I'm not the only one who thinks tearing down the eastern Gardiner Expressway and not rebuild it is a bad idea. Forcing the traffic from the DVP, Gardiner and the Lakeshore onto a boulevard with a traffic light would be a nightmare. In fact, city council rejected the idea in May and critics say it would be unworkable. Anyone who thinks it's a good idea to have all the traffic on the DVP and Gardiner join the traffic on the Lakeshore and have it all come to a stop, is clearly in favour of traffic congestion and increased pollution from all the idling cars.
Chow promises gridlock at City Hall over tearing down Gardiner
Olivia Chow remains committed to tearing down the eastern Gardiner Expressway, even though Toronto council just voted to move ahead with the reconstruction project.
Chow made her views known while speaking to reporters on Tuesday at her first news conference since winning Monday’s election.
Anyone who thought she would back away from the controversial promise should think again.
“Do we not want to save some money to make sure some of the money can be used in fixing the TTC, fixing potholes, any number of things?” Chow asked.
The city’s plan is to tear down the portion of the Gardiner — from Cherry St. to the Don Valley Parkway — in 2026 due to its poor state of repair. That section is then to be rebuilt and realigned to open up land below for affordable housing.
Chow wants the highway to come down and stay down. Her vision is for an urban boulevard, a plan that city council rejected at its meeting in May and that critics say would be unworkable.
Councillor Josh Matlow, who came in fifth place in Monday’s mayoral byelection, moved a motion that council debated and voted on at the May 10 meeting. By a vote of 15-10, council rejected Matlow’s call for pausing the work on the Gardiner and beginning a new study on other options.
Other motions on the Gardiner calling for Chow’s preferred boulevard rebuild were also rejected. In fact, this idea has been rejected at several votes going back nearly a decade and the NDP wing of council, now with a member in the mayor’s office, keeps bringing it up.
Chow argued on Tuesday that since that section of the highway is coming down, it should just stay down. She claims it would cost more than $1 billion to take the stretch of expressway down and rebuild it, but says much of that money could be saved with her plan.
There are so many problems with her plan, though.
First off, if the city decided to change to Chow’s preferred vision, there would need to be a new environmental assessment since the one currently in place is for a raised highway, not a grand urban boulevard. Under an expedited process, that would delay any work by at least two years, but under the normal process, it could take five years.
Chow argues that it’s less than a kilometre of raised roadway coming down which means less than a kilometre of her urban boulevard. But the boulevard would need to connect to two other highways, which means ramping down and then ramping back up again.
Some who have studied this proposal have said there would also likely need to be a stop light in the middle of the boulevard as well.
Can you imagine the traffic chaos that would create?
The DVP is already known as the Don Valley Parking lot for a reason, and this would just make things worse. Sure, the Gardiner is big and ugly, it does create a divide in the city, but so would a boulevard needed to handle the traffic of Lakeshore and the Gardiner all rolled into one.
Of course, that assumes that the proposed roadway would be constructed to handle that much traffic. We know that the NDP wing of council doesn’t like cars, doesn’t like drivers and has declared a war on the car.
So, too, has Progress Toronto — the activist group that helped get Chow elected and whose executive director acted as Chow’s campaign manager. This is a group pushing for a dramatic increase in bike lanes across the city, believes in transit over cars in every instance, and which now has the mayor’s ear.
When she arrived at City Hall Tuesday, she spoke of listening, learning and co-operation. She also made clear she will push her agenda even when it’s been rejected by the city time and again.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/colu...dlock-at-city-hall-over-tearing-down-gardiner
Chow promises gridlock at City Hall over tearing down Gardiner
Olivia Chow remains committed to tearing down the eastern Gardiner Expressway, even though Toronto council just voted to move ahead with the reconstruction project.
Chow made her views known while speaking to reporters on Tuesday at her first news conference since winning Monday’s election.
Anyone who thought she would back away from the controversial promise should think again.
“Do we not want to save some money to make sure some of the money can be used in fixing the TTC, fixing potholes, any number of things?” Chow asked.
The city’s plan is to tear down the portion of the Gardiner — from Cherry St. to the Don Valley Parkway — in 2026 due to its poor state of repair. That section is then to be rebuilt and realigned to open up land below for affordable housing.
Chow wants the highway to come down and stay down. Her vision is for an urban boulevard, a plan that city council rejected at its meeting in May and that critics say would be unworkable.
Councillor Josh Matlow, who came in fifth place in Monday’s mayoral byelection, moved a motion that council debated and voted on at the May 10 meeting. By a vote of 15-10, council rejected Matlow’s call for pausing the work on the Gardiner and beginning a new study on other options.
Other motions on the Gardiner calling for Chow’s preferred boulevard rebuild were also rejected. In fact, this idea has been rejected at several votes going back nearly a decade and the NDP wing of council, now with a member in the mayor’s office, keeps bringing it up.
Chow argued on Tuesday that since that section of the highway is coming down, it should just stay down. She claims it would cost more than $1 billion to take the stretch of expressway down and rebuild it, but says much of that money could be saved with her plan.
There are so many problems with her plan, though.
First off, if the city decided to change to Chow’s preferred vision, there would need to be a new environmental assessment since the one currently in place is for a raised highway, not a grand urban boulevard. Under an expedited process, that would delay any work by at least two years, but under the normal process, it could take five years.
Chow argues that it’s less than a kilometre of raised roadway coming down which means less than a kilometre of her urban boulevard. But the boulevard would need to connect to two other highways, which means ramping down and then ramping back up again.
Some who have studied this proposal have said there would also likely need to be a stop light in the middle of the boulevard as well.
Can you imagine the traffic chaos that would create?
The DVP is already known as the Don Valley Parking lot for a reason, and this would just make things worse. Sure, the Gardiner is big and ugly, it does create a divide in the city, but so would a boulevard needed to handle the traffic of Lakeshore and the Gardiner all rolled into one.
Of course, that assumes that the proposed roadway would be constructed to handle that much traffic. We know that the NDP wing of council doesn’t like cars, doesn’t like drivers and has declared a war on the car.
So, too, has Progress Toronto — the activist group that helped get Chow elected and whose executive director acted as Chow’s campaign manager. This is a group pushing for a dramatic increase in bike lanes across the city, believes in transit over cars in every instance, and which now has the mayor’s ear.
When she arrived at City Hall Tuesday, she spoke of listening, learning and co-operation. She also made clear she will push her agenda even when it’s been rejected by the city time and again.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/colu...dlock-at-city-hall-over-tearing-down-gardiner
