Roads

Toronto has not built any major roads since 1971 when construction of the Allen Expressway was cancelled. The only new road to be built since then was Black Creek Drive and that was constructed by the Provincial Government in 1982. The lack of road construction has been due to political reasons. Toronto's traffic has grown three times since the 1970's and congestion levels are reaching gridlocked proportions. It is time for Toronto to start building roads again in addition to subway construction, but on a moderate scale and only using existing available rail and utility corridors in order to preserve neighbourhoods. Two new expressways between Highway 401 and the Gardiner Expressway are needed - one in the northwest as a southern extension of Highway 400 and one in the east as an eastern extension of the Gardiner Expressway. The Highway 400 Extension can be built in twin tunnels under the existing Georgetown rail corridors, not requiring expropriation of homes and businesses. The Gardiner eastern extension can be built in a covered trench along the wide Gatineau hydro corridor across Scarborough. Public-private partnership funding can be used and these roads can be operated and maintained as toll roads similar to the Highway 407 ETR system. The future of the elevated section of the Gardiner Expressway needs to be finally decided and the time has come for a total rebuild with  a new structure. Gaps in the arterial road grid also need to be filled in to maintain a continuous network of streets which carry buses, pedestrians and bicycles as well as cars.

The Province of Ontario built and maintains a system of Provincial Freeways including the QEW and the 400-series Highways. Highways 400, 401, 404, 409 and 427 are the Provincial Freeways within the City of Toronto’s boundaries. The Province transferred the Toronto section of the QEW (now part of the Gardiner Expressway) and Highways 2A and 27 (now an arterial road) to the City of Toronto in 1997.

Toronto built the Gardiner Expressway east to Leslie Street, the Don Valley Parkway north to Highway 401 and the Allen Expressway (originally the Spadina Expressway) only as far south as Lawrence Avenue between 1954 and 1971. Plans were drawn up to extend the Allen Expressway to Bloor Street, extend the Gardiner Expressway east into Scarborough and extend Highway 400 south to the Gardiner.

These plans were abandoned as the City stopped building expressways in 1971 when further construction of the Allen Expressway was cancelled due to protests for neighbourhood preservation. The Allen was, however, later extended as an arterial road from Lawrence Avenue to Eglinton Avenue, as the right-of-way had already been prepared for it, hence the current name of Allen Road. Cancellation of the Allen also affected other planned GTA expressways at that time. However, without constructing less damaging alternate expressway routes, this decision has been considered the most devastating blow to growth and mobility in southern Ontario. Highway 400 was extended only to just south of Eglinton Avenue, but as an arterial road known as Black Creek Drive and the section of the eastern Gardiner Expressway between the Don River and Leslie Street was demolished in 2001 as it was under-utilized and would not be extended.

In 2000, the City of Toronto adopted the Road Classification Plan as part of the Official Plan. That report gave a specific classification for each road in Toronto as expressway, major arterial, minor arterial, collector and local road. The Gardiner Expressway, Don Valley Parkway, Allen Road from Eglinton Avenue to Transit Road (just north of Wilson Avenue) and Highway 2A are classified as ‘expressways’ due to their important function within the City’s overall transportation infrastructure inventory. This is enshrined in the City's Official Plan and the expressway status of these roads must be maintained.

Due to forty years of growing traffic congestion and loss of productivity, the City of Toronto still needs to build two new additional expressway routes – one to the northwest and one to the east. The future of the elevated section of the Gardiner Expressway also needs to be settled once and for all. New expressways could be built utilizing private financing or bond issue. Expressways along these two new routes could be built entirely within existing corridors to eliminate the need for disruptive expropriation and, like subways, tunnelling should be employed. It is recommended that a northwest expressway be tunnelled under an existing rail corridor, and an eastern expressway be built along the middle of a wide hydro corridor, plus some improvements should be made to existing routes.

The following extensions to Toronto’s expressway system are recommended:

·                  Allen Expressway upgrade

·                  Highway 400 Extension

·                  Gatineau Hydro Corridor Expressway (Highway 448)

Breaks in Toronto’s arterial road system grid, especially in the Leaside, Beaches and Junction areas, must be linked to improve mobility and provide more direct bus services. No new roads should be built in the Rouge Valley Park which should be preserved in its natural state.

Streetcars in mixed traffic should be phased out as this causes congestion. Streetcars should be replaced with energy-saving trolleybuses which, unlike streetcars, can maneuver around street blockages.

The proliferation of bicycle lanes on major arterial roads should cease. This is not safe and reduces needed road space. Bicycle lanes should be placed along minor and local roads only. An extensive network of off-road cycle trails as proposed in this plan will reduce the need for bicycle lanes on streets and increase cyclist safety.

