Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Highway Removal

Toronto City Council Blows Its Chance to Transform Downtown

Toronto could have had a waterfront boulevard but the Council voted to keep an elevated highway instead. Image: ##http://www.blogto.com/city/2015/06/toronto_votes_for_hybrid_option_on_east_gardiner/##Blog TO##
Toronto could have replaced its downtown elevated highway with a surface boulevard, but the City Council voted to keep an elevated highway instead. Image via Blog TO
Toronto could have had a waterfront boulevard but the Council voted to keep an elevated highway instead. Image: ##http://www.blogto.com/city/2015/06/toronto_votes_for_hybrid_option_on_east_gardiner/##Blog TO##

Tearing down Toronto's Gardiner East Expressway would remove a hulking blight from downtown, improve access to the waterfront, open up land for walkable development, and save hundreds of millions of dollars compared to rebuilding the highway.

But that didn't convince the City Council.

In a 24-21 vote yesterday, the Council opted to rebuild the aging Gardiner with some minor modifications instead of pursuing the "boulevard" option that would have removed a 1.7-kilometer segment of the highway.

Replacing the elevated road with a surface street would have cost $137 million less upfront (in Canadian dollars) than rebuilding it, and nearly $500 million less in total costs over the next 100 years.

While Rob Ford may no longer be mayor, his successor, John Tory, pushed hard for keeping the highway, saying it was a vote to "keep congestion under control."

But history and experience don't support Tory's view. The removal of center-city highways like the Embarcadero in San Francisco, the Miller Highway in New York, and the Park East in Milwaukee shows that drivers quickly adapt by choosing new routes, consolidating trips, or opting for different modes of travel -- and carmageddon doesn't materialize.

Toronto's chief planner, Jennifer Keesmat, supported removing the Gardiner, as did the city's top public health official, a long roster of former Toronto mayors and planners, the Council for Canadian Urbanism, and all the City Council representatives who represent areas that the disputed section of highway cuts through.

Against Tory and the representatives of Toronto's outer districts, that wasn't enough.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Tuesday’s Headlines Jump the Turnstiles

Transit agencies are checking fares and even fortifying entrances as they seek to alleviate fears of crime.

October 15, 2024

When Car Dependency Meets Climate Disaster

How does car dependency make weathering a storm harder, and what can we do about it? We sat down with two experts from the Urban Institute to find out.

October 15, 2024

Monday’s Headlines Make a Choice

The Urban Institute studied the past three presidential administrations and found they all had different transportation priorities.

October 14, 2024

Friday’s Headlines Are on the Ballot

There's a decent chance you live in a jurisdiction where transit funding is on the ballot this November.

October 11, 2024

The 1,000-Page Document That Decides Your Street Designs Just Got a Refresh

For better — or more often, for worse — a single federal document dictates what nearly every American street looks like. Meet the MUTCD.

October 11, 2024
See all posts