutherland's plan because it represented a return to the direction of planning road improvements to handle increased traffic, rather than simply trying to encourage increased public transit use, which was not solving the traffic gridlock situation in the Toronto area. The Parkway plan would be controversial, but after thirty years, it re-opened the issue of expressway building in Toronto, which would create a new transportation debate in the future. If approved, the Parkway widening plan could open the door for other new road proposals in the Toronto area. Councillor Sutherland's idea was soon followed by another suggestion by Councillor Chris Korwin- Kuczynski, from High Park in the west end. His idea was to place a $1.00 toll on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway and other major arterials during morning rush hour to get commuters to stagger the times of their travels in order to reduce rush hour congestion. It remains to be seen if these proposals would work and how acceptable introducing tolls on to existing municipal roads is to the general public. However, it will certainly prove to be a very controversial issue for municipal politicians. Meanwhile, the Province announced construction of new Provincial highways and widenings of existing ones around the Greater Toronto area as a way to tackle growing traffic gridlock.

City staff and the transportation committee as being contrary to the City policy of encouraging public transit over cars quickly dismissed the Sutherland proposal for the Don Valley Parkway. The plan was even denied any type of City staff study. However, a private firm came forward and offered to do a detailed study on the Don Valley plan. Even this was narrowly rejected by City Council in a 20 to 16 vote. This has rekindled a new debate over expressways in Toronto. Paul Sutherland vowed to bring his Don Valley widening plan back because it did gain almost half of the Council’s support. Northwest-end councillor George Mammolitti also 60 stated that residents in his area wanted to be able to drive downtown Toronto in twenty minutes. Thus, support for expressway building was becoming strong again as traffic congestion in the City got worse. A study called ‘Reducing Car Dependence’ released in 2001 as part of the new Official Plan, the first plan for the amalgamated City, recommended new transit initiatives to ease traffic, but no new roads. These developments only served to frustrate drivers who were seeking road improvements in the Toronto area to tackle the City’s growing traffic gridlock. Meanwhile an extension of Front Street west to join the Gardiner Expressway with a new interchange, located near Strachan Avenue, was approved as part of the waterfront development. This would be the only road improvement to be constructed for the time being. Reconstruction of the elevated Gardiner Expressway into a surface and tunnelled road was recommended in the Official Plan, though a nearly $2 billion cost and anticipated disruption had made it highly unlikely.

What did come of Paul Sutherland's Don Valley widening proposal was a study by the City of Toronto to look at various solutions to the growing traffic congestion on the Don Valley Parkway. The Don Valley Corridor Transportation Master Plan study was released in March 2005. However, true to City policy, it did not recommend any major road improvements. Instead, it recommended that express buses run along the shoulders of the Don Valley Parkway and along Don Mills Road, an arterial road which parallels the Parkway on the west side. It did include one small road extension, the Redway Road Extension, which would be a road for buses only. Councillor Jane Pitfield championed this plan, intended to reduce Don Valley Parkway congestion by enticing people out of their cars and on to express buses. It faced opposition from inner City neighbourhoods, whose residents saw new bus lanes and a road for buses only eventually being opened up to cars later and crowding at subway stations. It remains to be seen if a plan like this would have much effect. Councillor Michael Thompson, from Scarborough, introduced a new idea to have the City Transportation Department study possibly using the Canadian Pacific North Toronto Railway Line, which crossed the Don Valley Parkway north of Eglinton Avenue and went across north-east Scarborough, for transportation purposes, to include public transit, cycling, pedestrians and automobiles. This motion passed and opened up the opportunity for new road improvements in Toronto's northeast.

TEARING DOWN THE ELEVATED GARDINER EXPRESSWAY

One of the first actions of the new amalgamated Toronto council was to put in a bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. David Crombie was appointed to head this bid. His plan included revamping the central portion of the Gardiner Expressway ostensibly in order to beautify the waterfront for the games. Since tunnelling the Gardiner Expressway was too costly, Mr. Crombie proposed that the central portion of it be rebuilt as an eight-lane at-grade surface arterial, similar to University Avenue, which is a grand boulevard. However, this was not considered essential to the bid. Meanwhile, the Canadian Highways International Corporation, which built the toll Highway 407, and the IBI Group, were preparing plans for rebuilding the Gardiner in an open trench between Dufferin and Jarvis Streets, paid for by tolls. Lake Shore Boulevard would be developed as a beautiful grand waterfront boulevard to run above it on the surface. Then Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman liked the idea and asked City staff to study it in October 1998. They noted that the Gardiner burial plan had many problems and questions, so a decision on it was deferred until May, 1999. The Province expressed an interest in reconstruction of the Gardiner Expressway and this offended some local politicians. Councillor Howard Moscoe put forward a motion to give the Gardiner to the Province as a gift since they were interested in it. The motion passed City council, but was rejected by the Province. City Council also disliked the Gardiner burial proposals because the proposed tolls were unpopular and many drivers would switch to other streets to avoid the tolls, making it unlikely that the City would make any money from the plan. The Mayor went off the burial idea, which quietly died, for the time being, at least.

On April 16, 1998, City of Toronto Council met to decide the fate of the eastern Gardiner Expressway from the Don River to Leslie Street. The proposal before them was to construct new two-lane off ramps, descending into Lake Shore Boulevard at Bouchette Street, half-way between the Don River and Carlaw Avenue. The rest of the elevated expressway structure east to Leslie Street would be demolished. A bicycle path, new pedestrian

61 walkways and public art and landscaping would also be done. This was meant to create a beautiful boulevard which would be a pleasure to drive along, while going through a predominantly industrial area. The rail spurs, which crossed Lake Shore Boulevard, would be relocated from the median of the road to the north side. This plan, however, met with overwhelming opposition from South Riverdale, Beach and Scarborough residents led by a group called Citizens for Retention of the East Gardiner Expressway (C.R.E.G.E.). They feared that through traffic would infiltrate local streets and back up further east. The film industry, located in the corridor, also opposed the plan because they feared that the noise from demolition would disrupt their filming and that access to their area would be reduced, thus hurting their industry. Chlorine tankers on rail spurs crossing Lake Shore were also a worry. Dust from the demolition was also a serious health concern. C.R.E.G.E. came up with their own east Gardiner plan, which included full rehabilitation of the expressway, a new double on-ramp at Leslie Street, and all the greening and community improvements of the dismantling plan. The greening would be placed along the south side of the expressway structure, instead of along the north side as proposed. They felt that it would please everybody. However, City staff stuck to their ‘dismantling’ plan.

The Council was divided on the issue. Therefore, Councillor Jack Layton, who represented the area which the eastern Gardiner went through, who was also feeling the heat of the opposition, decided to offer a compromise. He moved a motion to proceed with the plan, but to find a way for the traffic to by-pass the signal light at Carlaw Avenue. This might involve extending the new ramps further east over Carlaw Avenue, which was slightly more than half way between the Don River and Leslie Street. A revised design was drawn up, known as the "Alternative Plan" which included rehabilitating the expressway up to just west of Carlaw Avenue and then constructing the new double ramps over the Carlaw intersection to descend into Lake Shore Boulevard on the east side. Only the unfinished structure at the far east end of the expressway would come down. The urban character improvements, including the bicycle and pedestrian paths and the public art landscaping, would still be done. Meanwhile, $1.3 million worth of emergency repair work on this section of the Gardiner was carried out, as it could not wait any longer. The new compromise proposal pleased nobody other than a few politicians. Proponents of ‘dismantling’ still pushed for the original project, and opponents, who were in the clear majority, demanded the entire extension remain and that new ramps be built over Leslie Street at the expressway's existing east end. City staff insisted that the original plan with the ramps east of the Don River could be amended to mitigate the problems, so they dismissed the compromise plan. They also promised that noise and dust controls would be put in place. The local film industry also opposed the compromise because it would have brought the ramps down in front of their studios, causing trucks to change gears, which would be very noisy. Their position was that the east Gardiner should either all stay up or all come down. The film industry tended to prefer that it all stay up to by-pass them.

