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Roads Poll: What would be your ideal Gardiner Tear Down?

What would be your ideal plan for a tear down of the Gardiner Expressway?


  • Total voters
    71

dunkalunk

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Under what conditions would you consider it ideal to tear down the central portion of the Gardiner Expressway? Pick the options that you would include in your ideal solution.
 
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http://www.toviaduct.com/skyPATH.htm

There aren't any good reasons not to that. The Gardiner should be torn down ASAP.

Because the traffic isn't already bad enough, let's tear down the only expressway through downtown Toronto!

If you beautify the existing structure in a way that will be attractive to the eye in the long-term, I'd prefer that option. The ideal solution is to bury it, but of course that costs dollars that we don't have. Otherwise, keep it as is. No reason you couldn't keep it as is and upgrade transit.
 
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Because the traffic isn't already bad enough, let's tear down the only expressway through downtown Toronto!

If you beautify the existing structure in a way that will be attractive to the eye in the long-term, I'd prefer that option. The ideal solution is to bury it, but of course that costs dollars that we don't have. Otherwise, keep it as is. No reason you couldn't keep it as is and upgrade transit.

You'd be building a replacement AND the road under the highway would remain and become a lot more usable - therefore relieving traffic.
 
http://www.toviaduct.com/skyPATH.htm

There aren't any good reasons not to that. The Gardiner should be torn down ASAP.

I don't know about other people, but I don't like the idea of elevating traffic in a new corridor, and also having elevated onramps snaking around buildings.


Before any major road modifications are done, its essential that transit improvements are in place, especially the DRL and GO Service expansion. I would also implement tolls on the Gardiner and DVP to help divert traffic flow and help subsidize the transit improvements.

I would reduce the Gardiner from 3 lanes to 2 lanes with bus bypass shoulders between Lakeshore Boulevard and Strachan Ave. The Gardiner would then continue past Strachan as a 4 lane at-grade Front Street. I'd also modify the street grid a bit downtown by converting Front and Wellington into opposing 2 lane one-way streets with a photo radar enforced speed limit of 50 km/h (Nothing Like Richmond and Adelaide Streets)

I would also keep the lane count on Lakeshore Boulevard at 6 along its entire length.

As long as you can still accomodate the same number of people who travel on the Gardiner by a different mode, I see no reason why major road works are needed.
 
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If you beautify the existing structure in a way that will be attractive to the eye in the long-term, I'd prefer that option. The ideal solution is to bury it, but of course that costs dollars that we don't have. Otherwise, keep it as is. No reason you couldn't keep it as is and upgrade transit.

This is very true, transit service should be expanded greatly in the Downtown, and we should keep the existing Gardiner for as long as we can. But the existing structure's design life is running out. The costs of beautifying the structure and retrofit would not be worth it compared with the costs of removing it. There's no sense putting makeup on it, if its going to need retrofits every 20 years to stay aloft.
 
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I picked 5 things that I'd like to see all at once.

DRL
Waterfront LRT (East and West)
Improve signal priority for streetcars
Improve GO Transit service
Beautify the existing elevated structure
 
Agreed Tuscani, there should have been a "choose all that apply" option :)
 
I voted:

DRL/GO Improvements/Waterfront LRT. I think all three are pretty self evident to any public transit planner. Given the way that the Queen/King streetcars are packed, the Southward expansion of the CBD, and the need for GO to become a commuting alternative for 416'ers not just 905'ers.

Also chose to beautify it, at least for the time being to minimize the visual effect it has until we can... Bury it and improve Lakeshore, which I see as the only way to take the revitalization of the waterfront to the 'next level'. A buried Gardiner with a grand avenue style Lakshore (a Lakeshore LRT from above) would do wonders for the area.

The last item I chose was the Front St. extension. I know this a politically disliked option in this forum however I really feel like an opportunity was missed when this project got canned. Think about it, I remember reading that demand on the eastern portion of the Gardiner is much lower than on the Western end because the Richmond/Wellington ramps allows drivers on the DVP to access the CBD without needing the Gardiner. A Front st. ext would accomplish the same for the West end, allowing drivers to access the DT core without using the central Gardiner to do so. The extension may actually reduce demand on the cetral Gardiner to the point that a replacement may not be needed if it is torn down.
 
Crude oil went from $83 a barrel in October to $105 in March ($107 on April 1st so far.) Only millionaires, like the Ford brothers, will continue to use the Gardiner in any form in the coming years.

Might as well tear the Gardiner down and put all the money saved from not supporting expressways in transit improvements instead.
 
The last item I chose was the Front St. extension. I know this a politically disliked option in this forum however I really feel like an opportunity was missed when this project got canned. Think about it, I remember reading that demand on the eastern portion of the Gardiner is much lower than on the Western end because the Richmond/Wellington ramps allows drivers on the DVP to access the CBD without needing the Gardiner. A Front st. ext would accomplish the same for the West end, allowing drivers to access the DT core without using the central Gardiner to do so. The extension may actually reduce demand on the cetral Gardiner to the point that a replacement may not be needed if it is torn down.

Agreed.

The Front Street Extension doesn't necessarily need to look like what was proposed:
front_extension_large.jpg


Instead, if traffic volumes are projected to be low enough, the central portion of the Gardiner could just be demolished, and the Gardiner could be run straight into Front Street.
frontmod.jpg

Local traffic would use the Front Street Ramps, while through traffic would use Lakeshore Boulevard.
 
Bizarrely, I've learned to like the Gardiner. Leave it as it is, but build right up to it along its length, and no one will notice it, it will remain a viable route, and it won't cost the world to replace. Heck, in places we could build right over top of it, which would remove it from sight, and reduce weather factors, and free up new development land.
 

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