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44 North said:
I see a lot of great ideas, one in particular is the idea of closing down a street for the benefit of those on foot. IMO a large downtown pedestrian plaza is vital, and we have the enormous numbers of pedestrians to prove the viability without having to do some feasibility study. We need it, our sidewalks are oftentimes too narrow (especially during events, but even at rush hour), and it makes sense. It's a damn shame we had that nasty sack of crap for a mayor in the last term, whining on his radio show how his "constituents" can't drive their '98 Sunfire on Gould. Big whoop. A few weeks back I flipped through my Unbuilt Toronto, and I recall a rendering showing roads tunneled downtown, with the street above open to pedestrians. I'd say why not?

Another idea that I think is great, and makes sense since Toronto was chosen for its harbour and waterfront, is to use the water for our transport advantage. In Unbuilt Toronto there's mention of a "Toronto and Georgian Bay Ship Channel". Although that would be pretty cool had it been built, I was thinking more along the lines of ferries or more use of personal watercraft. I know Tory was laughed off for mentioning ferries as a transit solution in our future. But with a developed Port Lands and Keating District, I don't see why it couldn't work for intra-Toronto/GTA travel. Or even without the ferry, to take a jet ski from the Shipping Channel at Leslie to downtown...that'd be pretty sweet.
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In a way the Islands are our Staten Island ferry commuter island, although on a much smaller scale. Imagine the Leslie spit grew to envelope the existing islands?

But yeah, ferry to the port lands would be cool. It would be cool if it went to the tip of the Leslie spit too, so that once you bike or ran to the end you could take the ferry back.
 
A ferry service to the Portlands would probably be a good idea, it would save a significant amount of time in terms of commutes to the downtown core.
 
If we're talking fantasy here, my fantasy would be to see a subway going from Ritson rd and Highway 2 in Oshawa all the way down Highway 2 into Pickering. Eventually it can even connect with the Bloor subway.
 
So far, literally nothing mentioned in this thread so far are "things Toronto doesn't have but should".
 
ehlow said:
In a way the Islands are our Staten Island ferry commuter island, although on a much smaller scale. Imagine the Leslie spit grew to envelope the existing islands?

But yeah, ferry to the port lands would be cool. It would be cool if it went to the tip of the Leslie spit too, so that once you bike or ran to the end you could take the ferry back.
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Lelise Spit is fantastic, but it has a long way to go for me to put on par with something like Stanley Park. Much of it is pretty scrubby and scattered with rebar and stuff. Although it won’t be extended further into the lake, I think there are a few more decades before the last and largest cell/ lake is filled and capped – so it still has an industrial use. Regardless, it’s a wild area in the true sense of the word. Birds I didn’t even know existed, largest turtles I’ve ever seen... I actually kinda like how remote it is and that it’s a journey to trek there and back.

One idea I did have is to sever the Spit near its base and create a channel to improve navigation for small watercraft (or ferries). As it stands it’s a fairly long way ‘round (particularly for anyone wanting to use the lake shore for transportation). Another related project would be to connect with the Shipping Channel near the Turning Basin. There’s already a small cut at Unwin leading to the gas plant – which could be worked around. I envision this area as being a very high-value neighbourhood in 30yrs with a lot of low and midrise communities along the water, and connected with the streetcar system. Though considering the streetcar debacle in the East Bayfront, this might be wishful thinking.

Somewhat related, but I recall awhile back a plan to use bored material from the Crosstown to create a series of islands around Humber Bay. It was to be an affordable way of disposing fill, but it would also double as a natural diversion to keep contaminated Humber water from polluting Sunnyside. And naturally it’s most redeeming quality would be that it would give us more parkland and improve our shoreline geography. I don’t know what came of that idea though.

As for the current inhabited islands... I have a couple opinions. Part of me actually wouldn’t mind if we were to put a few small and scattered lowrise apartment complexes down there. It’s an exceptionally unique feature for a North American downtown residential area to have no road access whatsoever. I’d like to expand on that, and make it more of a commuter exurb. Virtually everywhere else (even new developments beside subway stations) the car is still king and planned around. Although rustic and kitschy, the decaying cottages on the island now are not exactly what I envision. And if we’re not allowed to put any development on the islands (which it’s fair to say we’re not), then the current residences should be razed. The population is too low to be viable. That’s at least my opinion.
 
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In my dreams? Harbourfront Monorail, Etobicoke RT up to the airport from Kennedy, and the Kraus-Maffei Maglev at the CNE.

Oh yeah, and a revival of the Bendix-Dashveyor AGT at the Toronto Zoo, while we're at it...
 
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How about these things:

- A network of LRTs crisscrossing the city & suburbs (Peel & York regions especially)
- A subway from somewhere downtown to Don Mills & Eglinton E.
- A network of surface commuter trains at 10-15 minute frequencies threading through the 905/416. Let's say 7 lines for now increasing to maybe 9 or 10 in the near future. (Shout out to Bolton & Peterborough)
- A transit/pedestrian mall downtown (on King from Bathurst to Jarvis, for instance)
- A true high speed rail system linking to Kitchener, London, Windsor/Detroit in the west and Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City in the East. (And maybe Niagara Falls/Fort Erie/Buffalo to the south & Barrie, Sudbury & Thunder Bay in the north!)
- A new office/condo tower that would reclaim TO's title of having the tallest man-made structure on earth
 
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howl said:
If you're going to close a street for pedestrians I'd suggest Queen Street between Spadina and University. You could still have the streetcars and local traffic, but make it discontinuous for cars so through-traffic would have to take Richmond or Adelaide.
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this is actually the most logical and beneficial idea in this entire thread if you think about it.
 
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