City staff came up with a "Community Improvement Plan" associated with the east Gardiner ‘dismantling’ proposal, which would create a scenic area along the proposed new boulevard. Therefore, the issue was deferred until May 1999, so that it could be studied further. This would also coincide with a decision on the future of the entire Gardiner as a whole. Residential support for keeping the east Gardiner was signalling the end of the anti-expressway era in Toronto municipal politics, which had lasted since 1969. However, at its meeting on May 17, 1999, the City's Urban Environment Development Committee heard over sixty deputants on the east Gardiner issue, who were 2 to 1 in favour of demolition. Councillor Jack Layton, who called in as many anti-expressway activists as possible and packed the meeting, had arranged this. This gave the committee the false impression that the public had turned around and now supported the demolition. They wrapped up their involvement in the issue by voting 7 to 1 for the original plan of full demolition. The lone opposing vote came from Scarborough councillor Ron Moeser, who wanted new ramps at Leslie Street.

At this point, the final decision rested with Council. Councillor Tom Jakobek, who was very disappointed, but not discouraged, continued to push for the compromise option. Supporters continued their campaign of telephoning the Mayor and Councillors and alerting drivers entering the Leslie Street ramp. The decision would be made at a meeting of Council held from June 9 - 11. Rumours went around that Council was split with downtown members being primarily pro-demolition and suburban members being prominently pro-

62 retention. The prediction was that the decision would be very close. The issue which was meant to be very easy for anti-Gardiner activists, turned out to be extremely controversial due to the concern by commuters over traffic congestion in the City. On June 10, 1999, Council met to finally decide on the fate of the east Gardiner Expressway once and for all. A motion to retain the extension put forward by Scarborough Councillor Norm Kelly was defeated. Another motion to revive the compromise plan of ramps east of Carlaw Avenue was put forward by Beach Councillor Sandra Bussin and was also defeated. Council, pressured by Mayor Lastman’s staff, finally ended the issue by voting 44 to 8 to proceed with the original plan of demolition of the entire extension and building new double-lane ramps at Bouchette Street. A green boulevard would be created to the east, to replace the elevated extension. Sound barriers would be built to keep noise away from nearby film studios. Demolition work would begin in 2000 and the project would be completed by 2002. However, Beach Councillor and City Budget Chief Tom Jakobek vowed to continue to fight for retention of the expressway extension within the one year it had left of existence. As far as most councillors were concerned, Toronto had dealt with its last major expressway issue and would now concentrate on expanding public transit.

John Sewell, who had been an anti Spadina Expressway activist, urban reformer and Mayor of Toronto from 1978 to 1980, put forward an idea to deck over the Gardiner Expressway in the west end. The Gardiner/Lake Shore Task Force had originally looked at this idea in 1980. It would involve the stretch of the expressway in Parkdale, between Dowling Avenue and Dufferin Street, where the elevated section came down on to the surface to continue west around Humber Bay, at the Canadian National Exhibition Grounds. This stretch actually went below grade into a ditch and several streets, including westbound Lake Shore Boulevard and Jameson and Dunn Avenues, passed over it. The plan would involve decking over the expressway in this area, and the railway lines on the north side, to create a tunnel. Then a new residential area would be constructed on top. The developer would have the air rights to build over the expressway. This was also part of the original plan to bury the Gardiner put forward by engineer Bill Teron. It was meant to reunite the Parkdale neighbourhoods with the waterfront. Local councillors Chris Korwin-Kuzcinski and David Miller also endorsed it. John Sewell urged that the idea be studied in detail by City transportation and planning staff. Council agreed to do so and approved the study along with the demolition of the eastern Gardiner. City Council was starting to act on a 15-year desire by downtown politicians to reshape the City's waterfront by revamping the Gardiner Expressway. The proposal to privatize the expressway by burying it as a toll road had been dropped, but discussion of it would go on in some circles. The new eastern terminus of the Gardiner Expressway at Bouchette Street opened in January 2001, and the demolition of the eastern leg of the expressway to Leslie Street was completed by June 2001. By the end of 2002, the new rebuilt and landscaped Lake Shore Boulevard East was completed. Some of the east Gardiner’s support columns near Leslie Street were retained and rehabilitated as ‘public art’, as the Gardiner/Lake Shore Charette had recommended years before. Councillor Jack Layton proudly proclaimed that Toronto was the first Canadian City to take down a major expressway.

In November, 1999, then Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman had announced a major waterfront regeneration plan, with the backing of the Provincial and Federal Governments, which called for the gradual removal of the entire elevated Gardiner Expressway from east to west. The benefits of such a plan seems extremely low, so it remains to be seen if these plans will ever be implemented. City staff, who backed taking down the east Gardiner opposed the removal of the rest of it. They stated that the projected figures of $1 billion to bury the central Gardiner and $1/4 billion to just take it down were very much underestimated, and that a road of the same capacity for over 200,000 vehicles would always be needed. After dismantling the section east of the Don River, the next section from the Don River west to Parliament Street could possibly be dropped to ground level, as the lower Don was redeveloped. In April, 2000, the final report of the Waterfront Revitalization Task Force, headed by Dr. Robert Fung, was issued. It recommended tearing down the entire elevated Gardiner Expressway and replacing it with a buried section past Fort York in the west end from Strachan Avenue to Spadina Avenue and a surface arterial road east from Spadina Avenue. This would involve two parallel one-

63 way arterial roads connecting the proposed buried section with the new terminus east of the Don Valley Parkway. This would be paid for by private investment and would be a toll road.

This proposal did not go down too well with commuters. A flood of opposition came in. Many people, particularly those who used the expressway, were furious at the prospect of losing it and the Mayor's office was swamped with angry telephone calls. The idea was eventually dropped as too costly and unpopular. Meanwhile, Toronto was preparing its bid for the 2008 Olympic Games. On April 14, 2000, major reconstruction began on parts of the central Gardiner Expressway. Repair crews replaced the road deck on the central Gardiner between York and Jarvis Streets. A completely new road deck would last for another thirty years before any more repairs would be necessary. Planners said that the future of the elevated Gardiner was an issue which had to be resolved soon. In June, 2001, the Fung plan for the central Gardiner was revised by City staff to include a through tunnelled expressway from Strachan Avenue to Jarvis Street and a surface section from Jarvis Street to the new eastern terminus at Bouchette Street. This plan was to be entrenched in the new 2002 Official Plan. The estimated cost was put at $1.8 billion, without imposing tolls.

In February 2003, City Council gave overwhelming approval to the Front Street Extension, which would now stretch from Bathurst Street to Dufferin Street, including a new interchange with the Gardiner Expressway. It was expected that this extension would take some traffic off the congested Gardiner and from some of its off- ramps at Spadina Avenue and York Street. At the same time, Council rejected a plan to undertake the environmental assessment on burying the elevated Gardiner Expressway. It also rejected a planned major study to look at all of the options for the future of the central Gardiner, including both burying it and keeping it up. Instead, Council decided to look at ways of prettying up the elevated expressway. After much opposition to these projects from the anti-expressway movement in Toronto, Council still went ahead and voted to increase road capacity by maintaining the Gardiner and building the Front Street Extension. This was due to a strong collective suburban vote.

