From the falling concrete and its ugliness, to the fact that it cuts the city off from the lake, Torontonians are sick of the Gardiner Expressway.
In a new Forum Research Poll, 52 per cent of Toronto residents believed that part or all of the aging Gardiner Expressway should be torn down for good.
A total of 865 Torontonians were asked their thoughts on the hot topic Gardiner Expressway debate.
When it comes to the much-loathed highway, 34 per cent of respondents agreed that the Gardiner is not safe to use. Of the 52 per cent who believed the Gardiner should be torn down, 27 per cent thought it should be replaced with a tunnelled roadway (you know, so that our city would actually blend into the lake).
Thirteen per cent think the Gardiner should be replaced with a surface roadway, and 12 per cent only want parts of it torn down. One quarter want to keep repairing the Gardiner (as we’ve been doing for years), and 15 per cent remain stumped when it comes to what to do with it.
Perhaps we’ll have a clearer picture on the fate of the Gardiner today when a preliminary report on what to do with the highway is released today at 2pm.
The report will outline the implications of three options that are currently being considered for the 2.4-kilometre stretch of the Gardiner from Lower Jarvis Street to Logan Avenue.
Of the three options, one involves a total teardown, another involves maintenance of the existing structure, and a third offers a hybrid solution – the most costly of the three options.
The hybrid solution would realign the expressway east of Jarvis, moving it to just south of the railway corridor, and have it continue east to connect with the Don Valley Parkway. The elevated portion of the Gardiner east of Cherry St. would be demolished and replaced with a grade-level boulevard.
Maintenance to keep the Gardiner in its current form is estimated to come at a long-term cost of $870 million.
After the release of today’s report, city staff will hold a number of public consultations on what to do with the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway before the issue is brought before the public works committee in May, and city council in June.
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