Gardiner Expressway
Encyclopedia
The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, colloquially referred to as "the Gardiner", is a municipal expressway in the Canadian
province of Ontario
, connecting downtown Toronto
with its western suburbs. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario
, it extends from the junction of Highway 427 and the Queen Elizabeth Way
(QEW) in the west to the foot of the Don Valley Parkway
(DVP) in the east, just past the mouth of the Don River. East of Dufferin Street
, the roadway is elevated, running above Lake Shore Boulevard east of Bathurst Street. Elevated sections east of the Don were demolished and integrated into Lake Shore Boulevard.
The highway is named for the first chair of the now-defunct Metro Council
, Frederick G. Gardiner, who championed it, the Don Valley Parkway and Spadina Expressway
projects. The six-lane section east of the Humber River
was built in segments from 1955 until 1964 by the Metropolitan Toronto government with provincial highway funds. The ten-lane section west of the Humber was formerly part of the QEW provincial highway. The Gardiner Expressway is now wholly owned and operated by the City of Toronto.
When the Gardiner was built, it passed through industrial lands, now mostly converted to residential lands. Extensive repairs became necessary in the early 1990s, and since then the Gardiner has been the subject of several proposals to demolish it or move it underground as part of downtown waterfront revitalization efforts. One elevated section east of the Don River was demolished in 2001, and a current study is underway to demolish that part of the elevated section east of Jarvis Street to the Don.
(QEW) and Highway 427 interchange, east to the Humber River, the Gardiner is straight, eight-to-ten lanes wide. This is the former QEW segment. Due to its status as a former Ontario 400-series highway, and because of its more recent design (rebuilt in the late 1960s), this section was built to more recent standards than the Metro-constructed Gardiner. A system of collector and express lanes serves Kipling Avenue and Islington Avenue and this segment has a speed limit of 100 km/h rather than 90 km/h. From the 427 to Grand Avenue the highway passes through an area of residential, commercial and light industry. To the south are the neighbourhoods of Alderwood
and Mimico
.
The highway curves approaching the Humber River passing the residential condominium towers of The Queensway-Humber Bay
neighbourhood along the waterfront, the Mr. Christie
cookie factory and the Ontario Food Terminal
on the north side. The segment east of the Humber is the original Gardiner segment and is six-to-eight lanes wide. Two eastbound lanes exit to Lake Shore Boulevard and the roadway narrows to the six lanes of the original segment at the bridge over the Humber River.
East of the Humber the highway curves along Humber Bay
, passing to the south of the Swansea
neighbourhood, before passing the Sunnyside waterfront on the south and High Park
and the Roncesvalles neighbourhood on the north side. Along the north side from Roncesvalles to Exhibition Place
is the neighbourhood of Parkdale
. Like the rail lines which run parallel to the Gardiner along its north side, the Gardiner is built in a cut from Dowling Avenue to Dufferin Street
and is below grade. From Dufferin to Strachan Avenue, the highway is flanked by light industry and the Liberty Village
neighbourhood to the north and the buildings of Exhibition Place on the south side. The highway becomes elevated at this point, rising at a gentle grade with a view of downtown Toronto straight ahead.
From east of the Exhibition Place streetcar loop and just west of Strachan Avenue, the space below the elevated sections of the highway was enclosed for use as storage space. Bricked sections with windows can be seen when driving along Manitoba Drive or taking the streetcar in or out of Exhibition Place. GO Transit
's Exhibition train station is located under the Gardiner Expressway with tracks located on the north side of the Gardiner.
To the east of Strachan Avenue, the highway is entirely elevated, mostly overhead of Lake Shore Boulevard, between the buildings of downtown Toronto. Just east of Strachan, the highway passes Old Fort York
on the north side and Coronation Park to the south. From Bathurst Street eastward to Yonge Street
, the south side is developed with residential condominiums of the Harbourfront
neighbourhood and office towers. On the north side, the highway passes the Rogers Centre
, CN Tower
and the Air Canada Centre
landmarks interspersed with residential condominium towers. North along Bay Street are the office towers of the Toronto Financial District. Two elevated eastbound lanes fork off east of Spadina to provide exit ramps to Yonge, Bay and York Streets. Between York and Yonge Streets the highway is narrowed to two lanes in each direction.
From Yonge east to the Don Valley Parkway, the rail lines run parallel to the Gardiner on the north side, and to the north of the rail lines is the low-rise residential development of the St. Lawrence
neighbourhood, the Distillery District and the West Don Lands
. To the south of the highway, the land use is light industrial and waterfront lands in transition. The highway passes over the Don River with a ramp to connect to the Don Valley Parkway and descends in a ramp to end at Lake Shore Boulevard and Bouchette Street.
The elevated section is supported by steel-reinforced concrete columns. The roadway itself was constructed on top of concrete slabs supported by steel girders. The height of the elevated section is higher than required to cross city streets and provide clearance underneath. The intent of this was to reduce traffic noise at ground level. The highest point of the elevated section is the eastbound ramp from the Gardiner to the Don Valley Parkway which goes up and over the westbound lanes, then drops to ground level. The elevated sections of the Gardiner use a tall wall concrete barrier topped with green metal blades. The blades act to reduce the glare of oncoming headlights from the opposing direction of traffic. At grade sections west of Bathurst Street use steel guide rails.
The Gardiner Expressway was one of the first projects undertaken by the newly formed government of Metro Toronto
. The route of the Expressway necessitated the paving over of parkland, demolition of residences and a popular amusement park, and a long elevated section to get through the downtown area. Planning was done stage-by-stage, from the Humber River east through downtown. The Humber Bay section was built according to initial plans. The route in the Exhibition Place area route changed over time from one along the lakeshore into downtown, to one aligned along the railway north of Exhibition Place. The initial route east of Exhibition Place would have necessitated the moving or removal of Old Fort York, but was moved to a more southerly alignment after protest. The elevated section through downtown was then aligned over the existing Lakeshore Boulevard in the area. East of downtown, the initial plans were for a ground-level route east to Woodbine, but this was changed in conjunction with the planning of the interchange of the Don Valley Parkway into downtown from the north to an elevated section east to Leslie Street. Various routes to the east were proposed, but never progressed beyond planning studies due to public protest.
Plans for the highway, first named the Lakeshore Expressway, were first developed prior to the formation of Metro Toronto. In the post-war period, the population of greater Toronto was growing at a rate of 50,000 persons per year, the ownership of private automobiles was growing, and the traffic between downtown Toronto and the western suburbs was regularly stuck in 'traffic jams.' (The Sunnyside stretch of the Lake Shore Boulevard and Queen and King Streets in the Parkdale
–High Park
area were apparently notorious for this.) Another reason for the proposal to build the lakeshore highway was the expected opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the need for adequate roadways to serve the expanded port facilities.
In May 1947, the Toronto City Planning Board proposed building a four-lane "Waterfront Highway" from the Humber to the Don River. In November 1947, the City's works committee approved a four-lane highway, following a path beside the rail lines along the north of the Canadian National Exhibition
(CNE) lands, ending at Fleet Street to the East at a cost of $6 million, to be approved by a plebiscite. The Toronto Board of Control approved the plan, but City Council voted against the plan after 11 hours of deliberation, sending it back to the Board of Control. In December 1947, the Board of Control abandoned the plan, on advice that the bridges for the highway would not be built due to a shortage of steel.
In July 1953, prior to the formation of Metro Toronto, the Metropolitan Executive Committee, chaired by Fred Gardiner, ordered the planning of the Lakeshore Expressway as a four-lane or six-lane expressway from the Humber in the west to Woodbine Avenue in the east. The cost was estimated at 20 million dollars. Route planning was given to the engineering firm Margison Babcock and Associates, with the proviso that an American firm expert in expressway building would be involved. Margison's plan 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. East of the CNE the highway would be an elevated roadway above the existing Fleet Street, to just west of the Don River. The highway proceeded at grade from that point eastward, ending at Coxwell Avenue and Queen Street East. Interchanges were proposed for Jameson Avenue
, Strachan Avenue, Spadina Avenue
, York Street, Jarvis Street, Don Roadway, Carlaw Avenue, Keating Avenue (the present Lake Shore Boulevard East) and Coxwell Avenue. 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 'The Queensway' 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 change moved the route from the Humber to the Ontario Hydro right-of-way next to the railway tracks, saving 11 acres (44,515.5 m²) of waterfront. The expressway was moved to the north of 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. Alternative 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 $33 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 (40,468.6 m²) of CNE land, and requiring 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 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. In 1959, the Fort was again under threat. A proposal was published to link Highway 400 to the Gardiner to meet in the vicinity of the Fort. Gardiner proposed that Metro Toronto and the City share the costs of relocating the Fort to the waterfront. In the end, the Fort was not moved, the westbound on-ramp from Bathurst Street was cancelled, no interchange was built in the area and the Highway 400 extension was never approved. The Gardiner passes over some of the Fort's property, and its width is wider in the area to provide for a possible connection with the 400.
