Gardiner Expressway

York-Bay-Yonge Interchange Reconfiguration

Municipal Class EA-Study Commencement & Public Meeting

Wednesday September 23, 2009

 

Comments from Braz Menezes,

Resident; Urban Planner; Member Planning and Development Committee -YQNA; ex. Chair, Waterfront BIA Planning Development Committee

 

Main Points:

 

1. The ramps are incredibly UGLY and a wasteful use of prime urban land. They MUST be demolished. (photo 1)

 

2. Their demolition will transform immediately the visual impact and provide an OPPORTUNITY to create a dramatic interface between the Financial District and the Waterfront in the form of a Parkette or Square. (photos 4, 7, 8)

 

3. We would like to see the PATH extension south from union station to the central waterfront, located in this Parkette as a WATERFRONT ENTRANCE TO UNION STATION (photo  9).

 

4. Terminating the new down ramp at grade on York Street will not be any steeper an incline than the ‘up-ramp’ on the west side of York Street. It will in fact have LESS of a SLOPE as it starts further back on the Gardiner. (photo 3)

 

5. We must NOT see this activity as an isolated action. CITY PLANNING must have a greater vision for the future:

 

1. City Planning should examine the potential benefits of providing an ‘ENTRANCE’ only into a multi-level car-park and motor-bikes, for cars coming off the new down-ramp directly into the triangular-shaped City-owned land on the west side of York Street; and

 

2. City Planning should examine benefits of completing the PATH CONNECTION at the same time as the reconfiguration of the ramps, instead of having to cause major disruptions to traffic movement in the vicinity of the Central Waterfront between York Street and Bay Street in couple of years. The PATH connection will also considerably add value to both, the City-owned land on the west side of York Street & to the property on the East Side owned by the Province (90 Harbour Street). These lands are being held ‘in trust’ for the Citizens and Tax Payers, who would welcome the positive cooperation that we have seen in the past, that can result in a lasting beneficial legacy for future generations

 

6. The photos that follow emphasize this incredible eyesore, which may have served its purpose 40 years ago, now MUST BE DEMOLISHED. (Photos 2,4,5,6 are just a few examples).

 

 

Photo 1. Source: Anonymous downloaded from Internet shows incredible wasted land use.

 

            

       Photo 2.     Ugly                          Photo 3. Existing ramp up to Gardiner from York Street

 

 
Photo 4. Obstruction of potentially beautiful views of the City’s Financial District

 
Photo 5. Ugly

 
Photo 6. Ugly!

Note the Gardiner Expressway in the distance. View is looking from the Waterfront towards the City

 

 

 

 
Photo 7

Note the calm and peace that a small patch of green space provides.

 Photo 8

An obstructed view of the Waterfront and the Lake

 

 

Photo 9

 

Source: Norman and Foster, Architects, Subway Exit in Bilbao, Spain

 

Imagine getting in and off the PATH extension in the Parkette

 

 

 

 

                                           UNION STATION  

 

 

                                                     

 

                                    York Street                    Bay Street

 

Queens Quay/ Central Waterfront

 

 

7. We must NOT see this activity as an isolated action. CITY PLANNING must have a greater vision for the future:

 

1. City Planning should examine the potential benefits of providing an ‘ENTRANCE’ only into a multi-level car-park and motor-bike park (for visitors to the Waterfront), coming off the new down-ramp directly into the triangular-shaped City-owned land on the west side of York Street; and

 

2. Examine benefits of ADDED VALUE of completing the PATH CONNECTION at the same time as the reconfiguration of the ramps. This will particularly result in added vale to adjacent City and Province-owned lands; and

 

3. Provide a fitting signal that all improvements to the Central Waterfront will now have pedestrian access, which will also reduce considerably above-ground conflict between cars coming off the new ramp; and most important, it will mean that hundreds of thousands of drivers and pedestrians and cyclists, will not have to face further multi-year road and tunnel construction into an indefinite future.

 

 

Braz Menezes

2515/55 Harbour Square, Toronto

Telephone. 416 363 9757

Email: bmenezes@sympatico.ca Toronto, September 20, 2009