The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation recently released a report (PDF) outlining four different options for dealing with the Gardiner Expressway. The options, ranging from doing nothing to creating a “Great Street” along Lakeshore Boulevard, were not exactly greeted with universal acclaim. Jose Gutierrez’s Toronto Waterfront Viaduct presents a different vision for the Waterfront, one that acknowledges the need to replace the Gardiner with a major transportation corridor, eliminate barriers to the Waterfront, and, most importantly, create connections between the city and its greatest resource.
Spacing asked our Waterfront reporter Ian Malczewski to shed some light on the the specifics of the Viaduct’s article. Read Ian’s article.
4 comments
Gutierrez’s proposal is not unlike a proposal Bruce Mau made a few years ago in Toronto Life Magazine. He suggested making a much higher viaduct with some kind of transparent pipe enclosing the roadway.
personally i love the viaduct idea, but the cheapest solution i have seen is like what london did with theirs
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=1f45a493-3ab4-4d1c-ad15-1e78e3ab4d5f&k=86327
I am a candidate for councillor in Ward 25, and I fully support the TWV plan. I met with the architect, Jose, and he gave me an hour-long presentation. While Adam Vaughan makes an excellent point about the increased traffic and pollution, we must also realize that cars idling on the crumbling Gardiner must be remedied, and these gas-powered vehicles will soon be replaced by electric ones. The TWV also provides for a rapid public transit line, and below it the skyPATH offers enclosed green space, cycling and pedestrian paths, and will not harm the railway lanes 20 feet below. The cost can be offset considerably by charging a road toll. It is estimated to be completed in 2-3 years. It seems like the perfect solution to me for the City of Toronto.
-John Blair, Candidate for Toronto City Council
Ward 25 (Don Valley West)
I’d just like to say that the article about the congestion charge is total nonsense.
The Gardiner is a main route. The congestion charge here in London is very different, it covers a whole area of the city. What it would amount to is making the Gardiner into a toll road, hardly creative thinking.