Construction on the expressway began in 1955 with the building of the Queen Street Extension and the Keating Avenue (now Lake Shore Boulevard East) extension to the foot of Woodbine Avenue. The Gardiner was built in segments, with the final section being completed in 1966. The cost was approximately $110 million ($ in dollars). Construction of the first part of the actual Expressway started in 1956 with the Humber River bridge, followed by the Humber to Jameson segment.
Humber River to Jameson Avenue
The route of the Expressway around Humber Bay necessitated the demolition of the Sunnyside Amusement Park
on the lakeshore, which had existed since 1925. Some amusements were moved to the CNE
, others sold off or just destroyed. The carousel was moved to the newly built Disneyland. The Amusement Park lands were subsumed by the Lake Shore Boulevard expansion to six lanes. Only the Sunnyside Pool and Palais Royale
hall now exist from that time period. A pedestrian bridge crossing was built from the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue to the Palais Royale site.
The 1800s-era 'South Parkdale' residential neighbourhood at the foot of Jameson Avenue was demolished in 1957. The Expressway, like the railway just to the north, was cut through the area at lake shore level. An interchange was built at Jameson with on and off ramps to Lake Shore Boulevard, and Lake Shore Boulevard was expanded to six lanes in the area. This created a pedestrian barrier to the lake shore for Parkdale
neighbourhood residents to the north. Efforts made by community groups over the next 20 years to restore access to the lake shore, including plans to cover the section of the Expressway and railway line, did not come to fruition. A pedestrian bridge over Lake Shore Boulevard at the foot of Jameson Avenue was eventually built. Jameson Avenue, which had previously been a street of mansions, saw intense apartment building development after the building of the Expressway.
The section between Humber River and Jameson Avenue was completed in 1958. The expressway, by then named the Gardiner Expressway, was officially opened by Gardiner and Ontario Premier Leslie Frost
on August 8, 1958. When this section opened, it opened without guard-rails on the median dividing the different directions. Steel guard-rails and a 'glare shield' were approved for this section in 1965 at a cost of $200,000.
Jameson Avenue to York Street
The section between Jameson Avenue and Spadina Avenue was completed and opened on August 1, 1962 and the westbound lanes from York Street were opened on December 3, 1962. The eastbound lanes from Spadina to York opened in 1963. The elevated section starts from the north-east corner of the CNE. The route to the east of the CNE was modified to avoid passing over historic Fort York
. This section was built wider to accommodate a possible interchange with the Highway 400 extension
south to downtown, proposed by the Province of Ontario in 1956 and later cancelled.
East of Fort York, the Gardiner was built entirely as an elevated route, through a predominantly industrial area, to the south of railway lands to reach downtown. The roadway was built directly overhead of Fleet Street (Fleet is now called Lake Shore Boulevard West) through much of this section. The expressway off-ramp to York Street was developed as a two-lane eastbound 'finger' flying over Harbour Street, south of the main roadway, descending to Harbour Street with a circular off-ramp to York Street northbound.
York Street to the Don Valley Parkway
This segment was completed in 1964. In the original proposal, this segment went to the ground with a clover-leaf interchange with the Don Valley Parkway. It was instead constructed as an elevated section that passes over Lake Shore Boulevard and at its eastern end forks into a flyover of the Don River mouth and a separate connector to the east. The section between the Parkway and Yonge Street was built eight lanes wide.
Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street
This segment was opened in July 1966 without ceremony. It ended just east of Leslie Street, and traffic was forced to exit to an interchange at Leslie Street down to the former Keating Street, which was renamed Lake Shore Boulevard. The design left the eastern end open for a future connection with the Scarborough Expressway.
Highway 427 to the Humber River
This segment, built as part of the Queen Elizabeth Way
by the Province of Ontario, was transferred to the City of Toronto in 1997, and redesignated as part of the Gardiner.
In 1965, 62 yellow 'call boxes', containing phones for emergency assistance, were installed by the Ontario Motor League, fixed to poles on the shoulders. These remained in operation until the 1990s. In 1994, the RESCU
traffic management system began operation on the Gardiner and Lake Shore Boulevard and stranded motorists became quickly detected by the CCTV cameras and operators quickly dispatch assistance.
By 1966, rush hour traffic and accidents in the Jameson area meant that the Jameson westbound on-ramp was closed permanently during rush hours. That same year, after criticism of the safety of the expressway by Toronto coroner Morton Shulman
, Metro started installing guardrails on the full length of the Gardiner and Don Valley expressways.
In 1968, the speed limit was proposed to be raised from 50 mph to 55 mph (today it is 90 km/h). The expressway was already experiencing congestion at the time, and journalists openly questioned whether anyone could reach that top speed with the "horrendous volume of traffic" during peak rush times.
In 1988, the unmaintained grassy hillside in the Sunnyside area on the north side of the Gardiner from Roncesvalles Avenue to Wilson Park Avenue was cleaned up and planted with floral logos, with 26 tonnes (28.7 ST) of garbage removed in the process. The advertising, which pays for the maintenance and cleaning of the hillside, permits no slogans and no alcohol or tobacco logos. The logos are planted yew bushes and are maintained by an independent company on the land, which is owned by the Canadian National Railway.
In the late 1980s, Metro Toronto proposed to widen the Gardiner to eight lanes from Strachan Avenue to the Humber, and extend Front Street from Bathurst Street west to connect with the highway. The widening proposal was never implemented as it depended on provincial funding which never materialized. Metro had planned the Front Street extension as part of allowing the Bay-Adelaide office complex and other development downtown to proceed. The Province did approve the Front Street extension, but the then-City of Toronto Council voted against it. The Front Street extension proposal was later resurrected as part of proposals to redevelop or dismantle the central section of the Gardiner.
The old Gardiner and Lake Shore Boulevard bridges over the Humber River, which had been in service since the 1950s, were removed and replaced by new structures in 1998 and 1999. The old bridge pillars, which were resting on soil, not on bedrock, had sunk by a metre, giving the eastbound Gardiner a roller-coaster ride or "Humber hump". The bridges and connecting roadways were replaced at a cost of $100 million. Fatal collisions had occurred at the location, including an August 13, 1995 incident where a speeding eastbound Corvette became airborne and collided with a vehicle in the westbound lanes, killing three persons.
In the 1990s, after 30 years of usage, the City found that the central elevated section needed extensive repairs, and the ongoing maintenance was expensive. Proposals started to be floated for the demolition of the Expressway. In the end, city council voted to have the elevated section extensively rehabilitated and the elevated section in downtown Toronto was closed down for extensive repairs.
On April 1, 1997 the stretch of the Queen Elizabeth Way between Highway 427 and the Humber River was downloaded from the provincial Ministry of Transportation to Metropolitan Toronto and was redesignated as part of the Gardiner.
Portions of the former QEW had parallel service roads along the roadway:
The segment was not upgraded to contemporary standards when it was downloaded to the city, with particular concern over the old steel guardrail
median. Portions of the guardrail was replaced by a concrete barrier
in early 2007.
The elevated section between the Don River and Leslie Street, intended for connection to the cancelled Scarborough Expressway, was eventually demolished in 2001. Demolition was first proposed in 1990 by the Crombie Commission and the Lake Shore-Gardiner Task Force. The segment was in need of expensive repairs and a 1996 environmental assessment determined that it would cost $48 million to refurbish the Gardiner from the Don Valley Parkway to Leslie St., but only $34 million to tear it down. The final cost of the demolition was $39 million. Eastbound traffic now exits to a newly constructed off-ramp that connects with Lake Shore Blvd. East, just west of Carlaw Avenue. In the wake of the eastern demolition, Lake Shore Boulevard East has been revealed from the cover of the highway. Green boulevards have been implemented along the wide thoroughfare. Paved bicycle paths extend eastward for approximately two kilometres from the Martin Goodman Trail at Cherry Street to Coxwell Avenue. A local artist created a commemorative piece for the demolished elevated expressway out of several of its giant supportive concrete pillars.
The highway has not been expanded since its initial construction. Today, commuting traffic into and out of the downtown core moves very slowly during the rush hours, which has led to growth in commuting by other modes. Introduced in the 1960s, the province's GO Transit
has increased train frequency and capacity along the Lakeshore route to the point where GO now carries 19% of inbound commuters to downtown, while the Gardiner carries 8%. The TTC carries 47% of commuters and other auto routes account for 26% of inbound commuters, according to 2006 figures.
