Tug of war over Toronto freeway's fate

A proposal to tear down a section of Toronto’s aging Gardiner Expressway may leave drivers stuck in city traffic, even though nearly three-quarters of Torontonians take transit to work.

According to figures released by Waterfront Toronto in 2011, 49 per cent or 77,700 people took Toronto Transit Commission transport during the morning peak hour. Another 19 per cent 28,800 people used GO Transit, and four per cent or 5,900 walked or cycled. Of those who used private vehicles, 21 per cent or 33,500 used routes other than the Gardiner. The remaining seven per cent or 11,300 used the Gardiner system (both east and west).

Nonetheless, a debate rages on at City Hall over whether to tear down a 1.7 km stretch of Gardiner’s elevated highway between Jarvis and the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) and replace it with an eight-lane boulevard, or implementing a ‘hybrid option’ of redecking the freeway and redesigning onramps, as well as re-aligning Lakeshore Boulevard and installing a new pathway. The hybrid option is favoured by Mayor John Tory, but opponents including deputy mayor Pam McConnell want the freeway torn down.

As of June 5, 14 out of 45 city councillors support Tory’s preferred option, 15 are against, and a further 13 remain undecided, according to the results of an informal Globe and Mail survey published on that date. According to a subsequent CP24 article, the number of councillors in favour of Tory’s choice stood at 15 as of June 8, but the vote could still be his closest yet.

“At this point the debate is really the remove option and the hybrid option,” said Andrew Hilton, director of communications for Waterfront Toronto and co-proponent of Gardiner’s environmental assessment (EA) with the City, adding that other choices were making smaller aesthetic improvements to the Gardiner or maintaining the superstructure as is. “Originally the hybrid idea was literally a sketch on the map.”

Currently, Toronto’s major east-west corridors are the Gardiner Expressway running through downtown, the 40l Freeway passing to the north, while the other major through routes are Eglinton Avenue and Bloor Street/Danforth Avenue that links up with Kingston Road in the east. The Bloor-Danforth Subway line is the only subterranean artery running west to east, where it links to the Scarborough Rapid Transit line.

The 407 tollway runs along Toronto’s northern edge, linking satellite cities from Markham in the east down past Pearson International Airport to Mississauga and Oakville.

If the Gardiner flyover from Jarvis Street to the DVP is removed, Torontonians will have one less artery into downtown and opponents of the boulevard idea say that it will increase traffic and congestion as vehicles divert onto city roads.

This means that commuters arriving downtown from Kingston will face a projected extra five minutes’ travel time by 2031, two minutes more than if the hybrid option is installed. The estimated ‘base’ travel time from Victoria Park/Kingston in 2031 is 23 minutes, according to Transportation and Infrastructure figures sent by Hilton.

When asked what major routes apart from freeways people can use to easily travel east to west across Toronto, Hilton said, “There is no simple answer; it depends on mode of travel, time of day and other factors that influence how long the trip will take. However, you should know that the Gardiner Expressway is generally used as a means to get downtown – only about 20 per cent of the vehicles using the Gardiner use it as an east-west through road.”

But downtown Toronto has better north-south connectivity with its northern suburbs and satellite cities, including the DVP/404, 427, and 400 Freeways offering access, as well as Yonge Street and the Don Mills Road.

The Yonge-Spadina-University subway line runs south from Finch to Union Station downtown, before looping north to Downsview, taking some pressure off surface routes. The Sheppard Line provides access as far as Don Mills to the north-east of downtown.

But downtowns devoid of freeways can be successful and relatively congestion-free if planned correctly, as the examples of Vancouver, Calgary, and Ottawa have shown.

“Freeways typically result in fewer larger roadways. This means that in the case of an incident that closes down the freeway, road users have no opportunities to reroute, and are stuck on the freeway. With a grid network like Vancouver’s main arterial network, there are many options for people to use alternate routes to get to their end destination,” said Lon LaClaire, acting director of transportation for the City of Vancouver.

