May 16, 2006
Pick A New Waterfront Design
Christopher Hume weighs in on the $20 million design competition run by the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation.
Hume seems generally pleased by the wide variety of ideas presented by the five finalists from all over the world. They range from pedestrian bridges, eight-storey teardrop shaped buildings, towers that change colour with the weather, floating wooden platforms, planting thousand of trees, building more urban beaches and more.
He especially praises the design from West 8 (pictured above) which calls for tearing down the Gardiner and "Lakeshore Blvd. beneath become the Champs-Elysées of Toronto." Christopher we couldn't agree with you more! We've hated the Gardiner since we moved to this city and couldn't figure out why any city lucky enough to be situated near a lake would erect an ugly highway that blocks off access to the shore.
The debate has been raging over at the Urban Toronto Forum but you can make up your own mind by going to see all five finalists at BCE Place until May 26.
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I don't think disliking the Gardiner gets Hume any prizes - very few people do. Nonetheless, you only have to see what traffic is like when the GE is shut down for maintenance, marathons, bike races and so on to realise that the City is not ready for it to go.
When the Gardiner is closed for the weekend, it's usually from the Humber river. I don't know about this proposal, but usually when people talk about demolishing the Gardiner they mean somewhere east of the Exhibition grounds. It would be easier to close it east of the York/Bay/Yonge exit one day to see what happens.
The portion from Yonge to the DVP is also the least used part, and tends to be pretty clear even during rush hour.
Unfortunately none of the display board PDFs will open for me, they download and I'm told there are errors.
Every time I hear someone say that the Gardiner 'blocks' access to the waterfront, I am pretty sure they are repeating what they have heard and not using their brains.
The Gardiner is mostly an ELEVATED expressway, and I have never had any trouble walking right under it. If you think about it, the 6 lanes of Lakeshore Blvd do far more to block off the waterfront. Streetlights are far apart and crossing without one is extremely dangerous.
How about we keep the Gardiner, and replace Lakeshore Blvd with streetcars and bike paths?
Depends where you're trying to walk under it. In the centre of the city, I think you have a point. But in Parkdale it complicates things quite severely.
"The portion from Yonge to the DVP is also the least used part"
Have you ever driven on it? It's the main artery into the DVP.
Anytime someone suggests tearing down the Gardiner I wonder if they have any idea how important it is to traffic flow in this city. They didn't build it for shits and giggles you know.
And they put it on the Lakeshore for a reason - at the time, and still somewhat the same now, the lakefront was all industrial and manufacturing wasteland; Toronto was the heart of an industrialized nation. Now, you can question the decision to ruin the lakefront with factories and other gross things, but that's the way it was in the 50's. So, putting a highway next to that seems natural.
Also, keep in mind that New York has a huge ugly highway right on the west shoreline as well, and you don't hear anyone bitching about that.
I like the sense of priority here - let's inconvenience the hundreds of thousands of people who need to commute to work by the Gardiner, so that a handful of Parkdale residents don't have to walk 10 minutes to the footbridge to access the Waterfront.
oooh, it looks so pretty! let's do it. let's fall in love. achcgh! watch out for that massive f**king seagull headed straight for ya!
Hey we grow those seagulls big here in Toronto. All of those people on the waterfront means more people leaving food for the gulls....
Ah, the gardiner debate. Yes, the Gardiner is used a lot. But it is still a failure as an expressway. Let's remember that it was designed to be a part of a large expressway network that was never completed. Its main intended use was a city bypass. Witness the dearth of exits and entrances. It is now used as a city gateway, which it is poorly designed to handle, resulting in almost constant traffic along the raised section. Also, the lack of shoulder lanes for emergency vehicles and broken down cars make the raised section of the Gardiner unsafe. Not to mention the expense of a maintaining what is effectively a very long, over used bridge.
We need something like the Gardiner, but we don't deserve what we've got.