The annual maintenance costs for the Gardiner Expressway were estimated in 2011 at $12 million per year. According to the City of Toronto, the City monitors the pillars on an on-going basis and "re-coats" the pillars with new coatings of concrete, giving each new pillar an estimated 30 years of extended usage. A 4.5 kg section of concrete fell down onto Lake Shore Boulevard in June 2011.
and Jarvis Street due to the threat of ice about the size of a kitchen table falling from the CN Tower
. Several days before, a storm with snow and freezing rain had caused a great deal of ice to accrete on the tower. As the weather warmed and the sun heated the tower's concrete, large pieces of ice began falling off the tower and falling hundreds of metres to the ground below. Although nobody was injured, the Gardiner was closed as a precautionary measure. On March 6, cooler weather reduced the risk of falling ice, and prevailing wind conditions had changed, reducing the risks of ice falling onto the highway; the road was reopened subsequently.
bridge onto the Gardiner Expressway. It missed cars and caused no damage, bouncing harmlessly away despite the morning rush hour traffic. City crews were quickly sent to close off lanes of traffic to begin an inspection of the structure, which is a late 1960s post-tensioned design built by the province while it was still part of the QEW. This incident raised fears about safety of the highway, particularly with memories of the recent overpass collapse
in Laval
, Quebec
, still fresh in the minds of motorists and media.
called this demonstration by Tamil protestors on the Gardiner "unlawful" and "unsafe." Police forces from across the Greater Toronto Area
including the Ontario Provincial Police
were brought in for reinforcement. The highway was reopened shortly after midnight, when the protestors moved back to Queen's Park. This marked the first time that the Expressway was shut down due to a large-scale demonstration.
Since the end of 2003, the conventional truss lighting poles that the province installed on the QEW segment in the late 1960s have been removed west of Kipling Avenue and east of Royal York Road, being replaced with shaded high-mast lighting like that used on the Don Valley Parkway.
In 1991, the Royal Commission On The Future of the Toronto Waterfront released a report entitled "Report 15: Toronto Central Waterfront Transportation Corridor Study". It determined that the combination of the Gardiner, Lakeshore and railway uses tilted the land use to too much of a corridor use, and impacted negatively on the usage of the area. The report proposed that the City could A) retain or ameliorate; B) replace or C) remove the Expressway. The then-Metro Toronto and City of Toronto governments chose option "A" to retain or ameliorate.
In March 2000, the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Task Force proposed burying the section from east of the CNE to Yonge Street, as part of the plans for waterfront revitalization, at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion. The City of Toronto accepted the report in principle and formed the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation (TWRC), (today's Waterfront Toronto).
In 2004, the TWRC issued a report to the City about possible options for the Gardiner. It was released to the public in September 2006. It proposed four options:
An overview of the recommended changes:
Councillor Jane Pitfield, who was running for Mayor, criticized the proposal, stating that "From the canvassing I have done all over the city, the majority of people say they want the Gardiner to stay where it is." Suburban councillors Gloria Lindsay Luby and Doug Holyday came out opposed while inner-city councillor Kyle Rae fought for the proposal. Mayor David Miller
did not favour the proposal either, stating that there were other, higher priorities. The proposal did not come to Council for discussion and vote.
In May 2008, Waterfront Toronto (the former TWRC) proposed the demolition of the segment from Jarvis Street to the Don River and construction of a widened Lake Shore Boulevard in the style of University Avenue at a projected cost of $200 to $300 million. The proposal shelved the previous plan to demolish the central section and the construction of the Front Street Extension. Waterfront Toronto proposed to get started on the environmental assessment of the demolition, which is expected to take up to five years and cost $10 million. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong criticized the proposal, pointing out that the city already had a $300 million backlog of road repairs. Mayor David Miller endorsed the proposal, noting that the funds for the demolition and the eight-lane boulevard would come from monies saved by not building the Front Street Extension, and money saved on the maintenance of the elevated highway. In July 2008, City Council voted to proceed with the environmental assessment. In March 2009, Waterfront Toronto started the environmental assessment consultation process, with open houses and an online consultation web site. The Terms of Reference were approved by City Council in May 2009 and the Government of Ontario in September 2009 and an Environmental Assessment was expected to start in April 2010.
, the assessment has not commenced, and may have been stopped due to the election of Rob Ford
as Toronto mayor. Councillor Minnan-Wong, who had become chairman of the public works committee of Council, described the removal project as "dead", and describing the estimated $300 million cost as "too expensive" in light of a $270 million backlog on repairs of Toronto roads. Minnan-Wong was further quoted as saying that "tearing down the Gardiner Expressway, an important and vital transportation corridor, doesn't make sense".
The proposal planned to put tolls on the new roadway to pay for the cost of building it.
Unsolicited proposals are made regularly by citizens, agencies and corporations of Toronto.
In 2005, a proposal named the "Toronto Waterfront Viaduct" was presented by a group of Toronto citizens, calling for the replacement of the existing elevated expressway with an 8 to 10-lane cable-stayed viaduct over the Lakeshore rail corridor. This proposal combined the freeway with a new Lakeshore light rail transit system, and lanes for bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The proposed design used cantilever bridge structure to minimize disruption of the railroad. By building the replacement route on a parallel corridor, current traffic would not be disrupted.
Two proposals were made public in June 2009, when the City of Toronto Council was considering the proposal to tear down the eastern section. Mark Fraser, a Toronto CAD technician, and local resident opposed to the removal of the Gardiner, put forth a proposed design for a complete overhaul of the Gardiner he called the "Green Expressway". The design would consist of either a channel or tunnel built under the Gardiner with two levels of traffic (one for local highway traffic, and one for express traffic through the city, a ground level local street and a Parks, and retail concourse built overhead of the street.
Later in June 2009, Les Klein, a Toronto architect also opposed to the removal of the Gardiner, proposed adding an upper level deck covered with plants, bike lanes, walking paths and solar panels(for expressway lighting) on a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) stretch of the expressway, entitled the 'Green Ribbon'. The estimated cost was between $500 million to $800 million.
located along the Gardiner Exressway. The entire route is located within the city of Toronto.
{| class=wikitable
!scope="col"|Location
!scope="col"|km
!scope="col"|Destinations
!scope="col"|Notes
|-
|colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|Gardiner Expressway continues west as the
|-
|rowspan="2"|Alderwood
|
|
|
|-
|
|Brown's Line, Sherway Gardens Road
|Westbound exit, eastbound entrance
|-
|rowspan="2"|Mimico
|
|Kipling Avenue
|Access via distributor lanes
|-
|
|Islington Avenue
|Access via distributor lanes
|-
|rowspan="2"|Queensway-Humber Bay
|
|Park Lawn Road
|Eastbound exit via distributor lanes, westbound entrance
|-
|
|Lake Shore Boulevard
|Formerly
|-
|Swansea
|
|South Kingsway
|Westbound exit, eastbound entrance
|-
|Parkdale
|
|Jameson Avenue
, Lake Shore Boulevard, Dunn Avenue
|On-ramps from westbound Lake Shore Boulevard to Gardiner are shut weekdays from 3pm to 6pm.
|-
|rowspan="4"|Downtown Toronto
|
|Spadina Avenue
, Lake Shore Boulevard
|
|-
|
|York Street, Bay Street
, Yonge Street
|Formerly and
|-
|
|Jarvis Street
, Sherbourne Street
| Westbound exit to Jarvis/Sherbourne, eastbound entrance from Jarvis
|-
|
|Don Valley Parkway
|Eastbound exit, westbound entrance
|-
|colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|Gardiner Expressway continues east as Lake Shore Boulevard (formerly Highway 2)
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, connecting downtown Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
with its western suburbs. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
, it extends from the junction of Highway 427 and the Queen Elizabeth Way
Queen Elizabeth Way
The Queen Elizabeth Way, commonly abbreviated as the QEW, is a 400-Series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The freeway links Buffalo, New York and the Niagara Peninsula with Toronto. It begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western shore of Lake Ontario, ending...
(QEW) in the west to the foot of the Don Valley Parkway
Don Valley Parkway
The Don Valley Parkway is a controlled-access six-lane municipal expressway in Toronto connecting the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Ontario Highway 401, the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway. North of Highway 401, it continues as Ontario Highway 404. The parkway runs through...
(DVP) in the east, just past the mouth of the Don River. East of Dufferin Street
Dufferin Street
Dufferin Street is a major north-south street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, two concessions west of Yonge Street. The street starts at the foot of Lake Ontario, continues north to Toronto's northern boundary with some discontinuities and continues into York Region where it...
, the roadway is elevated, running above Lake Shore Boulevard east of Bathurst Street. Elevated sections east of the Don were demolished and integrated into Lake Shore Boulevard.
The highway is named for the first chair of the now-defunct Metro Council
Metropolitan Toronto
The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was a senior level of municipal government in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area from 1954 to 1998. It was created out of York County and was a precursor to the later concept of a regional municipality, being formed of smaller municipalities but having more...