Architects John van Nostrand and Calvin Brook came up with a plan to beautify the elevated Gardiner Expressway which would involve moving Lake Shore Boulevard out from under the Gardiner, getting rid of five of the thirteen on and off ramps and then the freed-up space would be turned into something quite grand. It could be used for restaurants, shops, open air markets, artist studios, pedestrian malls and public parks, with lights streaming down from the highway and ivy and other greenery reaching skyward, covering the supporting pillars. The entire project would cost $500 million. A detailed study of this plan was presented to Council for consideration before the November 2003 election.

A modified Gardiner burial plan had been put forward in February 2003 by a University of Toronto study group, called Option 8A, which proposed putting the eastbound lanes of the elevated expressway underground from Bathurst Street to Rees Street, just west of Spadina Avenue. The eastbound Gardiner would end at Rees Street and join with eastbound Lake Shore Boulevard, which would be expanded to six lanes. East of Yonge Street, one or two lanes would branch off Lake Shore Boulevard on the left side to a natural embankment alongside the railway tracks, leading to the Don Valley Parkway. The westbound lanes of the Gardiner Expressway would remain elevated in the east end and would go underground at York Street and then re- emerge at Spadina Avenue, where they would run parallel to Lake Shore Boulevard.

This option of burying sections of the elevated Gardiner Expressway has been considered by the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation as the most viable plan for taking down the Gardiner while providing wide streets, green spaces, easy access to the waterfront and accommodating traffic volume. The study group claimed that this plan would slow the drive into Toronto on the Gardiner by only two minutes. However, currently traffic can get across the waterfront at 90 km/h on the existing expressway, and under this plan, it would be reduced to 70 km/h in the tunnelled sections and 50 km/h on Lake Shore Boulevard in the downtown core. The plan would cost $1.8 billion and take six to seven years to complete. The new council of Mayor David Miller, elected after November 2003, would now have to choose from three options for the elevated

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Gardiner Expressway – burying the entire downtown portion of the expressway as originally proposed, burying sections of it in Option 8A or keeping all the expressway up and beautifying it.

DEMOLITION OF THE EASTERN GARDINER EXPRESSWAY IN 2001

COLUMNS OF THE DEMOLISHED EASTERN GARDINER RETAINED AS PUBLIC ART 65

Meanwhile, the demolition of the eastern Gardiner Expressway and the transformation of the eastern Lake Shore Boulevard into a landscaped urban boulevard with green space and a bicycle path were nearing completion. Council had been told in 1997 that the project would cost $34 million to demolish and landscape, but $48 million to rehabilitate the eastern portion of the expressway. However, the final bill was $10 million more, coming in at over $44 million for the demolition and landscaping. Toxic soil had to be removed which added even more to the bill. The promise of saving $14 million over 50 years by demolishing this section of the expressway simply did not come true. Also, the landscaped boulevard did not look as beautiful as the City had envisaged, instead it was just a surface highway, with few strolling pedestrians or cyclists nearby. A traffic study released in 2005 showed that tearing down the eastern leg of the Gardiner reduced traffic on Lake Shore Boulevard by 30 per cent because it diverted that traffic on to other local streets, including 26 per cent more traffic on nearby Eastern Avenue. Thus, removal of the two- kilometre end piece of the expressway put more traffic on to other local neighbourhood streets, just as opponents of the demolition had predicted.

The Gardiner Expressway was slowly disappearing from the east. In 1994, the proposed extension across Scarborough was deleted from the City’s plans. Between 1999 and 2002, the City of Toronto had demolished the eastern leg of the elevated Gardiner Expressway from the Don River to Leslie Street and replaced it with a new set of ramps and an upgraded Lake Shore Boulevard. By 2004, a similar plan for demolishing the next section of the Gardiner Expressway from the Don River to Jarvis Street was brought forward. Meanwhile, on June 9, 2004, the Canadian Automobile Association adopted the Citizens’ Transportation Alliance plan and called it the ‘Mobility Express’. It was launched at a press release at City Hall. The CAA polled its members on the plan and support was very high, ranging from 60 to 80 per cent support for the individual proposals. However, it went nowhere with the Toronto politicians and was dropped by the CAA in August 2005. The Citizens Transportation Alliance, a private group of transportation professionals, continues to pursue it, but without the Offshore highway proposal which met with much public opposition.

In November 2004, the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. (TWRC) released its five-year development strategy/governance reform package and put the finishing touches on a proposal to tear down the now eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway, from the Don River to Jarvis Street, and replace it with an eight-lane surface boulevard. It's an idea on which Mayor David Miller campaigned during the 2003 municipal election. Ramps built along the south side of the railway embankment south of Front Street would connect the thoroughfare with the Don Valley Parkway.

Since 2002, the debate over the future of the Gardiner has seesawed between two starkly different, and intensely controversial, configurations. One was a complicated $1.8-billion proposal that involved demolishing the Gardiner from the CNE, in the west end, over to Cherry Street, near the port lands. The expressway would be replaced with a complex network of broad boulevards and buried sections, with ramps linking the surface and subsurface roads. The other option - devised by a pair of well-respected Toronto architects - left the elevated highway in place but aimed to "beautify" it. Various ideas for improving the appearance of the underside included removing several off-ramps, shifting Lake Shore Boulevard out from underneath the Gardiner and developing warehouse-style buildings below the expressway.

Proponents of demolition believed that removing the crumbling structure would eliminate a huge psychological barrier and trigger waterfront redevelopment. In the spring of 2003, however, City council balked at approving the TWRC's $20-million request to conduct an environmental assessment on the demolition option, and instructed the agency to spend a year fine-tuning the alternative.

None of these ideas could see the light of day, however, until the City, the Province and the Federal Government completed their "governance review" of the TWRC, which nearly went bankrupt in 2004. The development corporation - jointly controlled by the three levels of government and armed with a mandate to redevelop large swaths of the City's waterfront - operated under highly restrictive provincial rules that

66 prevented it from buying and selling land or issuing debentures to finance projects. The TWRC officially released its reform proposals, plus a $224-million menu of parks and housing projects, in November 2004. The formal review by the three levels of government was expected to be completed by the end of the year. Only then will detailed proposals for the Gardiner, and other major waterfront projects, be released. Meanwhile, City Transportation officials were ready to award contracts for major repairs to the elevated Gardiner. A final decision would have to be made some time in 2005.

The plan to take down the elevated expressway included the construction of an extension of Front Street to connect to the expressway at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds in order to take some of the traffic off the Gardiner. The expressway would then be buried underground, but would be narrowed from six lanes to four and become just a through route. The traffic heading into downtown could use the Front Street Extension to access the City from the west. In January 2005, the City of Toronto Works Committee refused to support funding for the proposed Front Street Extension, effectively killing it for the time being. A report outlining the options for the elevated part of the Gardiner Expressway would be presented to Council later on in 2005 and, hopefully, a final decision on the future of this part of the expressway would be made. Downtown Councillor Joe Pantalone was determined to revive the Front Street Extension in order to encourage Council to support the burial of the expressway. However, this now looked doubtful with the Works Committee vote. The issue would have to wait until the Gardiner report was debated later in the year.