Vancouver first proposed a freeway system in the 1960s, but the idea was ditched due to public opposition. This allowed the city to develop a pedestrian-friendly waterfront and seawall that runs for 28 km, as well as preserve historic neighbourhoods such as Gastown.

A downtown devoid of freeways has also allowed Vancouver to develop an extensive transit system including buses, three SkyTrain lines, and the Seabus linking the North Shore and city centre. The West Coast Express links outlying communities as far as Mission to Downtown Vancouver.

Such infrastructure has helped wean Vancouverites off cars and onto transit, reducing both congestion and pollution, as statistics have shown.

“Our transportation plan work showed a 20 per cent reduction in vehicle trips into the downtown from 1996 to 2011. The total number of trips into the downtown by all modes is increasing though just more by walking, biking and transit. As of this year, 50 per cent of all trips in Vancouver are taken by foot, bicycle, or public transportation. Vancouver consistently meets or beats the most stringent air quality guidelines from Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the World Health Organization,” said LaClaire.

Calgary has enjoyed similar success, with roughly half its citizens now using transit, up from only 33 per cent in 1995.

“Basically the reverse is true for auto trips,” said Don Mulligan, director of transportation planning for the City of Calgary.

The decisive factor in reducing car trips is Calgary’s C-Train, North America’s only LRT that runs on 100 per cent renewable energy, according to the June 2012 issue of Canadian Geographic.

Mulligan said that the C-Train network presently boasts 45 stations and that number will be doubled under Calgary’s 60-year master plan that was released in 2009.

“We’re going to four-car trains starting [at the] end of this year. We have three-car trains now,” said Mulligan.

While key to changing habits, C-Trains are only part of a transit system that includes 800 km of pathways across the city, a new network of cycle tracks whose installation began last month, encouraging carpooling for those who do drive, 550 Car to Go rental vehicles, and bus services, according to Mulligan.

He said that the city’s master plan estimates that greenhouse gas emissions will be cut by 30 per cent, assuming that required transit infrastructure is built, including 45 more C-Train stations and bus rapid transit on specific routes matched to population density.

The plan also assumes the building of perimeter freeways on the city’s outskirts, which is already taking shape with the 201 route. This road connects to the Deerfoot trail, which runs north to south and passes east of downtown, while the Crowchild Trail feeds in traffic from the south-west.

Unlike the Gardiner Expressway, all of Calgary’s freeways stop short of downtown, which allowed the city to build the Bow River Park system on the southern shore where the city centre is located. Memorial Drive is a major artery that runs along the Bow’s north bank, but is not a full freeway.

Mulligan said that in the 1970s, a US engineer helped design Calgary’s downtown core and recommended freeway construction, but these plans changed in the 1980s when the building of some expressways in eastern North America was halted.

Smaller cities like Ottawa are also enjoying success in reducing the need for cars and freeways. Between 1996 and 2012, annual ridership on OC Transpo climbed from roughly 65 million to 101 million, making its annual average of 110 rides per capita the highest of any comparably-sized city in North America, according to the Ottawa’s 2013 Transportation Master Plan.

The plan states that on a typical weekday in 2011, 325,000 Ottawans used transit and in that year made 296,000 daily walking or cycling trips, up six per cent from 280,000 in 2005.

“Since 1986, the number of cars arriving downtown in the morning peak period is declining, while the number of people arriving downtown has increased (more than 20 per cent). When the City’s Light Rail Transit system, the Confederation Line, is in service in 2018, and as we improve the cycling network leading to downtown, this differential will increase,” said Vivi Chi, manager of transportation planning for the city.

Ottawans have access to both regular bus services and bus rapid transit and the existing O-Train LRT service, which will soon be joined by the Confederation Line.

Similar to Calgary, no freeways enter Ottawa’s downtown core, with the 417 artery passing to the south.