, Frederick G. Gardiner, who championed it, the Don Valley Parkway and Spadina Expressway
Spadina Expressway
The Spadina Expressway was a proposed north-south freeway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was only partially built before being cancelled in 1971 due to public opposition. It was proposed in the mid-1960s as part of a network of freeways for Metropolitan Toronto. Its cancellation prompted the...
projects. The six-lane section east of the Humber River
Humber River (Ontario)
The Humber River is one of two major rivers on either side of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the other being the Don River to the east. It was designated a Canadian Heritage River on September 24, 1999....
was built in segments from 1955 until 1964 by the Metropolitan Toronto government with provincial highway funds. The ten-lane section west of the Humber was formerly part of the QEW provincial highway. The Gardiner Expressway is now wholly owned and operated by the City of Toronto.
When the Gardiner was built, it passed through industrial lands, now mostly converted to residential lands. Extensive repairs became necessary in the early 1990s, and since then the Gardiner has been the subject of several proposals to demolish it or move it underground as part of downtown waterfront revitalization efforts. One elevated section east of the Don River was demolished in 2001, and a current study is underway to demolish that part of the elevated section east of Jarvis Street to the Don.
Route description
From the Queen Elizabeth WayQueen Elizabeth Way
The Queen Elizabeth Way, commonly abbreviated as the QEW, is a 400-Series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The freeway links Buffalo, New York and the Niagara Peninsula with Toronto. It begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western shore of Lake Ontario, ending...
(QEW) and Highway 427 interchange, east to the Humber River, the Gardiner is straight, eight-to-ten lanes wide. This is the former QEW segment. Due to its status as a former Ontario 400-series highway, and because of its more recent design (rebuilt in the late 1960s), this section was built to more recent standards than the Metro-constructed Gardiner. A system of collector and express lanes serves Kipling Avenue and Islington Avenue and this segment has a speed limit of 100 km/h rather than 90 km/h. From the 427 to Grand Avenue the highway passes through an area of residential, commercial and light industry. To the south are the neighbourhoods of Alderwood
Alderwood, Toronto
Alderwood is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the western section of Toronto, formerly the city of Etobicoke. It is bounded by the Etobicoke Creek to the west, the Gardiner Expressway to the north, the CPR railway to the east and the CNR railway to the...
and Mimico
Mimico
The historic Town of Mimico is a neighbourhood in the south-western part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-east corner of the former Township of Etobicoke, and was an independent municipality from 1911 to 1967....
.
The highway curves approaching the Humber River passing the residential condominium towers of The Queensway-Humber Bay
The Queensway-Humber Bay
The Queensway-Humber Bay, known officially as Stonegate-Queensway, is a neighbourhood in the south-west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-east of the former City of Etobicoke.-Neighbourhoods:...
neighbourhood along the waterfront, the Mr. Christie
Nabisco
Nabisco is an American brand of cookies and snacks. Headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, the company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Kraft Foods. Nabisco's plant in Chicago, a production facility at 7300 S...
cookie factory and the Ontario Food Terminal
Ontario Food Terminal
The Ontario Food Terminal is the main produce distribution centre for Toronto, Canada. It is located on The Queensway in Etobicoke just off the Gardiner Expressway. Annually some one million vehicles arrive at the centre delivering produce from across North America or leave to distribute it to...
on the north side. The segment east of the Humber is the original Gardiner segment and is six-to-eight lanes wide. Two eastbound lanes exit to Lake Shore Boulevard and the roadway narrows to the six lanes of the original segment at the bridge over the Humber River.
East of the Humber the highway curves along Humber Bay
Humber Bay
Humber Bay is a bay of Lake Ontario south of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located between Ontario Place on the east and Mimico Creek to the west. The bay gives its name to Etobicoke's Humber Bay neighbourhood.-History:...
, passing to the south of the Swansea
Swansea, Toronto
Swansea is a neighbourhood in the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, bounded on the west by the Humber River, on the north by Bloor Street, on the east by High Park and on the south by Lake Ontario...
neighbourhood, before passing the Sunnyside waterfront on the south and High Park
High Park
High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It spans , and is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One third of the park remains in a natural state, with a rare oak savannah ecology...
and the Roncesvalles neighbourhood on the north side. Along the north side from Roncesvalles to Exhibition Place
Exhibition Place
Exhibition Place is a mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The 197–acre area includes expo, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, parkland, sports facilities, and a number of civic, provincial,...
is the neighbourhood of Parkdale
Parkdale, Toronto
Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by Queen Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario...
. Like the rail lines which run parallel to the Gardiner along its north side, the Gardiner is built in a cut from Dowling Avenue to Dufferin Street
Dufferin Street
Dufferin Street is a major north-south street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, two concessions west of Yonge Street. The street starts at the foot of Lake Ontario, continues north to Toronto's northern boundary with some discontinuities and continues into York Region where it...
and is below grade. From Dufferin to Strachan Avenue, the highway is flanked by light industry and the Liberty Village
Liberty Village
Liberty Village is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded at the north by King Street West, the west by Dufferin Street, the south by the Gardiner Expressway, the east by Strachan Avenue, and the northeast by the CP railway tracks...
neighbourhood to the north and the buildings of Exhibition Place on the south side. The highway becomes elevated at this point, rising at a gentle grade with a view of downtown Toronto straight ahead.
From east of the Exhibition Place streetcar loop and just west of Strachan Avenue, the space below the elevated sections of the highway was enclosed for use as storage space. Bricked sections with windows can be seen when driving along Manitoba Drive or taking the streetcar in or out of Exhibition Place. GO Transit
GO Transit
GO Transit is an inter-regional public transit system in Southern Ontario, Canada. It primarily serves the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area conurbation, with operations extending to several communities beyond the GTHA proper in the Greater Golden Horseshoe...
's Exhibition train station is located under the Gardiner Expressway with tracks located on the north side of the Gardiner.
Fort York
Fort York is a historic site of military fortifications and related buildings on the west side of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was built by the British Army and Canadian militia troops in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to defend the settlement and the new capital of the...
on the north side and Coronation Park to the south. From Bathurst Street eastward to Yonge Street
Yonge Street
Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...
, the south side is developed with residential condominiums of the Harbourfront
Harbourfront
Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within the downtown core of the city of Toronto, Canada. Part of the Toronto Waterfront, Harbourfront extends west from Yonge Street to Bathurst Street along Queen's Quay. East of Yonge to Parliament St...
neighbourhood and office towers. On the north side, the highway passes the Rogers Centre
Rogers Centre
Rogers Centre is a multi-purpose stadium, in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower, near the shores of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League...
, CN Tower
CN Tower
The CN Tower is a communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Standing tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj...
and the Air Canada Centre
Air Canada Centre
The Air Canada Centre is a multi-purpose indoor sporting arena located on Bay Street in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.The arena is popularly known as the ACC or the Hangar ....
landmarks interspersed with residential condominium towers. North along Bay Street are the office towers of the Toronto Financial District. Two elevated eastbound lanes fork off east of Spadina to provide exit ramps to Yonge, Bay and York Streets. Between York and Yonge Streets the highway is narrowed to two lanes in each direction.
From Yonge east to the Don Valley Parkway, the rail lines run parallel to the Gardiner on the north side, and to the north of the rail lines is the low-rise residential development of the St. Lawrence
St. Lawrence, Toronto
St. Lawrence is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area, a former industrial area, is bounded by Yonge, Front, and Parliament Streets, and the Canadian National railway embankment. The Esplanade off Yonge St., lined with restaurants, cafés and hotels runs through the...
neighbourhood, the Distillery District and the West Don Lands
West Don Lands
The West Don Lands are the site of a planned neighbourhood under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area is bordered by the Don River, King Street, Parliament Street and the rail line adjacent to the Gardiner Expressway....
. To the south of the highway, the land use is light industrial and waterfront lands in transition. The highway passes over the Don River with a ramp to connect to the Don Valley Parkway and descends in a ramp to end at Lake Shore Boulevard and Bouchette Street.
The elevated section is supported by steel-reinforced concrete columns. The roadway itself was constructed on top of concrete slabs supported by steel girders. The height of the elevated section is higher than required to cross city streets and provide clearance underneath. The intent of this was to reduce traffic noise at ground level. The highest point of the elevated section is the eastbound ramp from the Gardiner to the Don Valley Parkway which goes up and over the westbound lanes, then drops to ground level. The elevated sections of the Gardiner use a tall wall concrete barrier topped with green metal blades. The blades act to reduce the glare of oncoming headlights from the opposing direction of traffic. At grade sections west of Bathurst Street use steel guide rails.
Planning
Metropolitan Toronto
The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was a senior level of municipal government in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area from 1954 to 1998. It was created out of York County and was a precursor to the later concept of a regional municipality, being formed of smaller municipalities but having more...
. The route of the Expressway necessitated the paving over of parkland, demolition of residences and a popular amusement park, and a long elevated section to get through the downtown area. Planning was done stage-by-stage, from the Humber River east through downtown. The Humber Bay section was built according to initial plans. The route in the Exhibition Place area route changed over time from one along the lakeshore into downtown, to one aligned along the railway north of Exhibition Place. The initial route east of Exhibition Place would have necessitated the moving or removal of Old Fort York, but was moved to a more southerly alignment after protest. The elevated section through downtown was then aligned over the existing Lakeshore Boulevard in the area. East of downtown, the initial plans were for a ground-level route east to Woodbine, but this was changed in conjunction with the planning of the interchange of the Don Valley Parkway into downtown from the north to an elevated section east to Leslie Street. Various routes to the east were proposed, but never progressed beyond planning studies due to public protest.
