I’m typicality not a fan of underground or elevated walkway systems. In cities where they’ve been installed, they’ve just stolen all the vibrancy from street level and stuck it underground.
However, in Toronto, the PATH has ended up being a true blessing. With sidewalks at rush hour already full, downtown’s office and residential population booming, and RER and the DRL dumping hundreds of thousands of pedestrians into the core, PATH functions as a much needed pedestrian “Relief Line” for the Downtown core.
Nevertheless, the PATH alone cannot provide adequate pedestrian capacity. Yonge Street’s sidewalks will certainly need to be widened to accommodate the growth in pedestrian activity. Bay will also likely need the same treatment between Front and Queen within the next 20 years or so, to facilitate people traveling from Union station north to the Financial District.
And from a purely urban design POV, I’d love for Adelaide and especially Richmond to get the same treatment. Those are two paradoxically dead streets in an otherwise vibrant downtown.
Front and Queens Quay has already been revitalized, King is coming up in 2022/2023, University not long after and then hopefully we can look at Bay. Baby steps!