To destroy the Gardiner without an alternative (i.e. underground expressway) would be a crime. I live on Bay St, and anytime the Gardiner is closed, it takes me about 2½ hours JUST TO GET OUT OF TOWN! If the Gardiner disapeared, I don't think I'd like to stay downtown because I'd never be able to leave the city. Canada is a society based around cars, we don't have affordable rail transit to every hick town like in europe, we all own cars, we all need cars, and it is very unlikely we would just throw away our cars (because they are expensive). Obviously the people making these designs are not thinking with the main interest of Torontonians and Canadians.
I agree that an alternative is crucial. But an 2 1/2 to get out of town? Without using the Gardiner it takes 45 min, tops to reach the city limits. In the words of the Clash, "You should get to know your town just like I know mine". May I suggest Google Maps?
The DVP was actually built for shits and giggles. It was supposed to be a happy fun Sunday drive, not the main artery it is. That didn't really work.
The Gardiner completely transformed/killed Parkdale. "Inconvenience" doesn't even come close to describing what has happened to that neighborhood since the expressway was built. The fact that it wasn't thought through very well back in the day doesn't mean it shouldn't be re-imagined now.
Having a decent waterfront is an assest for any city, both for tourists and residents. If a city isn't for the people who live in it, who is it for?
You can walk to the 401 from Bay Street in under 2.5 hours. If it really takes that long to drive out of the city, we probably need a lot more infrastructure. But we don't have to base all new roads around a reliance on the crap roads we have now. We're allowed to change things to make them better.
Manhattan is an Island. People don't complain too much about waterfront industrial zones in Montreal either. That's because there's also enough tourist and recreational access to the waterfront.
We can have it both ways. It can be both pretty/enjoyable and convenient.
People don't realize the negative effect the Gardiner has on the city because they can't imagine the city without it. But it's not just the Gardiner... from Yonge St to somewhere west of Dufferin there's a huge transportation corridor - train tracks and various big roads all lined up as close to the waterfront as possible. This is rapidly becoming one of the most-populated part of the city, because of the gentrification of Queen west, intensification on King west and Liberty village, and intensification on the western waterfront east of Bathurst.
It makes sense to bury much of this transportation corridor and put in a subway line at the same time. It almost looks like if they don't do it, the condo builders will bury the Gardiner for them. It's only a matter of time before someone builds a condo that straddles the train tracks around Yonge and Bay.
But Jill, if the expressway killed parkdale, why shouldn't it be re-imagined? Do you think it should stay, as is?
Oh, hey Michael.
It should be re-imagined. That was my point. I have confused you with my dazzling late-afternoon use of double-negativity.
But we agree. I was just I was trying to counter the voices that want it to just stay, and for people to shut up about it.
Incidentally, I don't know if anyone noticed or not, but the photo in this post is of Queen's Quay, south of the Lakeshore & the Gardiner, at York.
I think the people at Bostonist could vouch that sinking an expressway is not the way forward. Their similar attempts nearly bankrupted the city, and brought it to a standstill.
People moved into Parkdale because it was cheap. Why was it cheap? Because it was a slummy part of town, straddling an Expressway. If they removed the Gardiner, rents/prices would soar (further) and then all we'd hear is "We can't afford to live downtown anymore". Can't have it both ways.
I agree about the Boston example. A tunnel would be a hell of a cost and probably not the right thing to do. But remember that our situations are not identical. Their tunnel was extremely ambitious with multiple levels and dug with the expressway still up (!). Most of the Gardiner, even the elevated part is over its own dedicated land.
As for your Parkdale argument:
If that was satire, that was hilarious.
If it wasn't, that was ridiculus.
It probably sits somewhere between the two (admittedly exaggerated and oversimplified), but anyway:
(Some) People are already complaining in Parkdale that rents/prices have shot up through gentrification - as if making an area safer and desirable is a bad thing, and supply/demand economics shouldn't apply to them.
If you remove the expressway between Parkdale and the Lake, it will become even more desireable for two reasons - 1, that there won't be a masive expressway between them and the lake, and 2, that commuting from 905 and beyond will be virtually impossible, and property close to the centre will become not just be a desire, but a necessity for some.
If Parkdale was right on the lake, and therefore the nearest lakeside community to downtown, do you think it would still be affordable to its residents?