Plans for the highway, first named the Lakeshore Expressway, were first developed prior to the formation of Metro Toronto. In the post-war period, the population of greater Toronto was growing at a rate of 50,000 persons per year, the ownership of private automobiles was growing, and the traffic between downtown Toronto and the western suburbs was regularly stuck in 'traffic jams.' (The Sunnyside stretch of the Lake Shore Boulevard and Queen and King Streets in the Parkdale
Parkdale, Toronto
Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by Queen Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario...
–High Park
High Park
High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It spans , and is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One third of the park remains in a natural state, with a rare oak savannah ecology...
area were apparently notorious for this.) Another reason for the proposal to build the lakeshore highway was the expected opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the need for adequate roadways to serve the expanded port facilities.
In May 1947, the Toronto City Planning Board proposed building a four-lane "Waterfront Highway" from the Humber to the Don River. In November 1947, the City's works committee approved a four-lane highway, following a path beside the rail lines along the north of the Canadian National Exhibition
Canadian National Exhibition
Canadian National Exhibition , also known as The Ex, is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the 18 days leading up to and including Labour Day Monday. With an attendance of approximately 1.3 million visitors each season, it is Canada’s largest...
(CNE) lands, ending at Fleet Street to the East at a cost of $6 million, to be approved by a plebiscite. The Toronto Board of Control approved the plan, but City Council voted against the plan after 11 hours of deliberation, sending it back to the Board of Control. In December 1947, the Board of Control abandoned the plan, on advice that the bridges for the highway would not be built due to a shortage of steel.
In July 1953, prior to the formation of Metro Toronto, the Metropolitan Executive Committee, chaired by Fred Gardiner, ordered the planning of the Lakeshore Expressway as a four-lane or six-lane expressway from the Humber in the west to Woodbine Avenue in the east. The cost was estimated at 20 million dollars. Route planning was given to the engineering firm Margison Babcock and Associates, with the proviso that an American firm expert in expressway building would be involved. Margison's plan 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. East of the CNE the highway would be an elevated roadway above the existing Fleet Street, to just west of the Don River. The highway proceeded at grade from that point eastward, ending at Coxwell Avenue and Queen Street East. Interchanges were proposed for Jameson Avenue
Jameson Avenue
Jameson Avenue is a multi-lane arterial road in the Parkdale neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a north-south roadway from Lake Shore Boulevard to Queen Street...
, Strachan Avenue, Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods....
, York Street, Jarvis Street, Don Roadway, Carlaw Avenue, Keating Avenue (the present Lake Shore Boulevard East) and Coxwell Avenue. 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 'The Queensway' and extending Keating Avenue east to Woodbine Avenue.
| Exit | |
|---|---|
| Islington-City Centre West | Brown's Line |
| Alderwood Alderwood, Toronto Alderwood is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the western section of Toronto, formerly the city of Etobicoke. It is bounded by the Etobicoke Creek to the west, the Gardiner Expressway to the north, the CPR railway to the east and the CNR railway to the... |
Kipling Avenue |
| Mimico Mimico The historic Town of Mimico is a neighbourhood in the south-western part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-east corner of the former Township of Etobicoke, and was an independent municipality from 1911 to 1967.... |
Islington |
| The Queensway-Humber Bay The Queensway-Humber Bay The Queensway-Humber Bay, known officially as Stonegate-Queensway, is a neighbourhood in the south-west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-east of the former City of Etobicoke.-Neighbourhoods:... |
Park Lawn Road |
| Swansea Swansea, Toronto Swansea is a neighbourhood in the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, bounded on the west by the Humber River, on the north by Bloor Street, on the east by High Park and on the south by Lake Ontario... |
Lake Shore Boulevard |
| Roncesvalles | Jameson Avenue |
| Parkdale Parkdale, Toronto Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by Queen Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario... |
Jameson Avenue |
| Liberty Village Liberty Village Liberty Village is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded at the north by King Street West, the west by Dufferin Street, the south by the Gardiner Expressway, the east by Strachan Avenue, and the northeast by the CP railway tracks... |
north of Exhibition Place |
| Niagara | north of Exhibition Place |
| CityPlace CityPlace, Toronto CityPlace is the name given to a large section of former railway land in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada that has been redeveloped for multi-use purpose. The term has been more recently used for a large up-scale multi-tower condo development in the Harbourfront district. When completed, this area... |
Spadina Avenue |
| Harbourfront Harbourfront Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within the downtown core of the city of Toronto, Canada. Part of the Toronto Waterfront, Harbourfront extends west from Yonge Street to Bathurst Street along Queen's Quay. East of Yonge to Parliament St... |
Spadina Avenue |
| St. Lawrence St. Lawrence, Toronto St. Lawrence is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area, a former industrial area, is bounded by Yonge, Front, and Parliament Streets, and the Canadian National railway embankment. The Esplanade off Yonge St., lined with restaurants, cafés and hotels runs through the... |
Yonge/York |
| Distillery District | Jarvis Street |
| West Don Lands West Don Lands The West Don Lands are the site of a planned neighbourhood under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area is bordered by the Don River, King Street, Parliament Street and the rail line adjacent to the Gardiner Expressway.... |
Jarvis Street |
| A list of neighbourhoods along the Gardiner from west to east. | |
The shoreline route was opposed by the City of Toronto and the Toronto Harbour Commission
Toronto Harbour Commission
The Toronto Harbour Commission was a joint federal-municipal government agency based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The agency managed Toronto Harbour as well as being responsible for major works along the Toronto waterfront. It built the Toronto Island Airport in 1939...
, 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 change moved the route from the Humber to the Ontario Hydro right-of-way next to the railway tracks, saving 11 acres (44,515.5 m²) of waterfront. The expressway was moved to the north of 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. Alternative 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 $33 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 (40,468.6 m²) of CNE land, and requiring 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
Fort York
Fort York is a historic site of military fortifications and related buildings on the west side of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was built by the British Army and Canadian militia troops in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to defend the settlement and the new capital of the...
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 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. In 1959, the Fort was again under threat. A proposal was published to link Highway 400 to the Gardiner to meet in the vicinity of the Fort. Gardiner proposed that Metro Toronto and the City share the costs of relocating the Fort to the waterfront. In the end, the Fort was not moved, the westbound on-ramp from Bathurst Street was cancelled, no interchange was built in the area and the Highway 400 extension was never approved. The Gardiner passes over some of the Fort's property, and its width is wider in the area to provide for a possible connection with the 400.
Construction
Humber River to Jameson Avenue
The route of the Expressway around Humber Bay necessitated the demolition of the Sunnyside Amusement Park
Sunnyside Amusement Park
Sunnyside is a lakefront district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It includes a beach and park area along Lake Ontario's Humber Bay, to the west of the Exhibition grounds, at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue where it meets King Street West and Queen Street West. In the 1910s, the area was the site of a...
on the lakeshore, which had existed since 1925. Some amusements were moved to the CNE
Canadian National Exhibition
Canadian National Exhibition , also known as The Ex, is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the 18 days leading up to and including Labour Day Monday. With an attendance of approximately 1.3 million visitors each season, it is Canada’s largest...
, others sold off or just destroyed. The carousel was moved to the newly built Disneyland. The Amusement Park lands were subsumed by the Lake Shore Boulevard expansion to six lanes. Only the Sunnyside Pool and Palais Royale
Palais Royale
Palais Royale is a dance hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Shore Boulevard at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue on Lake Ontario. Originally built as a boat works, it became notable as a night club in the now-defunct Sunnyside Amusement Park, hosting many prominent 'big band' jazz bands...
hall now exist from that time period. A pedestrian bridge crossing was built from the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue to the Palais Royale site.
The 1800s-era 'South Parkdale' residential neighbourhood at the foot of Jameson Avenue was demolished in 1957. The Expressway, like the railway just to the north, was cut through the area at lake shore level. An interchange was built at Jameson with on and off ramps to Lake Shore Boulevard, and Lake Shore Boulevard was expanded to six lanes in the area. This created a pedestrian barrier to the lake shore for Parkdale
Parkdale, Toronto
Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by Queen Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario...
neighbourhood residents to the north. Efforts made by community groups over the next 20 years to restore access to the lake shore, including plans to cover the section of the Expressway and railway line, did not come to fruition. A pedestrian bridge over Lake Shore Boulevard at the foot of Jameson Avenue was eventually built. Jameson Avenue, which had previously been a street of mansions, saw intense apartment building development after the building of the Expressway.