A network of one-way arterial roads, particularly in the downtown area, similar to the current operation on Richmond Street and Adelaide Street, should be expanded to improve downtown traffic flow. Yonge and Bay Streets, Davenport and Dupont Streets, Parliament and Church Streets are good candidates for a new one-way system.

The following extensions to Toronto’s arterial roads system are recommended:

·                  Dufferin Street southern extension to Lake Shore Boulevard West.

·                  Rathburn Road bridge over Etobicoke Creek into Mississauga.

·                  Meadowvale Road bridge over Highway 2A and north to Steeles Avenue.

·                  Keele Street extension to Weston Road from Rogers Road.

·                  A new bridge over CN/CP rail to connect Roncesvalles Avenue with Old Weston Road

·                  Direct Kingston Road to Lake Shore Boulevard connection west of Coxwell Avenue.

·                  New South Park Boulevard from Broadview Avenue to Lake Shore Boulevard East.

·                  Lawrence Avenue East connection at Bayview Avenue.

·                  Morningside Avenue northern extension to Steeles Avenue.

·                  Danforth Road extension to Gerrard Street East

·                  Sheppard Avenue West extension along a hydro right-of-way to Rexdale Boulevard.

·                  Leslie Street extension south to Overlea Boulevard and north to Don Mills Road.

·                  Connection from Lawrence Avenue East to Bayly Street in Pickering.

·                  Sheppard Avenue West direct connection between Keele Street and Dufferin Street.

·                  Sheppard/Allen connection to Keele Street at Grandravine Drive.

·                  A new road link from Islington Avenue to Weston Road south of Highway 401.

·                  Dufferin Street northern extension to Sheppard Avenue West from Wilson Avenue.

Provincial Freeways and Municipal Expressways and Roads

In the City of Toronto (formerly Metropolitan Toronto or Metro), the expressway system is divided into two parts - Provincial freeways and Municipal (formerly Metropolitan) expressways. Provincial freeways are under the jurisdiction of the Government of the Province of Ontario and include the Queen Elizabeth Way and all of the 400-series highways such as Highways 400, 401, 427. Municipal expressways are under the jurisdiction of the City of Toronto (formerly the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto).

Some former Provincial highways have been transferred to the City of Toronto (formerly Metropolitan Toronto) over the years. In recent years, some of these include Black Creek Drive (Highway 400 Extension), Highway 27 and Highway 2A.

Municipal expressways include the Gardiner Expressway from Highway 427 to the Don Valley Parkway (the section east from the Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street was demolished in 2001), the Don Valley Parkway from the Gardiner Expressway to Highway 401, the Allen (Spadina) Expressway (later called the Allen Road) from Wilson Heights Boulevard to Eglinton Avenue West, and finally Highway 2A from Kingston Road to Highway 401, which would have acted as the eastern end of the Gardiner Expressway if it had been completed across Scarborough as originally planned. The City of Toronto also has jurisdiction over all arterial roads, local roads and laneways within its boundaries.

Road Proposals:

• Construction of a Highway 400 Extension from Highway 401 to the Gardiner Expressway by upgrading Black Creek Drive to become a full expressway and extension south under the Georgetown GO rail corridor in a cut-and-cover tunnel to meet the Gardiner Expressway at Strachan Avenue. This will serve as a new route to L.B. Pearson International Airport from Downtown. The Highway 400 Extension can be constructed by a public-private partnership and operated as a toll road similar to the Highway 407 ETR route.
• Improved access ramps to the Allen Road at Lawrence and Eglinton Avenues and replacement of all traffic signals on the Allen Road north of Transit Road with ramps and overpasses. The Allen Road will be renamed as the Allen Expressway for the entire length from Eglinton Avenue West to Dufferin Street. 
• Construction of a new eastern Highway 448 along the wide Gatineau hydro corridor from the Don Valley Parkway south of Eglinton Avenue East to Highway 401 at Morningside Avenue. This will divert the heaviest traffic congestion on the Don Valley Parkway which is north of Eglinton Avenue. Highway 448 can be constructed by a public-private partnership and operated as a toll road similar to the Highway 407 ETR route.
• Maintenance of the entire elevated Gardiner Expressway in the short term
• Eventual replacement of the elevated section of the Gardiner Expressway with a new cable-stayed viaduct above the parallel Lake Shore railway lines known as the Toronto Waterfront Viaduct
• Filling in 18 missing links in the arterial road grid system - a total of 30 km of new arterial roads
• Installation of traffic roundabouts to improve intersection safety and traffic flow
• Removal of streetcars from downtown streets and their replacement with electric trolleybuses with the same seating capacity as streetcars 
• No more traffic lanes to be converted to bicycle lanes on major arterial roads. Bicycle lanes should only installed on collector and residential streets and where two traffic lanes in each directions can be maintained
• Level crossings at railway lines with gates and warning bells should be removed and replaced with underpasses and overpasses to improve safety and traffic flow
• Inexpensive multi-storey parking garages should be constructed at public transit hubs such as Yorkdale, Eglinton West, Yonge-Sheppard, Yonge-Eglinton, Yonge-Bloor, Dundas West, Greenwood, Kennedy and Scarborough Centre stations and the proposed Sherway Gardens station

