kEiThZ
Superstar
The Gardiner should be torn down and NOT replaced, but only when the costs to maintain it become unmanageable, possibly in 10-15 years. In the mean time, let's make it obsolete by upgrading transit (GO and local), building the Front St. extension, improving traffic flow on one way streets, and reworking Lakeshore Blvd. To spend money on tunneling, trenching, or rebuilding the Gardiner would be a colossal waste.
West Street in NYC would be a great example to follow. It may be 10 lanes wide with fast moving traffic, but it's well landscaped with a wide median, has great walking trails along the river, and signaling is flawless - by grouping traffic into pulses that almost never have to stop, a pedestrian either sees heavy traffic or no traffic at all when it's time to cross.
I know people like to believe that Toronto could survive without the Gardiner. It can't. Even if there was all day regional express service from GO.
Also, who says tunnelling, burying, etc. has to be paid for by the taxpayer? Bury the whole thing and toll it. Let the motorists pay for it.