The section between Humber River and Jameson Avenue was completed in 1958. The expressway, by then named the Gardiner Expressway, was officially opened by Gardiner and Ontario Premier Leslie Frost
Leslie Frost
Leslie Miscampbell Frost, was a politician in Ontario, Canada, who served as the 16th Premier from May 4, 1949 to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man Ontario".-Early years:...
on August 8, 1958. When this section opened, it opened without guard-rails on the median dividing the different directions. Steel guard-rails and a 'glare shield' were approved for this section in 1965 at a cost of $200,000.
Jameson Avenue to York Street
The section between Jameson Avenue and Spadina Avenue was completed and opened on August 1, 1962 and the westbound lanes from York Street were opened on December 3, 1962. The eastbound lanes from Spadina to York opened in 1963. The elevated section starts from the north-east corner of the CNE. The route to the east of the CNE was modified to avoid passing over historic Fort York
Fort York
Fort York is a historic site of military fortifications and related buildings on the west side of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was built by the British Army and Canadian militia troops in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to defend the settlement and the new capital of the...
. This section was built wider to accommodate a possible interchange with the Highway 400 extension
Black Creek Drive
Black Creek Drive is a north-south arterial road in Toronto, Ontario that extends from Highway 400 at Jane Street, near Ontario Highway 401 to Weston Road in the south. Originally intended to be a freeway extension of Ontario Highway 400, it was built instead as an arterial road after public...
south to downtown, proposed by the Province of Ontario in 1956 and later cancelled.
East of Fort York, the Gardiner was built entirely as an elevated route, through a predominantly industrial area, to the south of railway lands to reach downtown. The roadway was built directly overhead of Fleet Street (Fleet is now called Lake Shore Boulevard West) through much of this section. The expressway off-ramp to York Street was developed as a two-lane eastbound 'finger' flying over Harbour Street, south of the main roadway, descending to Harbour Street with a circular off-ramp to York Street northbound.
York Street to the Don Valley Parkway
This segment was completed in 1964. In the original proposal, this segment went to the ground with a clover-leaf interchange with the Don Valley Parkway. It was instead constructed as an elevated section that passes over Lake Shore Boulevard and at its eastern end forks into a flyover of the Don River mouth and a separate connector to the east. The section between the Parkway and Yonge Street was built eight lanes wide.
Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street
This segment was opened in July 1966 without ceremony. It ended just east of Leslie Street, and traffic was forced to exit to an interchange at Leslie Street down to the former Keating Street, which was renamed Lake Shore Boulevard. The design left the eastern end open for a future connection with the Scarborough Expressway.
Highway 427 to the Humber River
This segment, built as part of the Queen Elizabeth Way
Queen Elizabeth Way
The Queen Elizabeth Way, commonly abbreviated as the QEW, is a 400-Series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The freeway links Buffalo, New York and the Niagara Peninsula with Toronto. It begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western shore of Lake Ontario, ending...
by the Province of Ontario, was transferred to the City of Toronto in 1997, and redesignated as part of the Gardiner.
From completion to the present
By 1963, the first rooftop billboards along the Expressway were built, targeting the daily 40,000 to 60,000 motorists. Companies paid up to $3,000 per month to locate their billboard. Today, there are dozens of neon signs, billboards and video boards in the proximity of the Expressway, mostly in the sections between Roncesvalles Avenue to Spadina Avenue and east of Jarvis Street.In 1965, 62 yellow 'call boxes', containing phones for emergency assistance, were installed by the Ontario Motor League, fixed to poles on the shoulders. These remained in operation until the 1990s. In 1994, the RESCU
RESCU
The Road Emergency Services Communications Unit ' is a traffic management system used by the City of Toronto on city managed highways...
traffic management system began operation on the Gardiner and Lake Shore Boulevard and stranded motorists became quickly detected by the CCTV cameras and operators quickly dispatch assistance.
By 1966, rush hour traffic and accidents in the Jameson area meant that the Jameson westbound on-ramp was closed permanently during rush hours. That same year, after criticism of the safety of the expressway by Toronto coroner Morton Shulman
Morton Shulman
Morton Shulman, OC was a Canadian politician, businessman, broadcaster, columnist, coroner, and physician.-Biography:...
, Metro started installing guardrails on the full length of the Gardiner and Don Valley expressways.
In 1968, the speed limit was proposed to be raised from 50 mph to 55 mph (today it is 90 km/h). The expressway was already experiencing congestion at the time, and journalists openly questioned whether anyone could reach that top speed with the "horrendous volume of traffic" during peak rush times.
In 1988, the unmaintained grassy hillside in the Sunnyside area on the north side of the Gardiner from Roncesvalles Avenue to Wilson Park Avenue was cleaned up and planted with floral logos, with 26 tonnes (28.7 ST) of garbage removed in the process. The advertising, which pays for the maintenance and cleaning of the hillside, permits no slogans and no alcohol or tobacco logos. The logos are planted yew bushes and are maintained by an independent company on the land, which is owned by the Canadian National Railway.
| Direction | ||
|---|---|---|
| Location | Eastbound | Westbound |
| 427/QEW to Kipling | 111,654 | 113,699 |
| Kipling to Royal York | 110,140 | 102,586 |
| Royal York to South Kingsway | 97,713 | 108,325 |
| South Kingsway to Parkside | 80559 | 88002 |
| Parkside to Dufferin | 80143 | 86661 |
| Dufferin to Strachan | 77852 | 76712 |
| Strachan to Bathurst | 76001 | 78725 |
| Bathurst to Spadina | 62907 | 61657 |
| Spadina to York | 62256 | 57197 |
| York to Yonge Yonge Street Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of... |
42812 | 54190 |
| Yonge to Jarvis | 40492 | 37925 |
| Sherbourne to Parliament | 60825 | 49534 |
| Parliament to DVP | 55420 | 54144 |
| To/from DVP | 33583 | 32000 |
| East of DVP | 20369 | 19566 |
| Average weekday traffic volume per 24-hour period in 2008 | ||
In the late 1980s, Metro Toronto proposed to widen the Gardiner to eight lanes from Strachan Avenue to the Humber, and extend Front Street from Bathurst Street west to connect with the highway. The widening proposal was never implemented as it depended on provincial funding which never materialized. Metro had planned the Front Street extension as part of allowing the Bay-Adelaide office complex and other development downtown to proceed. The Province did approve the Front Street extension, but the then-City of Toronto Council voted against it. The Front Street extension proposal was later resurrected as part of proposals to redevelop or dismantle the central section of the Gardiner.
The old Gardiner and Lake Shore Boulevard bridges over the Humber River, which had been in service since the 1950s, were removed and replaced by new structures in 1998 and 1999. The old bridge pillars, which were resting on soil, not on bedrock, had sunk by a metre, giving the eastbound Gardiner a roller-coaster ride or "Humber hump". The bridges and connecting roadways were replaced at a cost of $100 million. Fatal collisions had occurred at the location, including an August 13, 1995 incident where a speeding eastbound Corvette became airborne and collided with a vehicle in the westbound lanes, killing three persons.
In the 1990s, after 30 years of usage, the City found that the central elevated section needed extensive repairs, and the ongoing maintenance was expensive. Proposals started to be floated for the demolition of the Expressway. In the end, city council voted to have the elevated section extensively rehabilitated and the elevated section in downtown Toronto was closed down for extensive repairs.
Portions of the former QEW had parallel service roads along the roadway:
- Oxford Street - south side from east of Horner Avenue to Grand Avenue (broken sections)
- Mendota Road - north side from east of Royal York Road to Grand Avenue
- Queen Elizabeth Boulevard - north side from east of Islington Avenue to west of Royal York Road
- Fordhouse Boulevard - north side from east of The East Mall to Wickman Road
- Brockhouse Road - south side from east of The East Mall
The segment was not upgraded to contemporary standards when it was downloaded to the city, with particular concern over the old steel guardrail
Guardrail
Guardrail can refer to*Guard rails installed on road sides for automobile safety*RC-12 Guardrail, a U.S. Army intelligence-gathering aircraft based on the C-12 Huron*Roof edge protection, rails installed on roofs to protect construction and roofing workers...
median. Portions of the guardrail was replaced by a concrete barrier
Jersey barrier
A Jersey barrier or Jersey wall is a modular concrete barrier employed to separate lanes of traffic. It is designed to both minimize vehicle damage in cases of incidental contact while still preventing crossover in the case of head-on accidents....
in early 2007.
The elevated section between the Don River and Leslie Street, intended for connection to the cancelled Scarborough Expressway, was eventually demolished in 2001. Demolition was first proposed in 1990 by the Crombie Commission and the Lake Shore-Gardiner Task Force. The segment was in need of expensive repairs and a 1996 environmental assessment determined that it would cost $48 million to refurbish the Gardiner from the Don Valley Parkway to Leslie St., but only $34 million to tear it down. The final cost of the demolition was $39 million. Eastbound traffic now exits to a newly constructed off-ramp that connects with Lake Shore Blvd. East, just west of Carlaw Avenue. In the wake of the eastern demolition, Lake Shore Boulevard East has been revealed from the cover of the highway. Green boulevards have been implemented along the wide thoroughfare. Paved bicycle paths extend eastward for approximately two kilometres from the Martin Goodman Trail at Cherry Street to Coxwell Avenue. A local artist created a commemorative piece for the demolished elevated expressway out of several of its giant supportive concrete pillars.