In 2005, the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation would present various alternate proposals for the future of the elevated portion of the Gardiner Expressway to City Council for consideration. One of those proposals looked at keeping the western leg of the seven-kilometre (4.5 mile) structure intact, while tearing down the three-kilometre (two mile) segment east of Yonge St. Another proposal, put alongside two previous plans to tear down the entire raised roadway, would look at removing some of the Gardiner's downtown area ramps only, thus keeping the elevated expressway mostly as an express route only. The ramps start at grade and go up 40 or 50 feet (12 to 15 metres) high in a long slope. Some people believe that they present quite a barrier for a lengthy horizontal distance. Both of the partial demolition schemes would remove the need to bury large portions of the expressway. Given that all tunnelling plans put forward before had been linked specifically to the demolition of the roadway's busy western segment, between Dufferin Street and the downtown, a hugely expensive and disruptive dig would likely be avoided under the new plans. The huge volumes of traffic carried on the segment of Gardiner west of Yonge Street would have to be shifted, in part, underground because surface roads could not carry the entire load. The most expensive part of any proposals ever looked at was tunnelling in the western section.

Most transportation experts agreed, however, that any plans to alter the Gardiner would not proceed if the City killed the proposed $255 million extension of Front St. Toronto's works committee voted unanimously in January, 2005 to oppose the two-kilometre extension, which would curve down from Front's current Bathurst St. terminus to link up with the Gardiner near Dufferin. A subsequent survey of 45 of Toronto's 46 City councillors showed a majority would vote down the project, which had been planned for two decades, but had ballooned in cost by some $85 million between 2002 and 2005. The extension, which was approved as one of four projects meant to kick-start waterfront revitalization, was key to any Gardiner work. The only option looked at regarding the Gardiner that doesn't require the Front Street extension would be to do absolutely nothing to the expressway. Some of the inbound traffic from the west would have to be taken off in order to make any changes of substance to the Gardiner. The Federal and Provincial Governments and the City agreed in 2001 to each pick up a third of the cost of the extension, which would bleed off downtown traffic that traditionally would have used the Gardiner. While the City had soured on Front Street as its costs skyrocketed, the extension was still considered to be necessary for any Gardiner demolition project. The Expressway, which had been at capacity since the 1970s, carried some 200,000 cars a day by the 2000’s, with a large majority travelling to and from the western City and regions. And 80 per cent of those riding the roadway during rush periods were destined into or out of the downtown area. Thus, any project that would alter the Gardiner's carrying capacity would likely require another downtown route to be built. It was 67 considered almost critical to have something like Front Street to be able to consider major alterations to the Gardiner in any other form. West of Bathurst Street, the area marked out for the Front Street extension was virtually the only space left available for a new downtown route. The one leading factor that Front Street had is that a lot of it would be built on unused and unusable space.

Some eight plans to revamp the Gardiner were developed by various agencies in 2003, including proposals to beautify the structure with lighting or sub-span shops and galleries. But the next proposal the City would look at likely would involve tearing part of it down. Since 2000, two major dismantling plans had been tabled, both of which would take the entire roadway down and drive large segments underground. These proposals would cost between $1.2 billion and $1.8 billion. Important parts of those plans would have to be incorporated in any new demolition proposal. Any move to demolish the now 40-year-old elevated roadway's eastern segments would have to be accompanied by new or bulked-up connections to the Don Valley Parkway. The City likely would have to build a roadway running from downtown to the Don Valley Parkway along the top of the raised railway berm on the north side of Lake Shore Boulevard. As well, enhanced connections between the Parkway and Richmond and Adelaide Streets would have to be built, to bleed downtown traffic off the Don Valley Parkway that would normally have come down to the Gardiner Expressway. In February 2005, Councillor Jane Pitfield introduced a motion to City Council to settle the elevated Gardiner issue by putting it to a public referendum. This motion was narrowly defeated by a 22-17 margin.

In April 2005, Jose R. Gutierrez, a Chilean-born engineer living in Toronto, put together a different new and innovative proposal to replace the elevated Gardiner Expressway. His proposal would build a state-of- the-art ten-lane cable-stayed bridge, known as the Toronto Waterfront Viaduct, above the railway lines just north of the existing Gardiner Expressway at a cost of approximately $1.65 Billion. It would involve an aesthetically pleasing modern bridge design used all over the world, with a bridge deck held up by single towers with cables in a Christmas tree design. There would be no columns like the existing elevated Gardiner. It could be built alongside the existing expressway, which would be demolished after the new one was completed. It would run from near Dufferin Street to the Don Valley Parkway and Lake Shore Boulevard East. It would also contain a similar number of access points to the existing old elevated expressway. This plan would involve no land acquisition and would combine two transportation corridors (the railway lines and the expressway) into one, thus allowing the land further south that the existing expressway stands on to be opened up for development. The new expressway would be almost double the capacity of the old one, thus eliminating the heavy traffic congestion that the existing expressway experienced. A share of the gasoline tax or a very modest toll of about one dollar could pay for the plan. This plan was eagerly endorsed by many candidates for Council in the 2006 municipal election.

In October 2005, the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation (T.W.R.C.) completed an initial report on the future of the elevated Gardiner Expressway. It recommended retention and beautification of the expressway west of Yonge Street and removal of the elevated expressway east from Yonge Street to the Don Valley Parkway to allow for redevelopment of the eastern waterfront. In this section, the expressway would be replaced by an upgraded eight-lane Lake Shore Boulevard. The Don Valley Parkway would meet the new Lake Shore with traffic signals instead of ramps. The cost estimates put forward put retaining and rehabilitating the elevated structure at $125 million for the next decade; removal and upgrading Lake Shore Boulevard at $500 million; while burying the expressway would cost over $2 billion. Retired Toronto Roads Commissioner Sam Cass came out publicly and denounced the idea of removing part of the elevated expressway through the downtown and predicted that it would have to be put back up within a few years. Mayor David Miller asked the T.W.R.C. to do a detailed report on the cost estimates and business case for the various options for the future of the elevated Gardiner.

In November 2005, Councillor Howard Moscoe asked the Province to take back their former portion of the Gardiner across Etobicoke (formerly part of the QEW), but the Provincial Minister refused, stating that the 68

Province would give the City new powers to raise funds. By now, the City of Toronto was in debt; its scheduled road repairs were behind by $300 million by the end of 2005. Finding an extra $500 million to demolish part of the elevated expressway and replace it with an upgraded boulevard would be very difficult for the City budget and the Provincial and Federal Governments would unlikely put money towards it. The idea was also very politically controversial. Even Mayor David Miller, who had championed the idea of removing this section of the expressway during the 2003 municipal election, stated that if a business case for it could not be made, then it should not happen. The extravagant cost of a project which would be very disruptive to traffic and would not bring transportation benefits at a time when the City budget was tighter than ever seemed to doom the project. It is now fairly evident that at least the western half of the elevated Gardiner Expressway through Toronto’s downtown will remain a permanent fixture.

In December 2005, City Council approved a plan in its capital budget to gradually clear up the backlog of road repairs in the city over a ten-year period. Thus, this issue was finally addressed after City staff warned that the backlog would grow to a staggering $700 million within ten years. Meanwhile, anti-expressway rhetoric continued in Toronto. On May 18, 2006, Mayor David Miller fired one of the canons at old historic Fort York towards the elevated Gardiner Expressway, showing his commitment to tearing down the structure. He also planned to introduce tolls on the remaining existing municipal expressways in Toronto. On June 2, 2006, a party to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the cancellation of construction of the Spadina (William R. Allen) Expressway in 1971 was held. The upcoming municipal election would offer two very different visions for the future of Toronto. One would be the continuation of opposition to expressways and a dominance of public transit led by Mayor David Miller and the other would be support for balanced transportation including new roads and transit led by Councillor and Mayoralty candidate Jane Pitfield. The Mayor also wanted to deliberately keep the TWRC final report on the future of the elevated Gardiner quiet until after the November 2006 municipal election due to its controversial nature. However, pressure from other politicians and the media eventually prevented this.

