[Northern Magus]

Both the rail lands and the Gardiner should be beautified and built over. And in the Gardiner's case, built under as well.

 

[Lone Primate]

Fine, let 'em tear it down. Their property values will plummet and their taxes will skyrocket as half the businesses south of Bloor pull up stakes and move to Buttonville, taking their jobs with them... no doubt with the gratitude of the 905ers who won't have to hump it down into Donut Centre anymore, and whose dining and shopping dollars will grace the coffers of the Regional treasuries.

...Not that I want that to happen, really, but this NIMBYistic attitude that "the city" is only where one happens to live and anyone entering it is an interloper has got to end. It's as short-sighted an attitude as a kidney insisting the blood invading it from the lungs and the stomach and the liver be shut out and banished.

 

[EnviroTO]

I'm sure that if there was a crosstown elevated freeway currently located between St.Clair and Eglinton people would be saying that there is no way you could take it down and there would need to be a replacement.

The reality is that the current freeway probably doesn't work as well as it could if the freeway ended in the Strachan-Bathurst area with ramps that got people on and off Bathurst northward, Front eastward, and Lakeshore eastward without the need to turn. A lot of the congestion in the downtown is caused by people trying to get on the Gardiner through a series of turns at stoplights. If you could go straight on Front and get on the Gardiner, take one-way Richmond/Adelaide to Bathurst and then head south to get on the Gardiner, and take Lakeshore to get on the Gardiner and completely avoid Bay and Spadina things would move better.

Since it already exists they should just spruce it up. At some point even suburbanites will not care that it is taken down because GO's service will be far better than the alternative of going onto the Gardiner which as the downtown population grows will be that much more useless as a transportation option. That time hasn't come yet, and GO's service isn't there yet... but eventually it will be.

 

[PUTOTO]

The function of Gardiner Expressway seems to be very important to the city. But I think it's the best if they can put it underground.
There are so many obvious reasons, and all they need is enough money to make it happen.

 

[ponyboy]

burying the Gardiner is prohibitively expensive, and putting all of that traffic at grade would be a disaster. With towers built along it, the Gardiner effectively disappears. More can be done to improve the pedestrian realm underneath it and sound panels can be affixed to the sides to deal with the (minimal) sound it creates at street level. I like the idea by OakvilleGreg of string lights along the highway so it looks like a bridge...very creative! Also the concrete support posts of the gardiner can be dressed up with inflatable lanterns that look sculptural.

A bigger bang for our buck is to work on partially covering the rail corridor, mixing new development and green space to connect upper with lower downtown core.

 

[egotrippin]

I'm sure that if there was a crosstown elevated freeway currently located between St.Clair and Eglinton people would be saying that there is no way you could take it down and there would need to be a replacement.

The reality is that the current freeway probably doesn't work as well as it could if the freeway ended in the Strachan-Bathurst area with ramps that got people on and off Bathurst northward, Front eastward, and Lakeshore eastward without the need to turn. A lot of the congestion in the downtown is caused by people trying to get on the Gardiner through a series of turns at stoplights. If you could go straight on Front and get on the Gardiner, take one-way Richmond/Adelaide to Bathurst and then head south to get on the Gardiner, and take Lakeshore to get on the Gardiner and completely avoid Bay and Spadina things would move better.

Since it already exists they should just spruce it up. At some point even suburbanites will not care that it is taken down because GO's service will be far better than the alternative of going onto the Gardiner which as the downtown population grows will be that much more useless as a transportation option. That time hasn't come yet, and GO's service isn't there yet... but eventually it will be.

Unfortunately though, most of us will be dead by the time GO's service, and public transit in Toronto is deemed the best option. At least I'll sleep well knowing my grandchildren will finally get to see a modern transportation system; I'll enjoy my car in the meantime.