The Gardiner Expressway, west of downtown Toronto, near Humber Bay, Lake Ontario The Gardiner Expressway, known locally as "The Gardiner", is a lakeside expressway serving downtown Toronto, Ontario. It runs from the junction of Highway 427 and the Queen Elizabeth Way in the west to the foot of the Don Valley Parkway in the east, just past the mouth of the Don River. East of Dufferin Street, the roadway is elevated, running above Lake Shore Boulevard east of Bathurst. For some years the Gardiner has been the subject of controversy, with repeated calls from advocates of waterfront revitalization to demolish it or move it underground.
The Gardiner Expressway, along with the Don Valley Parkway and the Allen Road (the short completed section of the truncated Spadina Expressway), form the municipal expressway system in Toronto. These are the expressways which are owned and operated by the City of Toronto. The remainder of the expressway system in the city, consisting of the 400-series freeways (such as 401, 427, 400, 409 and 404) and the Queen Elizabeth Way, are owned and operated by the Province of Ontario.
Begun in 1955 and completed in 1966, the Gardiner Expressway was one of the first projects undertaken by the newly formed government of Metropolitan Toronto. It is named for the first chair of Metro Council, Fred Gardiner, who championed the project. Originally it ran along the Lake Ontario waterfront from west of the Humber River, where it joined the Queen Elizabeth Way, to Leslie Street, about 2 km east of the Don Valley Parkway (DVP).
The stretch east of the DVP was part of a planned extension through the eastern suburb of Scarborough, that would eventually meet up with Highway 401. This extension, which was to be known as the Scarborough Expressway, was never completed.
Subsequent to the 1998 amalgamation of the Metro municipalities into a single government, the stretch of the Queen Elizabeth Way between Highway 427 and the Humber River became part of the Gardiner. In 2001 the Gardiner's short eastern spur was demolished, as the level of traffic it carried was considered too low to justify the high maintenance costs of the elevated roadway.
In the wake of the eastern demolition, Lake Shore Boulevard East has been revealed from the cover of the highway. Green boulevards have been implemented along the wide thoroughfare to take advantage of the newfound sunlight. Paved bicycle paths extend eastward for approximately two kilometres from the Martin Goodman Trail at Cherry Street to Coxwell Avenue. A local artist has created a commemorative piece for the demolished elevated expressway out of several of its giant supportive concrete pillars.
As one of the few express routes for motor traffic into the downtown core, the Gardiner is regarded by many as essential to the city's economy, but its presence remains one of the most contentious urban planning issues in Toronto. Critics of the expressway have long decried its appearance, referring to it as "The Mistake by the Lake", and have argued that it cuts off the city from its waterfront. In recent decades, several proposals have been made to dismantle it or replace its central section with a tunnel. The most recent and detailed of these proposals was part of a wide-ranging report presented by the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Task Force in 1999. Lack of municipal funds and political will have repeatedly stalled such plans.
See also: Spadina Expressway
References:
- Fulford, Robert. "Fred Gardiner's Specialized City", in Accidental City: The transformation of Toronto (1995). Toronto: Macfarlane Walter & Ross.
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