The highway has not been expanded since its initial construction. Today, commuting traffic into and out of the downtown core moves very slowly during the rush hours, which has led to growth in commuting by other modes. Introduced in the 1960s, the province's GO Transit
GO Transit
GO Transit is an inter-regional public transit system in Southern Ontario, Canada. It primarily serves the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area conurbation, with operations extending to several communities beyond the GTHA proper in the Greater Golden Horseshoe...
has increased train frequency and capacity along the Lakeshore route to the point where GO now carries 19% of inbound commuters to downtown, while the Gardiner carries 8%. The TTC carries 47% of commuters and other auto routes account for 26% of inbound commuters, according to 2006 figures.
Crumbling elevated section
The elevated section was not built to withstand the use of road salt in the winter. The salt created corrosion of the steel within the concrete pillars, which expanded the steel, and caused pieces of concrete to fall off. Remedial work had to be applied starting in the 1990s at a cost of $8 million per year. The remedial work included sealing expansion joints to force the salty water into the drains and extensive patching of the concrete pillars. Exposed steel was sand-blasted and repainted.The annual maintenance costs for the Gardiner Expressway were estimated in 2011 at $12 million per year. According to the City of Toronto, the City monitors the pillars on an on-going basis and "re-coats" the pillars with new coatings of concrete, giving each new pillar an estimated 30 years of extended usage. A 4.5 kg section of concrete fell down onto Lake Shore Boulevard in June 2011.
Ice from the CN Tower
On March 5, 2007, a section of the Gardiner Expressway was closed between Spadina AvenueSpadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods....
and Jarvis Street due to the threat of ice about the size of a kitchen table falling from the CN Tower
CN Tower
The CN Tower is a communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Standing tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj...
. Several days before, a storm with snow and freezing rain had caused a great deal of ice to accrete on the tower. As the weather warmed and the sun heated the tower's concrete, large pieces of ice began falling off the tower and falling hundreds of metres to the ground below. Although nobody was injured, the Gardiner was closed as a precautionary measure. On March 6, cooler weather reduced the risk of falling ice, and prevailing wind conditions had changed, reducing the risks of ice falling onto the highway; the road was reopened subsequently.
Concrete from the Kipling Avenue bridge
On May 3, 2007 at around 7:00 a.m., a chunk of concrete about the size of a loaf of bread fell from the Kipling AvenueKipling Avenue
Kipling Avenue, originally named Mimico Avenue, is a street in the Etobicoke district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 6 concessions from Yonge Street, and is a major north–south arterial road that also extends beyond Toronto, into the Regional Municipality of York.The...
bridge onto the Gardiner Expressway. It missed cars and caused no damage, bouncing harmlessly away despite the morning rush hour traffic. City crews were quickly sent to close off lanes of traffic to begin an inspection of the structure, which is a late 1960s post-tensioned design built by the province while it was still part of the QEW. This incident raised fears about safety of the highway, particularly with memories of the recent overpass collapse
De la Concorde overpass collapse
On September 30, 2006, part of an overpass collapsed in Laval, a suburb of Montreal, on Boulevard de la Concorde running over Autoroute 19. The collapse crushed two vehicles under it, killing five people and seriously injuring six others who went over the edge while travelling on the overpass...
in Laval
Laval, Quebec
Laval is a Canadian city and a region in southwestern Quebec. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third largest municipality in the province of Quebec, and the 14th largest city in Canada with a population of 368,709 in 2006...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, still fresh in the minds of motorists and media.
Tamil protest
On the evening of May 10, 2009, as part of the Tamil demonstrations in Canada, approximately 2,000 protestors blocked the downtown section of the Gardiner Expressway in both directions, leaving thousands of motorists stranded for several hours, and backing up traffic on the Expressway for several kilometres. Toronto Police chief Bill BlairBill Blair (police chief)
William Sterling "Bill" Blair, is the police chief of Toronto, Ontario. He was selected in a 4–2 vote of the Toronto Police Services Board in early April 2005, and formally appointed Chief of the Toronto Police Service on April 26, 2005. He succeeded Mike Boyd, who had served as interim chief...
called this demonstration by Tamil protestors on the Gardiner "unlawful" and "unsafe." Police forces from across the Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
including the Ontario Provincial Police
Ontario Provincial Police
The Ontario Provincial Police is the Provincial Police service for the province of Ontario, Canada.-Overview:The OPP is the the largest deployed police force in Ontario, and the second largest in Canada. The service is responsible for providing policing services throughout the province in areas...
were brought in for reinforcement. The highway was reopened shortly after midnight, when the protestors moved back to Queen's Park. This marked the first time that the Expressway was shut down due to a large-scale demonstration.
Lighting
The Gardiner, along with the Don Valley Parkway and Allen Road, were fitted with the distinct cobra-neck 30 feet (9.1 m) poles. They were first fitted with fluorescent tubes in the 1960s, which was changed to the orange low-pressure sodium (LPS) in 1978. (A 1960s experiment of installing lights on the elevated Gardiner's parapets was quickly shelved.) In the late 1990s, the low pressure sodium lighting was failing and most of the cobra-neck conventional poles were replaced in favour of shaded high-mast lighting, with high-pressure sodium lamps (HPS); however the elevated Gardiner still retained the LPS cobra-neck poles for seven more years, while the section immediately west of Dufferin Street still contains several with HPS lamps. The last remaining LPS lamps, which were no longer being produced, were all replaced by HPS in early 2006.Since the end of 2003, the conventional truss lighting poles that the province installed on the QEW segment in the late 1960s have been removed west of Kipling Avenue and east of Royal York Road, being replaced with shaded high-mast lighting like that used on the Don Valley Parkway.
Future
Starting in the 1990s, several proposals have been made to dismantle or replace the central elevated section. Lack of municipal funds and political will have repeatedly stalled such plans.In 1991, the Royal Commission On The Future of the Toronto Waterfront released a report entitled "Report 15: Toronto Central Waterfront Transportation Corridor Study". It determined that the combination of the Gardiner, Lakeshore and railway uses tilted the land use to too much of a corridor use, and impacted negatively on the usage of the area. The report proposed that the City could A) retain or ameliorate; B) replace or C) remove the Expressway. The then-Metro Toronto and City of Toronto governments chose option "A" to retain or ameliorate.
Demolition proposals
In 2004, the TWRC issued a report to the City about possible options for the Gardiner. It was released to the public in September 2006. It proposed four options:
- Leave the Gardiner as is, at an annual cost of $12 million
- Replace the roadway with at-grade or below grade roads at a total cost of $1.475 billion
- Remove the Lake Shore Boulevard roadway underneath the elevated section and construct buildings at a cost of $65 million
- Removing the Gardiner east of Spadina, and expanding Lake Shore Boulevard at a cost of $758 million. This was the TWRC's recommended option.
An overview of the recommended changes:
- retain elevated portions from west of Dufferin Street to Spadina Avenue
- extend Front StreetFront Street (Toronto)Front Street is an east-west road in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street marks the rough outline of the shoreline of Lake Ontario as it existed during the original English settlement of York, then called Palace Street...
west of Bathurst to connect with the Gardiner west of Strachan Avenue. - add new on/off ramps to connect with Front Street extension
- replace elevated portion from Spadina Avenue to Simcoe Street with two five-lane roadway (Lake Shore Blvd) separated by landscaped median
- replace elevated portion from Simcoe Street to Jarvis Street with two five-lane roadway (Lake Shore Blvd) separated by city block
- replace elevated portion from Jarvis Street to Don River with two four-lane roadway (Lake Shore Blvd) separated by landscaped median
- relocate Don River channel and re-build new ramps onto the Don Valley Parkway with surface roadway (Lake Shore Blvd)
Councillor Jane Pitfield, who was running for Mayor, criticized the proposal, stating that "From the canvassing I have done all over the city, the majority of people say they want the Gardiner to stay where it is." Suburban councillors Gloria Lindsay Luby and Doug Holyday came out opposed while inner-city councillor Kyle Rae fought for the proposal. Mayor David Miller
David Miller (Canadian politician)
David Raymond Miller is a Canadian politician. He was the 63rd Mayor of Toronto and the second since the 1998 amalgamation. He was elected to the position in 2003 for a three-year term and re-elected in 2006 for a four-year term...
did not favour the proposal either, stating that there were other, higher priorities. The proposal did not come to Council for discussion and vote.