Allen Expressway and Black Creek Drive Upgrades

The first step will be to upgrade the Allen Road (to be renamed as Allen Expressway for its entire length) and Black Creek Drive (to become part of the Highway 400 Extension) as full six-lane expressways with ramps and overpasses. These will be followed by the construction of the Highway 400 Extension tunnel and Highway 448. Replacement of the elevated section of the Gardiner Expressway with the Toronto Waterfront Viaduct would be done afterwards.

The Allen Road and Black Creek Drive are experiencing growing traffic congestion due to the existence of traffic lights. Traffic lights do not belong on highways. Recommended improvements would involve constructing a roundabout at the southern end of the Allen around Eglinton West station, a roundabout at the top of the ramps at Lawrence (the bridge would have to be twinned), and a roundabout at Transit Road just north of the ramps to Wilson Heights Boulevard (those ramps would remains as they currently are). All of the traffic lights would be removed and the cross-streets would feed into the roundabouts. An efficient and smoothly-running Allen Expressway would then exist from from Eglinton Avenue to Sheppard Avenue.

Black Creek Drive would also be upgraded by converting it into the full expressway it was originally meant to be. Traffic lights are causing horrendous congestion on that highway too. Improvements would involve widening it from four to six lanes, removing all of the traffic lights and building interchanges at Lawrence Avenue and Eglinton Avenue. It would then become part of a new Highway 400 Extension. These improvements would fit into the current 45-metre road right-of-way on Black Creek Drive.

Click on the image below to enlarge it to see the designs for the proposed Allen and Black Creek upgrades:



Highway 400 Extension

The Highway 400 Extension to the Gardiner Expressway could provide a new route from downtown Toronto to Pearson Airport via Highway 409 and directly connect downtown Toronto with northern Ontario. It could also remove through traffic from the Allen Expressway, reducing the congestion on its ramps and eliminating the need to extend the Allen further south. The Highway 400 extension would proceed south from the upgraded Black Creek Drive to the Gardiner Expressway entirely tunnelled under the wide Georgetown rail corridor, which will also help to revitalize the Junction industrial area. Since Highway 400 is a Provincial Freeway, this extension could be an entirely Provincial route.

Click on this map of the Highway 400 Extension plan to enlarge it



       
      Click on this picture to enlarge it                 Click on this picture to enlarge it

Highway 400 Extension tunnelled under the Georgetown rail corridor with Union-Pearson rail link with bicycle trail and landscaping above

(refer to the above enlargeable map of Toronto's road system showing new expressway and arterial road extensions as completed to view the Highway 400 Extension route along the rail corridor)



Highway 448

Building a road within a hydro corridor has already been done in Toronto with the construction of the York University Busway along the Finch Hydro Corridor between Dufferin Street and Keele Street. It has been constructed in the centre of the corridor between the rows of hydro towers. Highway 448 would be very similar within the Gatineau Hydro Corridor. Since the Gatineau Hydro Corridor is Provincially maintained, the Highway 448 could be an entirely Provincial route as it connects to Highway 401.

With the eventual extension of Highway 407 to Highway 35 & 115 near Bowmanville going to Peterborough, Highway 448 could be extended further northeasterly to Highway 407 in Pickering, thus providing a new easterly Toronto to Peterborough route bypassing the congested Highway 401.

Click on this map of the Highway 448 plan to enlarge it



York University Busway in the Finch Hydro Corridor under construction



York University Busway in the Finch Hydro Corridor completed  



Highway 448 along the wide Gatineau hydro corridor

(refer to the above enlargeable map of Toronto's road system showing new expressway and arterial road extensions as completed to view the Highway 488 route along the hydro corridor)

 

Other Proposals

The Gardiner Expressway around Humber Bay can be moved offshore to a bridge crossing the bay thus allowing for new waterfront parkland to be created at the western beaches in the Sunnyside area.

For plans for replacement of the existing elevated Gardiner Expressway, see Waterfront page

A new traffic roundabout in central Toronto. More of these can be built even at major intersections

New Municipal Highway Marker Signs for City of Toronto highways

In this transportation plan, it is proposed to rename the Allen Road as the Allen Expressway and to rename Black Creek Drive as Black Creek Parkway. It is also proposed to introduce new standardized and distinctive City of Toronto highway marker signs containing the City logo at the top and the European symbol for freeways (the one with the red line through it indicates that the highway ends):




It makes sense to adopt distinctive City highway marker signs since standardized signs including the City logo are now appearing on City of Toronto streets such as these: