BTW, if he uploads the DVP,Gardiner, Allen Road and the Subway, wouldn't that come off the city books? With that free money, wouldn't the city be in a better position to subsidize TTC Bus and streetcar networks? I still support provincial AND Federal funding
Great point! I honestly think this is being missed consistently!
If the Gardiner and DVP become part of the MTO network, suddenly they are high priority routes under the provincial government. The City of Toronto is ideologically dead set against even the slightest improvement or modifications to these two highways and unfortunately this will never change (Even the Rob Ford Regime has failed to do anything)
Once it becomes uploaded, suddenly the province has two cash-cow roads that they can build HOT lanes and other facilities on. Furthermore, unlike the city of Toronto, the province would be able to find a proper solution for the gardiner replacement somewhere down the road...
Maintenance will be cheaper because the province has economies of scale in operations comparing to the city of Toronto. They also have much better design knowledge and innovation, look at 400 series highways! Even with their 1960s origins, they are constantly in innovation mode - Imagine if they 401 was maintained by the city! What a disaster that would be.
So that being said, suddenly the entire province of Ontario will share in the cost of 2 main thoroughfares. And that's a lot of money the city no longer has to budget for...
I think its a fair trade off for transit. Obviously we have to compare the numbers but I have a feeling the two sides would match. Long term, the city has firmly decided to be out of the expressway game, so let the city focus its revenues on local transit and let the province focus on highways and higher order transit.
Personally, I've always thought it would be a good idea if the government could get 407ETR to trade their highway for the Gardiner. 108km of suburban highway trade in for 18km of vital urban expressway... I think the GTA as a whole would win with that proposition... I'm curious if anyone in the government has contemplated it