In May 2008, Waterfront Toronto (the former TWRC) proposed the demolition of the segment from Jarvis Street to the Don River and construction of a widened Lake Shore Boulevard in the style of University Avenue at a projected cost of $200 to $300 million. The proposal shelved the previous plan to demolish the central section and the construction of the Front Street Extension. Waterfront Toronto proposed to get started on the environmental assessment of the demolition, which is expected to take up to five years and cost $10 million. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong criticized the proposal, pointing out that the city already had a $300 million backlog of road repairs. Mayor David Miller endorsed the proposal, noting that the funds for the demolition and the eight-lane boulevard would come from monies saved by not building the Front Street Extension, and money saved on the maintenance of the elevated highway. In July 2008, City Council voted to proceed with the environmental assessment. In March 2009, Waterfront Toronto started the environmental assessment consultation process, with open houses and an online consultation web site. The Terms of Reference were approved by City Council in May 2009 and the Government of Ontario in September 2009 and an Environmental Assessment was expected to start in April 2010.
, the assessment has not commenced, and may have been stopped due to the election of Rob Ford
Rob Ford
Robert Bruce "Rob" Ford is the 64th and current Mayor of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was first elected to city council in the 2000 Toronto municipal election, and was re-elected to his council seat in 2003 and again in 2006...
as Toronto mayor. Councillor Minnan-Wong, who had become chairman of the public works committee of Council, described the removal project as "dead", and describing the estimated $300 million cost as "too expensive" in light of a $270 million backlog on repairs of Toronto roads. Minnan-Wong was further quoted as saying that "tearing down the Gardiner Expressway, an important and vital transportation corridor, doesn't make sense".
Replacement proposals
In 1996, the Crombie-led Waterfront Trust asked the builders (Canadian Highways International Corp) of the Highway 407 toll road to investigate replacing the Gardiner. The Corporation proposed a tunnel to replace the elevated section from Dufferin to Yonge Street at a cost of $1 billion. City staff pointed out that the tunnel would have to avoid several obstacles, including:- 12 feet (3.7 m) storm sewers just west of Fort York and under Portland Street;
- a high-voltage electrical line under Strachan Avenue;
- a filtered water intake to the John Street pumping station;
- a streetcar line running under lower Bay Street;
- a streetcar loop on the north side of the Exhibition Grounds; and
- the Don River
The proposal planned to put tolls on the new roadway to pay for the cost of building it.
Unsolicited proposals are made regularly by citizens, agencies and corporations of Toronto.
In 2005, a proposal named the "Toronto Waterfront Viaduct" was presented by a group of Toronto citizens, calling for the replacement of the existing elevated expressway with an 8 to 10-lane cable-stayed viaduct over the Lakeshore rail corridor. This proposal combined the freeway with a new Lakeshore light rail transit system, and lanes for bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The proposed design used cantilever bridge structure to minimize disruption of the railroad. By building the replacement route on a parallel corridor, current traffic would not be disrupted.
Two proposals were made public in June 2009, when the City of Toronto Council was considering the proposal to tear down the eastern section. Mark Fraser, a Toronto CAD technician, and local resident opposed to the removal of the Gardiner, put forth a proposed design for a complete overhaul of the Gardiner he called the "Green Expressway". The design would consist of either a channel or tunnel built under the Gardiner with two levels of traffic (one for local highway traffic, and one for express traffic through the city, a ground level local street and a Parks, and retail concourse built overhead of the street.
Later in June 2009, Les Klein, a Toronto architect also opposed to the removal of the Gardiner, proposed adding an upper level deck covered with plants, bike lanes, walking paths and solar panels(for expressway lighting) on a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) stretch of the expressway, entitled the 'Green Ribbon'. The estimated cost was between $500 million to $800 million.
Western Waterfront plan
The Western Waterfront Master Plan calls for reconstruction of the Jameson/Dunn interchange to place the eastbound lanes of Lake Shore Boulevard onto the north side of the Gardiner, moving the Jameson westbound exit east to British Columbia Drive, converting the Jameson Street bridge into a pedestrian overpass to reclaim approximately 9 hectares (22.2 acre) of parkland. The Master Plan passed a Class environmental assessment in 2009. The City started to replace several deteriorating structures in May 2010, to prepare the structures for the new roadway alignment. The construction of the realigned Lake Shore Boulevard and the related Gardiner ramp changes is slated for after 2014, after completion of a detailed environmental assessment for the parkland and roadway project.York/Bay/Yonge ramps rebuild
In 2009, the city of Toronto commenced a study of the York/Bay/Yonge off-ramps and the Bay Street on-ramps "to support and enhance the pedestrian and park spaces in the immediate area while maintaining acceptable traffic capacity and operations." The preferred option identified in the study would be to reconfigure the off-ramp to connect at Simcoe Street, and close the on-ramp from northbound Bay Street to the eastbound Gardiner. The change to the ramps was approved in August 2010 by City Council.Exit list
The following table lists the interchangesInterchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
located along the Gardiner Exressway. The entire route is located within the city of Toronto.
{| class=wikitable
!scope="col"|Location
!scope="col"|km
!scope="col"|Destinations
!scope="col"|Notes
|-
|colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|Gardiner Expressway continues west as the
|-
|rowspan="2"|Alderwood
Alderwood, Toronto
Alderwood is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the western section of Toronto, formerly the city of Etobicoke. It is bounded by the Etobicoke Creek to the west, the Gardiner Expressway to the north, the CPR railway to the east and the CNR railway to the...
|
|
|
|-
|
|Brown's Line, Sherway Gardens Road
|Westbound exit, eastbound entrance
|-
|rowspan="2"|Mimico
|
|Kipling Avenue
Kipling Avenue
Kipling Avenue, originally named Mimico Avenue, is a street in the Etobicoke district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 6 concessions from Yonge Street, and is a major north–south arterial road that also extends beyond Toronto, into the Regional Municipality of York.The...
|Access via distributor lanes
|-
|
|Islington Avenue
|Access via distributor lanes
|-
|rowspan="2"|Queensway-Humber Bay
|
|Park Lawn Road
|Eastbound exit via distributor lanes, westbound entrance
|-
|
|Lake Shore Boulevard
|Formerly
|-
|Swansea
Swansea, Toronto
Swansea is a neighbourhood in the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, bounded on the west by the Humber River, on the north by Bloor Street, on the east by High Park and on the south by Lake Ontario...
|
|South Kingsway
|Westbound exit, eastbound entrance
|-
|Parkdale
Parkdale, Toronto
Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by Queen Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario...
|
|Jameson Avenue
Jameson Avenue
Jameson Avenue is a multi-lane arterial road in the Parkdale neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a north-south roadway from Lake Shore Boulevard to Queen Street...
, Lake Shore Boulevard, Dunn Avenue
|On-ramps from westbound Lake Shore Boulevard to Gardiner are shut weekdays from 3pm to 6pm.
|-
|rowspan="4"|Downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto is the central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately bounded by Bloor Street to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, the Don River to the east, and Bathurst Street to the west...
|
|Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods....
, Lake Shore Boulevard
|
|-
|
|York Street, Bay Street
Bay Street
Bay Street, originally known as Bear Street, is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Street in that role in the 1970s...
, Yonge Street
Yonge Street
Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...
|Formerly and
|-
|
|Jarvis Street
Jarvis Street
Jarvis Street is a north-south thoroughfare in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, passing through some of the oldest developed areas in the city. Its alignment extends from Bloor Street in the north to Queens Quay East in the south. South of Front Street, it continues as Lower Jarvis Street...
, Sherbourne Street
| Westbound exit to Jarvis/Sherbourne, eastbound entrance from Jarvis
|-
|
|Don Valley Parkway
Don Valley Parkway
The Don Valley Parkway is a controlled-access six-lane municipal expressway in Toronto connecting the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Ontario Highway 401, the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway. North of Highway 401, it continues as Ontario Highway 404. The parkway runs through...
|Eastbound exit, westbound entrance
|-
|colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|Gardiner Expressway continues east as Lake Shore Boulevard (formerly Highway 2)
See also
- Cancelled expressways in Toronto
- Allen RoadAllen RoadWilliam R. Allen Road, known more commonly as Allen Road, The Allen Expressway or simply The Allen and formerly as the Spadina Expressway, is a short expressway/freeway in Toronto, Ontario, which runs from Kennard Avenue in the north, to Eglinton Avenue West in the south...
External links
- Gardiner EA study and 'e-consultation' web site
- Video of the Gardiner Expressway between Highway 427 and the Don Valley Parkway
- Photos of the Gardiner East demolition from the City of Toronto Archives
- City of Toronto RESCU Traffic Cameras (also includes traffic cameras for the Don Valley ParkwayDon Valley ParkwayThe Don Valley Parkway is a controlled-access six-lane municipal expressway in Toronto connecting the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Ontario Highway 401, the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway. North of Highway 401, it continues as Ontario Highway 404. The parkway runs through...
and Lake Shore Boulevard) - Technical Briefing report of the future of the Gardiner Expressway by TWRC, Simplified Version
- Google Maps of Gardiner Expressway