Roads: Gardiner Expressway

[DonValleyRainbow]

I've used Montreal freeways a number of times, and the amount of graffiti and disrepair has reached epidemic proportions. They are literally crumbling and falling apart. Why is that happening?

I've wondered how much was caused by the corruption in the construction industry. I'd agree, as bad as the Gardiner is getting in some spots, it's nothing like Montreal.

 

[TOareaFan]

I've wondered how much was caused by the corruption in the construction industry. I'd agree, as bad as the Gardiner is getting in some spots, it's nothing like Montreal.

When I ride the 747 in from PET Airport as I do a few times a year....I try to pick out tourists rather than Montrealers and watch the look on their faces as the bus passes through that particularly ugly stretch of the ride where the road looks crumbly and every building looks like abandoned, derelict warehouses........Montreal is a great city but, honestly, I think some of them would turn back if they could.

 

[CapitalSeven]

The current travel time is less than 90 seconds. The proposal suggests an additional 2-3 minutes with the tear down option. It sounds improbable at best, that a 2km trip through a densely populated area will take only 4 minutes to travel through at the height of rush hour. Any delays on the Gardiner WB before Yonge will cause back-ups on the DVP southbound. Wouldn't stop lights guarantee a back up of traffic? .

I am currently commuting through west and central Los Angeles, all on arterial roads which have very poorly synchronized traffic signals. My average speed is 17 mph, which if you do the math works out to a couple of minutes per kilometer. So I would think that 4 minutes for 2 km of an 8 lane boulevard with a large median separating the directions expressly built to move large volumes is very realistic.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Not just in Toronto. Try Dallas:

[video=vimeo;126652099]https://vimeo.com/126652099[/video]

 

[ehlow]

Not just in Toronto. Try Dallas:

[video=vimeo;126652099]https://vimeo.com/126652099[/video]

Interestingly they mention all the parking lots near their highway and how that space could be developed. In our case, the Gardiner is still up, yet all the parking lots around it are being developed anyways.

 

[jaybe]

Regarding the i345 in Dallas, the distance of the hwy that would be brought down is 2.2km. It is the western portion of 4 highways that surround downtown Dallas. While inconvenient to automobiles, removing this portion will not remove the ability to get in and out of downtown Dallas on a highway as the remaining network would remain in place.

This is not a direct comparison to Toronto where the Gardiner/DVP is the only highway that goes in and out of the core.

 

[wopchop]

From the Star: Gardiner tear-down would add 10 minutes to some commutes, says parallel study

Eastbound morning commutes on the Gardiner would increase by an agonizing 10 minutes between Park Lawn Rd. and the east end of the expressway.

Traffic congestion, if the Gardiner is torn down east of Jarvis St., would also cost $36.6 million annually in lost productivity and divert about 1,600 cars a day from the Don Valley Parkway onto Richmond St.

Those are among the findings of a study by the University of Toronto’s Centre for Intelligent Transportation Systems, commissioned by the Gardiner Coalition, a group that includes the CAA South Central Ontario and the Toronto Financial Business Improvement Area.

 

[salsa]

Some of the members of the Gardiner Coalition: CAA, Canadian Courier & Logistics Association, Ontario Trucking Association, Redpath Sugar, Toronto Industry Network. Surprise Surprise, their own study says what they wanted to hear.

 

[Eug]

Some of the members of the Gardiner Coalition: CAA, Canadian Courier & Logistics Association, Ontario Trucking Association, Redpath Sugar, Toronto Industry Network. Surprise Surprise, their own study says what they wanted to hear.

What they wanted to hear? I'm sure they'd be overjoyed to hear that it would not affect them. However, the study confirms what many expected, which is that tearing down the expressway will mean more severe gridlock.

Surprise, surprise, removing a road increases traffic jams. Go figure.

 

[UD2]

Toronto votes to cancel transit projects and tear down roadways. I get it, we are trying to incite the canadian personal aircraft industry and eventually to force out the invention of teleporting transporters.

Who needs to get around, all we want is to tear down the express way so we can spend $700/SF to live in a 450SF condo next to a jam clogged 6 lane "local road" and look out our windows to see the beautiful view of the squandrel clad facade of the condo building next door.

And then we will complain about toronto having an over built property market, too much stalling traffic on our "local" roads, and that ugly condo next door that blocked the view of the lake that I would have had if the Gardiner hasn't been torn down.

 

[TOareaFan]

Some of the members of the Gardiner Coalition: CAA, Canadian Courier & Logistics Association, Ontario Trucking Association, Redpath Sugar, Toronto Industry Network. Surprise Surprise, their own study says what they wanted to hear.

Just so I am clear, are you questioning the ethics and integrity of the entire UofT or just their Centre for Intelligent Transportation Systems?

 

[44 North]

Some of the members of the Gardiner Coalition: CAA, Canadian Courier & Logistics Association, Ontario Trucking Association, Redpath Sugar, Toronto Industry Network. Surprise Surprise, their own study says what they wanted to hear.

Here’s a list of Toronto Industry Network members:

• Atlantic Packaging Products Ltd.
• Beechgrove Country Foods Inc.
• Campbell Company of Canada
• Canadian Fuels Association
• Chemistry Industry Association of Canada
• Del Equipment
• Dow Canada
• Irving Tissue
• Leaside Business Park
• Lincoln Electric Company of Canada
• Mondelez International
• Owens Corning Insulating Systems Canada LP
• Redpath Sugar Ltd.
• Sanofi Pasteur
• Siltech Corporation
• South Etobicoke Industrial Employers Association
• St. Marys Cement Inc. (Canada)
• The International Group Inc.
• Topper Linen Supply

They’re all manufacturing companies and associations with 30,000 directly employed, and 100,000 indirectly. And if I recall correctly from your posts in either the DRL or Fantasy thread, you’re very supportive of Leaside Business Park and of keeping industry in that area. Shouldn’t these companies have at least some say in this debate?

 

[UD2]

Some of the members of the Gardiner Coalition: CAA, Canadian Courier & Logistics Association, Ontario Trucking Association, Redpath Sugar, Toronto Industry Network. Surprise Surprise, their own study says what they wanted to hear.

Just like the condo developer inspired study report exactly what will make their land adjecent to the highway more valuable.

Question is, would you rather side with the job creating industry of manufactures and transportation companies, or condo developments.

I pick industry

 

[CapitalSeven]

The city staff report can be found at http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2015.PW4.1.

 

[44 North]

Toronto votes to cancel transit projects and tear down roadways. I get it, we are trying to incite the canadian personal aircraft industry and eventually to force out the invention of teleporting transporters.

Who needs to get around, all we want is to tear down the express way so we can spend $700/SF to live in a 450SF condo next to a jam clogged 6 lane "local road" and look out our windows to see the beautiful view of the squandrel clad facade of the condo building next door.

Let’s not forget that we have a populace who seemingly despise bridges, viaducts, or any kind of elevated rail. So the massive rail corridor stretching from Bathurst to Pape and passing through Union...it was clearly a mistake. Naturally we should bring it back down to street level as it once was, level crossings be damned. We’ll work our way out from there, closing any transport infrastructure that might cast a shadow or be viewed as unsightly.