mdu
Active Member
Man, all I can think of when seeing Union Station is thinking about how beautiful Penn Station in New York was before they knocked it down.
Coolstar
Senior Member
Mercenary
Active Member
Toronto has been lucky that it developed later than most American cities. It allowed to avoid the mistakes that American cities made like New York City.
Such as cancelling of the Spadina Expressway, preserving Union Station, etc.
Such as cancelling of the Spadina Expressway, preserving Union Station, etc.
generalcanada
Senior Member
Cancelling spadina expressway was a good thing?
DSC
Superstar
Well ..................YES!
turini2
Active Member
Yes.
You'd struggle to find Torontonians who think that destroying the Cedervale Ravine and demolishing the bits of the Annex, Kensington Market, Chinatown & the UofT campus for a highway would be a good idea. It was cancelled in the heady days of the 1970s, when the car was still king - which says a lot about how awful the proposal was.
The fact that Toronto isn't choked in vast highways is one of its great benefits. The fact that Union Station remains as a downtown heritage icon, and a major transportation hub - is another.
What's the line about the 1960s Penn Station in New York? “One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat.”
Northern Light
Superstar
Yes; but.........
We still made our share of bad choices........the Gardiner, the DVP; tearing down the Board of Trade Building.........and this:
from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Temple_Building,_Toronto_Photo_B_(HS85-10-12957).jpg
The Temple Building (Built 1896, demolished 1970)
tsm1072
Active Member
I don't know, the locals wouldn't complain as much about the OL being shoved into the rail corridor if there is already a highway there.Ditto for the city itself cancelling the Scarborough Expressway...
Scarborough Expressway route 1967 approved plan (approval given for route only to Birchmount Road)
From link.
Northern Light
Superstar
Putting aside any merits or lackthereof in the OL design.......
The Scarborough Expressway would never have run in the same section of rail corridor as the O/L.
The Gardiner was built as far as Leslie Street in the east.........along the Lakeshore Blvd Alignment.
It would have run up to the rail corridor along the east side of Coxwell Avenue through the Small's Creek Ravine lands to the southside of the rail corridor there, had the Scarborough Expressway been approved.
I'm aware of the 1973 proposed route......but can say so far as I'm aware it never actually contemplated. (as in action taken to make it happen)
Whereas, land assembly actually began for the 1967 route.
TossYourJacket
Senior Member
This city really loves tearing down literally anything nice to build something far worse, doesn't it?
generalcanada
Senior Member
me, Born in Durham, ive always thought it was something people actually wanted? and how dissapointed people are that the allen road ended at eglinton?
Northern Light
Superstar
I've never heard a big outcry over the need to push The Allen further south.
But I've heard lots of people who wish what was built of the The Allen be removed in its entirety; and I confess to being one of those people.
DirectionNorth
Active Member
The most unfortunate thing is that the city didn't build mass transit to cover up for the cancelled highways.
Northern Light
Superstar
Well, they did at Allen (the Spadina Line) though that was the only one.
Arguably, despite some superb station design; they got that one wrong in so far as the stations north of Eglinton are centred on the highway.
It likely would have performed better had it gone up Dufferin from Eglinton.