8. EXPRESSWAYS TO BOULEVARDS 2006 – 2015

Gardiner Expressway Environmental Assessment and ‘The Great Street’

In January 2006, Councillor Jane Pitfield announced that she would stand against David Miller for Mayor of Toronto in the November 2006 municipal election. Meanwhile, a decision on the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation’s recommendation on the Gardiner Expressway, thus on the future of the elevated section of the expressway, was delayed until the summer of that year due to the municipal election. City staff warned that a decision had to be made soon as they needed to carry out major deck repairs to the eastern half of the elevated structure within a year.

Traffic gridlock in Toronto continues to grow. The Ontario Progressive Conservative party, now in opposition, set up a task force on traffic gridlock and was expected to produce their final report in the Spring of 2006. ‘Get Toronto Moving’ plan authors made a presentation to this task force in December 2005 and were very well received. It was recommended that the proposed Scarborough Highlands Expressway along the Gatineau Hydro Corridor in Scarborough become a Provincial Highway 448 extending eastwards to Highway 407 in northern Pickering and that Black Creek Drive be upgraded as part of the Province’s Highway 400, and be extended southeasterly to the Gardiner Expressway along a major CN/CP rail corridor known as the Allendale route. This plan was finalized in March 2008. Meanwhile, the governing Provincial Liberals announced the creation of the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority (G.T.T.A.) which would be responsible for the construction and maintenance of roads and transit in the Greater Toronto Area, perhaps removing this responsibility from municipalities.

On April 25, 2006, anti-expressway activist Jane Jacobs, who started Toronto’s major revolt against expressway construction in 1969, died. Her passing may signal the start of a new age of transportation 69 thinking in Toronto. Mayoral candidate Jane Pitfield, while fighting to maintain the elevated Gardiner Expressway, committed herself to a balanced transportation system of new roads and transit. Councillor Pitfield even consulted the ‘Get Toronto Moving’ plan for ideas for her transportation platform for the election campaign. With new and younger politicians getting elected, rush hour extended into three hours, traffic grinding to a halt, expressways carrying three times the amount of traffic they were designed for, rising public transit fares, a revival of highway improvements in Toronto is becoming possible, though cost is a major problem.

The long-awaited $1-million T.W.R.C. detailed report on what to do with the Gardiner Expressway was finally made public on September 27, 2006. It recommended that the Gardiner Expressway should come down east of Spadina Avenue and be replaced with a 10-lane street, known as ‘The Great Street’ at a cost of $758 million as part of Toronto’s grand plans to transform the waterfront. This was one of four options looked at by the Corporation study. The reported stated that the tear down would "improve the quality of place". No business case was offered and all options required the proposed Front Street Extension.

There were three suggested methods to replacing the torn-down section. ‘The Great Street’ as a 10-lane surface street with wide sidewalks and a generous median between Spadina and Cherry was preferred. It would diverge into two five-lane, one-way streets in the section between Simcoe and Jarvis Streets. It would be eight lanes from Jarvis Street to the Don River. The report estimated the cost from $490 million to $758 million and it would slow traffic more than other options. It was recommended that this option go to an environmental assessment. It was unclear whether the cost estimates had increased since the report was written. The report had been gathering dust at City Hall since July 2004 but was never publicly released, even to councillors. Mayor David Miller had said there was no point in making the report public because there were no plans for how to pay for the proposed changes. Two variations to accommodate the demolition of the Gardiner east of Spadina were also offered. One included building an underground route west of Spadina, which would benefit Fort York, railway lands and Harbourfront neighbourhoods. At an estimated $1.15 billion, it was far more costly. The third variation recommended a continuous eight-lane Lake Shore Boulevard from Jameson Avenue to the Don River, similar to University Avenue. Street crossings for pedestrians would be shorter than the other variations and costs would be slightly less. The ‘Great Street’ plan offered three alternatives:

- Retain the existing elevated expressway west of Spadina Avenue and demolish it east of Spadina Avenue and replace it with the signalized at-grade boulevard.

- Replace the elevated expressway from Dufferin Street to Spadina Avenue with a tunnelled expressway underground and replace it with a signalized boulevard east of Spadina Avenue.

- Replace all of the elevated expressway east of Jameson Avenue, west of the CNE grounds, with a new and wider signalized at-grade boulevard along Lake Shore Boulevard.

The first option of retaining the elevated expressway west of Spadina Avenue, where it had the heaviest traffic levels, and just replacing it with a signalized at-grade boulevard east of Spadina Avenue with new ramps to the Don Valley Parkway was the cheapest option and was the one recommended to go forward.

The three other options for the elevated Gardiner included:

Do nothing - continuing to maintain the elevated expressway as it is at a cost of about $10 to $12 million a year and “the expressway would be sealed in place” by development.

Replacement - would be a four-lane express road running underground from east of the proposed Front Street interchange to the north of Fort York from Strachan to Spadina. And to the east of the central area, a

70 four-lane express road running on the railway embankment between Jarvis and Cherry, with Lake Shore Boulevard running alongside it. For the section between Spadina and Jarvis, there would be two five-lane, one-way streets, eastbound on the surface and westbound partly on the surface, and partly below grade. The cost would be from $1.4 billion to $2 billion.

Retain and Ameliorate - involved keeping the upper structure of Gardiner, but removing some ramps. Under this option, the upper structure of the Gardiner would be kept since it does not restrict pedestrian traffic but Lake Shore Boulevard would be relocated and building below would be encouraged. Shops and a pedestrian mall would be built under the Gardiner at a cost from $500 million to $730 million.

The report basically stated that this was the last chance to take down the Gardiner. If it was not done now, the expressway would be hemmed in by development and could not be removed. Mayor David Miller favoured the recommended ‘Great Street’ plan, but was sceptical about the costs stating that there was no money and no business plan. The plan suggested using part of the gas tax and tolls on other Toronto area expressways such as 427 or Don Valley Parkway to pay for it. However, this measure is very unpopular. When the report was released, the numbers were said to be already out of date as the report sat behind closed doors for two years. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong fought to get the report made public and was eager to see it before the election. When it was finally released, 22 pages were suspiciously missing from it. Councillor Jane Pitfield, a mayoral candidate, preferring to retain and ameliorate the existing elevated expressway, promised to keep the Gardiner up and to hold a referendum on its future.

The re-election of Mayor David Miller in November 2006 ensured that Toronto’s anti-expressway policies would continue until 2010. David Miller asked for a business case to be looked into before any decision would be made on the future of the Gardiner. He also stated that the city did not have the money for these options. A debate on the future of the elevated Gardiner Expressway will eventually take place.

