Front St. extension dead
TheStar.com - GTA
May 30, 2008
Paul Moloney
CITY HALL BUREAU
A proposal to tear down part of the Gardiner Expressway will kill plans to extend Front St., Toronto's deputy mayor said this morning.
Waterfront Toronto had earmarked $198.6 million for the project, but now that money is expected to be put toward taking down the Gardiner Expressway east of Jarvis St., Joe Pantalone said.
Extending Front St. from Bathurst St., to join the Gardiner Expressway at Dufferin St. has been on the city’s wish list for more than two decades.
But Pantalone said scarce tax dollars from city, provincial and federal governments - which are funding waterfront renewal - would be better spent removing the eastern Gardiner.
“What’s important is that we do city-building in Toronto, and taking down the Gardiner is a higher priority from a city-wide perspective,†Pantalone said.
“We have limited resources and you have to put those resources where tyou get the biggest return for our city,†he added. “There’s no doubt that taking down the eastern section of the Gardiner gives us that.â€
Demolishing the elevated expressway from Jarvis to the Don Valley Parkway, including new ramps and a new waterfront boulevard, is estimated to cost $200 million to $300 million.
The actual tab will be refined during the environmental assessment, which will take four to five years to complete.
Removing the hulking expressway should make revitalization easier along the eastern waterfront, Pantalone said, including long-held plans to “naturalize†the mouth of the Don River.
The Gardiner, which opened in the 1960s, carries 200,000 vehicles per day west of the downtown core, and about 120,000 vehicles daily east of Jarvis.
It costs the city $6 to $10 million a year to repair the Gardiner.