Missing Links A History of Toronto’s Controversial Unfinished Expressway System James B. Alcock 2 This book is dedicated to Sam Cass, Commissioner of Metropolitan Toronto Roads and Traffic 1968 to 1989 3 4 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 26 5 A Brief Revival Of Expressways 1975-1980 34 6 Arterial Highways 1980-1998 39 7 Amalgamation 1998-2006 53 8 Expressways To Boulevards 2006-2015 65 9 Toll Roads 2015-Present 74 MAPS Metropolitan Toronto Expressways 1966 2 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 Lawrence Avenue West 21 Scarborough Expressway Plan – 1967 Alignment 22 Crosstown Expressway Plan – 1961 Alignment 23 Highway 400 Extension Plan 24 Richview Expressway Plans 25 Scarborough Expressway Plan – 1973 Alignment 31 Proposed Alignments for the Highway 400 Extension 33 Schedule of repairs to the elevated Gardiner Expressway 70 City of Toronto Expressways Today 75 TORONTO EXPRESSWAY HISTORY TIMELINE 1958 Gardiner Expressway opens Humber River to Dunn Avenue 1961 Don Valley Parkway opens Bloor Street to Eglinton Avenue 1962 Gardiner Expressway opens to York Street 1963 Don Valley Parkway opens to Lawrence Avenue 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 Sheppard Avenue, Spadina Expressway opens Wilson Heights Boulevard to Lawrence Avenue 1969 Spadina Expressway renamed as Allen Expressway 1971 Construction of Allen Expressway cancelled by the Province at Lawrence Avenue 1974 Eastern extension of the Gardiner Expressway into Scarborough shelved, but lands held indefinitely 1976 Allen Expressway opens to Eglinton Avenue 1982 Black Creek Drive (400 Extension) arterial road opens (built by Province and transferred to City) Allen Road north arterial opens to Dufferin Street at Kennard Avenue 1996 Province transfers QEW (renamed as part of Gardiner), Highways 2A and 27 to the 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 Jarvis Street to Don Valley Parkway 5 6 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 Queen Elizabeth Way (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.