In 2006, the Provincial Government of Ontario passed a new City of Toronto Act giving the city more independence from the Province. It gave the City more taxing powers and created a powerful mayor that could appoint an Executive Committee, much like a parliamentary cabinet. A major reaction to the reelection of Mayor David Miller and his NDP supporters on Council after November 2006 was the formation of an opposition civic party known as the Toronto Party by two prominent lawyers. The party soon set up a transportation committee and asked the Citizens Transportation Alliance to sit on this committee and the ‘Get Toronto Moving’ plan, with its balanced transportation plan of both new roads and new transit, including one new expressway to the northwest and one new expressway to the east was adopted as policy by the new party. Thus, starting in 2007, a balanced transportation plan with new expressways had become the policy of the opposition on City Council. They had another four years to build up enough support to challenge the City’s official plan.

The Provincial Government declared that all open City-owned space could now not be developed and must be kept as a greenbelt to encourage the maintenance of public open space in built-up areas. This meant that the remaining corridor lands in Etobicoke and Scarborough for the former Richview and Scarborough Expressways would now not be developed and would remain open and in public ownership, rather than being developed as the City had planned, thus leaving the door open for reviving transportation plans in these corridors in the future. All of the Richview corridor between Highway 427 and Scarlett Road was still open as a greenbelt, and most of the Scarborough corridor east of Midland Avenue, across the eastern half of Scarborough, would remain as a greenbelt. Only stretches of land that was privately owned could be developed, and there were only a few pockets of these. One piece of the Scarborough Expressway lands at the far eastern end of the route was developed as a new 43 Division Toronto Police Station. A new social housing project proposed to the south of it met with fierce public opposition. In 2007, a bicycle path was constructed along the continuous vacant Scarborough Expressway lands east from Midland Avenue to McCowan Road with a plan to continue as far east as Morningside Avenue. The Scarborough Expressway

71 had finally materialized in part as a route for bicycles and pedestrians. In 2007, formerly Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist visited Toronto and urged the city to tear down the elevated Gardiner Expressway. He stated that traffic would find its own way on the city street system. He had championed the demolition of a short elevated expressway in Milwaukee, however, it was not a heavily-used major through route like the Gardiner. Toronto Mayor David Miller continued to insist that the City of Toronto did not have the money to remove the elevated portion of the Gardiner and that a business plan should be done first. Controversy over the future of the elevated expressway would continue into the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, the City of Toronto introduced some unpopular new taxes, including an additional vehicle registration tax, which would be used for transit and roads. The city had a $300 million backlog of road repairs. Reducing it would be the top priority for roads. However, there were no plans by the City of Toronto to construct any new roads.

In September 2007, the Royal Canadian Legion lobbied Mayor David Miller of the City of Toronto to have the Don Valley Parkway renamed as the Veterans Memorial Parkway in honour of fallen Canadianservicemen in past wars. This would be seen as the natural extension of the Province’s Highway of Heroes, named for Canadian servicemen fallen in recent conflicts, which is the section of Highway 401 east from the Don Valley Parkway to Trenton, Ontario. However, a Veterans Memorial Parkway already exists in London, Ontario. No decision on this proposed renaming has yet been made.

In February 2008, a key recommendation from Mayor David Miller’s six-member fiscal review panel called for the City of Toronto to look at transferring ownership of the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway to the Provincial Government in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of annual toll revenue. Panel members said that tolling would make sense if charges were applied to a “ring road” — on the Don Valley, the Gardiner and on the provincially-owned Hwy. 427 and Hwy. 401. It would then be up to the Provincial Government to introduce the technology required to hit drivers with a fee for using the highways which were maintained with tax revenue. The panel concluded that tolls could be placed on these highways to fund public transit to give drivers an alternative such as building more subways, more light- rail systems within the city of Toronto. Mayor David Miller supported these recommendations, which if implemented, would see the City’s major expressways absorbed into the Provincial freeway system. The Canadian Automobile Association expressed its opposition to any new tolling system stressing that drivers already paid for the highways through their taxes. Many suburban Toronto councilors were also opposed to this measure as it would be unpopular with the public, especially after the introduction of a new vehicle registration tax by the City of Toronto only a month before. The Provincial Government was not supportive of placing tolls on existing highways but was undecided about whether or not it would consider taking over the City’s expressways. Also in February 2008, the City of Toronto approved an art project which represented the first attempt at beautifying the existing western portion of the elevated Gardiner Expressway structure. A project called ‘Watertable’ by Toronto artists Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak celebrated the fact that Toronto’s original Lake Ontario shoreline existed where the Gardiner Expressway runs today. Lands south of the expressway are all landfill installed over the past 150 years. The project featured an interactive display of lights and sounds creating an imagery of waves. Censors that react to the wind made the light glimmer and move as well as sounds that echo crashing waves. This display was installed under the surface of the elevated Gardiner Expressway in the vicinity of Fort York near Strachan Avenue in the Autumn of 2008. The project would make the ageing structure look quite spectacular.

In May 2008, Waterfront Toronto (the former Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation) came out with a recommendation to demolish a 2.9 km stretch of the elevated Gardiner Expressway from Jarvis Street east to the Don Valley Parkway. Mayor Miller, who belongs to that corporation, supported the proposal and expected it to be approved by Toronto City Council in July 2008. This eastern elevated part of the expressway would be replaced by a widened 8-lane Lake Shore Boulevard at an estimated cost of $300 million. If approved, the environmental assessment would take five years to complete and construction would take another three years for a total of eight years for the project which would rely on Federal and

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Provincial waterfront funding. The proposals to tear down the elevated Gardiner Expressway were getting shorter as years passed by. In 2000, Robert Fung proposal tearing it all down back to the CNE grounds. In 2006, the then TWRC recommended tearing it down east of Spadina Avenue only. In 2008, the proposal had shrunk to east of Jarvis Street only. This was mostly due to the increasing costs of the proposals and the growing traffic levels on the Gardiner. Mayor Miller said it was ‘now or never’. If this section did not come down now, none of it will. Depending on funding, even this may not happen. The Front Street Extension was also cancelled guaranteeing that the western Gardiner would stay up. On July 16, 2008, after rigorous and controversial debate which pitted suburban councilors against downtown councilors, Toronto City Council approved spending $11 million on an environmental assessment of the eastern Gardiner teardown proposal (east of Jarvis Street only) by a vote of 30 – 11. Many amendments were made to the proposed assessment including even retaining the expressway link. However, funds to do long-term repairs to the section east of Jarvis Street would be withheld pending the review, guaranteeing that this section would deteriorate even more. Councillor Doug Holyday from Etobicoke, who fought the proposal, stated that the intent was to tear down the entire elevated expressway incrementally, one piece at a time. First, back to Jarvis and then later to Spadina or maybe the Exhibition. However, the proposal depended on funding from both of the Provincial and Federal Governments, which did not give any commitment. Also, the cost could escalate during the five-year assessment. One major concern raised was that the Gardiner-Don Valley freeway link would be lost and the Toronto ring-road system would be broken. However, proponents of the proposal stated that it would only add two minutes to travel time, which was yet to be proven. When the environmental assessment of the eastern Gardiner Expressway was started in March 2009, four options would be considered: doing nothing, fixing up the elevated expressway and ameliorating it, replacing it with a new expressway either above or below grade and removing this section of the expressway and replacing it with a surface boulevard as recommended by Waterfront Toronto. The preferred alternative would be recommended to City Council by 2011. In addition to the environmental assessment of removing the eastern leg of the Gardiner, Council also approved a plan to remove the loop off ramp from the eastbound Gardiner at York Street and replace it with a simpler ramp that dropped straight down to a signalized intersection. This would involve just a simple ramp reconfiguration. The on-ramp to the eastbound Gardiner would be removed also. In June 2009, an architectural firm called Quadrangle Architects put forward an alternate private proposal to maintain the entire elevated section of the Gardiner Expressway, but to greenroof it with a second deck above the expressway deck, which would contain parkland and trees at a cost of about $500 million. Waterfront Toronto agreed to take a look at this proposal in its environmental assessment of the Gardiner.

