cityscape New Proposal for Gardiner Expressway

Committee votes to defer decision about expressway's future until 2015, while staff consider new plan from developer.

SHOW CAPTION  ✉ Share on:  308729 Here's what the Gardiner would look like if it were realigned according to the plan proposed by First Gulf. Image courtesy of First Gulf. Screen Shot 2014-03-05 at 2.17.22 PM https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Screen-Shot-2014-03-05-at-2.17.22-PM-100x100.png https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Screen-Shot-2014-03-05-at-2.17.22-PM.png https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Screen-Shot-2014-03-05-at-2.17.22-PM.png 703 543 https://torontoist.com/2014/03/new-proposal-for-gardiner-expressway/slide/screen-shot-2014-03-05-at-2-17-22-pm/ screen-shot-2014-03-05-at-2-17-22-pm 0 0 308728 The orange line here depicts the Gardiner's eastern end as it exists now. Image courtesy of First Gulf. Screen Shot 2014-03-05 at 2.17.03 PM https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Screen-Shot-2014-03-05-at-2.17.03-PM-100x100.png https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Screen-Shot-2014-03-05-at-2.17.03-PM.png https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Screen-Shot-2014-03-05-at-2.17.03-PM.png 703 539 https://torontoist.com/2014/03/new-proposal-for-gardiner-expressway/slide/screen-shot-2014-03-05-at-2-17-03-pm/ screen-shot-2014-03-05-at-2-17-03-pm 0 0 308666 City of Toronto rendering, depicting the staff report’s suggested option: removing the Gardiner east of Jarvis entirely. https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gardiner-4-remove-640x582-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gardiner-4-remove-640x582.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gardiner-4-remove-640x582.jpg 640 582 https://torontoist.com/2014/03/new-proposal-for-gardiner-expressway/slide/308666/ 308666 0 0



Recently, a staff report that considered what should be done with the Gardiner Expressway concluded that the best option would be to tear down the 2.4-kilometre stretch running east of Jarvis. Yesterday, councillors on the public works committee opted to defer any decision about the expressway’s fate until 2015 and voted 4-1 to send the report back to City staff.

Councillors also asked staff to investigate a new option, one that comes courtesy of a developer: David Gerofsky, CEO of First Gulf, has proposed that the eastern leg of the Gardiner be realigned and shifted south of the railway corridor. It would then proceed east, eventually connecting with the Don Valley Parkway—the raised section near Cherry Street would be removed and replaced with a ground-level roadway.

First Gulf would like to see these Gardiner plans realized, because they would promote the company’s larger development aims: it wants to build 15 million square feet of office space at what was once the Unilever site on Lake Shore Boulevard, and realigning the Gardiner would open up access to the area. If this all comes to pass, the developer would also build a GO station, and the City could extend Broadview south to the Port Lands, making possible a future streetcar line expansion.

This post has been updated with images provided by First Gulf.