ALTERNATIVE FUTURES FOR THE ELEVATED GARDINER EXPRESSWAY

DRAWINGS OF RETAINING THE ELEVATED GARDINER EXPRESSWAY WITH AMELIORATION AND BEAUTIFICATION UNDERNEATH 73

DRAWINGS OF THE ELEVATED GARDINER EXPRESSWAY REMOVED AND REPLACED WITH THE ‘GREAT STREET’ BOULEVARD LOOKING WEST AT YORK STREET AND AT JARVIS STREET

The election of Mayor Rob Ford in 2010 changed the situation with the elevated Gardiner Expressway. The new mayor vowed to maintain all of the expressway and the environmental assessment looking at removing the section east of Jarvis Street was stalled. The new council elected in 2010 voted to spend $15 million per year to fix and maintain the elevated expressway. New bases for the light poles were also installed and broken poles were replaced. After chunks of concrete had repeatedly fallen from the structure, independent inspectors were brought in to do an assessment of the state of the structure in 2012 and they found that the deterioration was worse than City inspectors had previously admitted. The budget for repairs was immediately increased from $15 million to $35 million per year to bring the structure up to standard. Renewed debate on tearing down the structure was expected but it failed to materialize. A total of $500 million would be spent over many years to repair the elevated expressway in sections from Dufferin Street to Jarvis Street. The environmental assessment looking at options of maintain, improve, replace or removal for the section east of Jarvis Street only was restarted.

In February 2014, Waterfront Toronto and the City staff released their report on their findings for the East Gardiner EA study. Their recommendation, as expected, was for removal of the elevated expressway and its replacement with a landscaped 8-lane boulevard east from Jarvis Street. This was met with great scepticism by the City Works Committee and City Council. The staff even admitted that this option would increase traffic congestion in the Lake Shore corridor, but it had other benefits, particularly the availability of land for development with the removal of the expressway. The issue was deferred for one year to the Spring of 2015 by the City Public Works Committee for further study including keeping an expressway link while being able to develop lands from the removal of the existing structure. No decision would be made for another year.

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The East Gardiner 'Hybrid' Plan

John Tory, elected Mayor of Toronto in 2014, proposed rebuilding the eastern section of the elevated Gardiner Expressway and realigning it closer to the Lakeshore GO rail corridor east of Cherry Street, known as the 'hybrid' option. It would swing into the Don Valley Parkway further north, closer to Eastern Avenue, thus eliminating the southward Don River sweep of the Gardiner at the Don Valley interchange. Expressway access to Lake Shore Boulevard going east would be maintained. Eventually, it was decided to use the existing Gardiner/DVP ramps for the hybrid option as moving them further north would make a too tight turn into the Don Valley Parkway. The ramps to Lake Shore Boulevard would be moved to west of the Don River. The removal option would also be studed further to see if the projected increased traffic congestion could be mitigated.

On June 11, 2015, after heated debate, City Council voted separately on each option for the eastern elevated Gardiner. Maintaining it as it was was outrightly rejected by a margin of 44-1 with Councillor and former Mayor Rob Ford casting the lone vote in favour of this option. Tearing down the section east of Jarvis Street and replacing it with a surface boulevard was rejected by a 26-19 vote. The hybrid plan was narrowly approved by a 24-21 vote. Design work and a further environmental assessment of the hybrid plan would begin with construction work to start in 2019. This vote signalled a change in City policy to one of improving traffic flow to ease gridlock. The Gardiner/Don Valley link would be maintained permanently. Though it was agreed to study options such as a tunnel and transferring the expressway to the Province or to a private company. Meanwhile, rehabilitation work would continue on the western sections of the elevated Gardiner, including deck replacement.

In November 2015, tunnelling options for any section of the Gardiner were dismissed by Council as too expensive. Three options for the eastern Gardiner hybrid plan were considered by the public works committee. The preferred option would be chosen by Council in March 2106: Option 1: New realigned eastbound off-ramp connecting to Lake Shore Blvd. that would run close to the Gardiner without affecting adjacent development lands. Cost: $260 million short-term “net present value,” the same as the council-approved plan Land implications: Opens about 8.5 acres for new development Option 2: Reconstruct elevated link between Cherry St. and the DVP along more northerly alignment through the Keating Precinct, a Lower Donlands community. Cost: $350 million to $400 million net present value. Land implications: Opens about 12.5 acres for new development. Option 3: Reconstruct elevated link between Cherry St. and the DVP along more northerly alignment through the Keating Precinct, a Lower Donlands community. Also, widen Don River rail bridge to enable tighter turns onto the DVP. Cost: $380 million to $440 million net present value Land implications: Opens about 13.5 acres for new development.

On March 31, 2016, City Council voted 36-5 in favour of Option 3, which would move the expressway and the ramps to the Don Valley Parkway away from the lake shore, so that new waterfront development could take place. This was the most expensive option, but it offered the biggest return in property development. Construction would now begin in 2018. The Yonge-Bay-York circular off-ramp from the eastbound Gardiner Expressway would also be replaced by a shorter straight ramp, freeing up space for parkland. The issue over the future of the elevated part of the Gardiner Expressway was now concluded. In 2017, a project called ‘The Bentway’ saw the construction of new public uses including a trail and markets in the vacant space under the elevated Gardiner Expressway west of Bathurst Street, bringing it to life as a public realm. Mayor John Tory won by a landslide in the 2018 municipal election ensuring that the ‘hybrid’ plan would go ahead and that the tear down-boulevard option, revived by his opponent former Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat, was now dead. Work would begin on the ‘hybrid’ plan in 2019 and be completed by 2024.

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Three options for the East Gardiner hybrid plan considered in November 2015

Allen Road Environmental Assessment

In October 2007, Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) officials examined a proposal from Zeidler Partnership Architects to put a deck over the Allen Road and construct mid-rise buildings, ranging in size from 12 to 15 storeys, beside the covered roadway. Driven by a desire to increase the number of passengers travelling on the under-used Spadina subway line in the expressway’s centre median, the plan might one day be considered for implementation from Downsview Station, just south of Sheppard Avenue, to the subway stop at Eglinton Avenue West. However, material submitted by Zeidler to the TTC highlighted possibilities for the stretch of the Allen, between Lawrence and Eglinton Avenues (the original ‘Spadina Ditch’). Councillor Michael Thompson, head of the TTC's property management committee that tried to make use of the transit agency's dormant lands, described that stretch of the Allen as a "barren wasteland." There would be potential for builders to construct about 11,000 residential units along that section of decked highway, which would be transformed mainly into parkland, according to the plan. Councillor Thompson from Scarborough said that he was very committed to the concept. That strip of the Allen incorporated lanes for northbound and southbound traffic and the above-ground subway line. The area around the Allen was made up largely of communities of single-family homes, not the dense development needed to feed a subway line. Housing built alongside the expressway would look over green space created on the deck as the expressway would be underneath in a tunnelled format.

Throughout 2008 and 2009, the City of Toronto undertook a study to reconnect the neighbourhoods on both sides of the Allen Expressway north of Lawrence Avenue West to Highway 401 and find ways to make the expressway fit better into the surrounding residential community. A detailed environmental assessment on the future of the Allen began in 2009. In 2011, it was recommended that the ramps to and from Lawrence Avenue and the Allen Expressway be widened from single lane to double lane to ease the backlog of traffic trying to get off the expressway at Lawrence Avenue and improve pedestrian crossings. The environmental assessment study was meant to overcome the impacts of the physical barrier created by the expressway corridor and try to connect the two halves of the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood across the Allen Expressway with new physical connections. Existing underpasses at Ranee and Yorkdale would be redesigned. Appropriate development along the corridor would be facilitated to create a positive physical relationship and create the opportunity for pedestrian and bicyclist movement along the Allen corridor. Specifically, regarding the Allen, the plan recommended four options:

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1) Do nothing – leave the expressway as it is. 2) Reconfigure the ramps from the Allen north of Lawrence to operate more like standard intersections and remove the ramps to the Allen south of Lawrence as they were greatly underutilized. The retaining walls alongside the Allen would be replaced by landscaped grassy slopes with new pedestrian bridges. 3) Replace the ramps at Lawrence with longer service roads that come off the expressway further north and meet Lawrence Avenue in standard intersections. Also, the expressway would be decked over for about 200 metres on the north side of Lawrence Avenue and parks placed on top. 4) Bring the Allen up to grade by filling in the trench it runs in and rebuild it on the surface as a grand boulevard with a standard signalized intersection at Lawrence instead of an interchange.

The then Councillor for the area, Howard Moscoe, personally preferred the last option – the grand boulevard. These options would go through a lengthy environmental assessment starting in 2010. Additionally, north of Highway 401, a proposal to redevelop the former Downsview air base considered removal of the ramps from the Allen to Wilson Heights Boulevard. This was vigorously opposed by local residents and new councillors. In early 2011, City Council voted to retain the Wilson Heights ramps. In 2012, the ramps at Lawrence Avenue were widened from one to two lanes to ease congestion. The Terms of Reference for the Allen study were ready by Spring 2013. Council accepted the report, but the assessment was put on hold waiting for further funding and Ontario Ministry approval to proceed. This could mean that the whole issue was shelve for a while. A request by Metrolinx to close the expressway between Lawrence and Eglinton Avenues northbound to store equipment for the construction of the Eglinton-Crosstown Light Rail Transit line was turned down by Council due to traffic congestion concerns.

Ontario Government approval of the Terms of Reference for the Allen assessment was delayed for two years and the study was not expected to continue until late 2015. Construction of the Lawrence Heights development began in October 2015, leaving the Allen Expressway intact. Early in 2016, the Provincial Government informed the City that the study needed to be of a wider scope, looking at all aspects of the community, however, it would be an expensive undertaking and was not worth it. On July 12, 2016, Council decided to withdraw the study. The Allen Expressway would remain as it is, but some improvements would be made to the ramps at Lawrence Avenue and at Eglinton Avenue, which were always congested.

Traffic Congestion Crisis

In November 2008, it was reported in the local Toronto media that traffic congestion in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) – the City of Toronto and its surrounding municipalities – costs the region’s economy $6 billion per year. GTA commuters pay just over $1000 per traveller per year, compared to $917 per New York commuter and $912 per Chicago commuter per year because of traffic congestion. Industry in the GTA loses $4.7 billion in industrial revenue because of inefficiencies and there are 25,962 fewer jobs than there should be in the region due to congestion. Meanwhile, Metrolinx, a Provincial body looking at ways to improve the traffic congestion situation in the GTA region, came up with a $50 billion 25-year transportation plan which included 1,200 kilometres of new public transit lines and very few new roads, with a planned go-ahead for the first projects in 2009. This is just a continuation of current policies. There was even talk of tolling existing roads to pay for it, but this would be politically unacceptable to the public. It is clear that nearly 40 years of the current Jane Jacobs-inspired anti-car policies have failed and have resulted in creating this congestion crisis. This also shows that a balanced transportation plan of both new expressways, new highway ITS traffic management technologies and new subway lines is the right way to go. This evidence shows that it is needed even more now. However, without political will, there is little chance that this will come about. With the election of Rob Ford as mayor in October 2010, a turnaround in Toronto’s transportation policies was now possible, but remains to be seen. He pledged that the Gardiner and Allen Expressways would remain intact, but had no plans for any new routes. The return of existing downtown councillors and fiscal restraints would also make any new major road construction unlikely.

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Former Transportation Corridors

Lands acquired for the Richview and Scarborough Expressways remained in public ownership until after 2010, when they were declared surplus. Most of the Richview corridor was sold and developed into housing. Only small parcels of the Scarborough corridor were developed. A section east of Victoria Park Avenue, known as the Quarry Lands, and a section at Midland Avenue and St. Clair Avenue were developed into housing. A bicycle path was built on the section between and Bellamy Road and the new 43 Division police station was built in the lands at Lawrence Avenue East and Manse Road. These are only small parcels of land. Much of the Scarborough corridor lands remain as public open space.

The ‘Toronto Tunnel’

During the 2010 municipal election, Mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi proposed extending the Allen Expressway in a tunnel from its terminus at Eglinton Avenue West to the Gardiner Expressway, called ‘The Toronto Tunnel’ as a bold solution to Toronto’s traffic problems. Mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi faced ridicule and condemnation this week but continued to propose an underground expressway as a bold solution to Toronto's traffic problems. Some of his opponents called it a dangerous retreat to plans abandoned in 1971 when citizens groups stopped the Spadina Expressway. But Rocco Rossi said he was convinced that new technology and private financing could complete that expressway as a toll highway in an eight-kilometre tunnel south from Eglinton Avenue to the Gardiner Expressway without disrupting neighbourhoods above it. Rocco Rossi said that he would consult the best engineers and have the project started within four years. However, he said the tunnel might not have any entrances or exits before it reaches the Gardiner, and suggested the project may be dropped if engineers found merging the toll road's traffic with the Gardiner Expressway won't work. He estimated the cost at $110 million per kilometre.

The project was quickly condemned by other candidates and by downtown councillors, particularly Councillor Adam Vaughan, whose father Colin Vaughan had fought the original expressway plan. Any revival of the Spadina Expressway, even underground, would be met with the ire of downtowners. Rocco Rossi later dropped out of the mayoral race so any plans for an extended Allen would not happen.

9. TOLL ROADS 2015 – Present

When the City of Toronto made a decision on the future of the eastern Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway in 2015, the question of introducing tolls on to the City’s municipal expressways came up. With the approval of the hybrid option for this section of the expressway, City staff were asked to study toll revenue as a way to pay for this reconstruction and to maintain the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway in the future. Only the Allen Expressway would remain publicly funded due to its short length, tolls did not make sense for that little expressway.

Tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway came one step closer to reality after the City issued a request for proposals (RFP) on March 11, 2016, which asked for advice on how to impose charges on drivers who use the highways. The 54-page RFP called for a “study” on what type of toll technology is “best suited” for Toronto, where the facilities would be located, what would be charged and how it would be charged, as well as how the tolls would be enforced. The RFP also expected the successful bidder to outline what options should be used for commuters to pay the tolls and to determine who should pay (Toronto residents vs. those living in other parts of the GTA), including how to treat tourists to the city. In November 2016, Mayor John Tory proposed a $2.00 toll on both the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway to pay for road repairs and for transit expansion. This was approved by City Council on December 13, 2016 by a 32-9 vote. It would have to go to the Province for final approval since the City does not have the authority to charge tolls on its highways. This was denied by the Provincial Government. With all Provincial political parties now opposed to the tolls, the issue was now dead. 78

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