There Sould Be A Holmes On Homes Champion For City Projects

Loopy plans for the Gardiner
Mayor dreams of a boulevard where pedestrians, light rail vehicles and cyclists live in harmony

By SUE-ANN LEVY, SUN MEDIA

Council's clutch of car haters and their environmental kingpin -- Mayor David Miller -- are poised once again today to put their war against motorists into overdrive.

At today's last council meeting before Toronto's hardworking (?) politicians dissipate for their summer break, they'll debate whether to proceed with a $11-million environmental assessment that could ultimately lead to the dismantling of a 2.9-km stretch of the Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis St. and the DVP.

Waterfront Toronto has projected the cost of that takedown to be in the neighbourhood of $300 million -- although given Silly Hall's inability to accurately calculate the cost of most projects, I suspect this one could be closer to $500 million when all is said and done.

But that's not all. Another little project costing in the ballpark of $30 million -- the removal of the Gardiner's York/Bay/Yonge Sts. off-ramp and the Bay St. eastbound on ramp -- has found its way onto the council agenda.

A companion report calling for an additional environmental assessment for this project first appeared on the June 26 executive committee agenda. The impression given at the executive committee meeting was that this project had to be done in conjunction with the east Gardiner takedown.

More details

It wasn't until I took a tour of the proposed Gardiner project sites last week -- along with the mayor, his most loyal minions, a plethora of city staff and other media colleagues -- that I learned more details of this project.

The plan is to conduct an "expedited" EA -- of no more than 18 months -- on the removal of the two ramps, including the highly congested loop ramp in the southeast corner of York St., and on upgrades to the York off-ramp park (located underneath the loop.)

It quickly became clear this project has nothing to do with Waterfront Toronto's plans for the stretch of the Gardiner between Jarvis and the DVP -- leading me to suspect that Miller and Co. intended to push this little add-on through hoping it would get lost in the shuffle of the larger Gardiner project and in the summer doldrums.

Nevertheless, you might say it was a full court press on the tour that day as deputy mayor Joe Pantalone waxed poetic about making an "amazing marble of concrete road disappear" and turning a "premier street" (Bay St.) into the "gateway to Harbourfront" for pedestrians and cyclists.

TTC chairman Adam Giambrone -- replete with his colourful charts -- took up the rear, claiming the Transit City Light Rail plan of new routes will be up and running by the time the entire eastern stretch of the Gardiner is dismantled in 2016 (conveniently ignoring that there's no money to build any of the transit plan).

It was all such pie in the sky. Being the realist I asked how their plans (for the two ramps) will affect traffic, especially on the forever-congested loop that off-loads traffic from the Gardiner onto Bay and York Sts.

'Minimal' traffic impacts

"The traffic impacts will be minimal," said Pantalone, who evidently did not see the picture provided to the media with cars backed right up to the Gardiner from the loop.

"We'll have a traffic management plan," said transportation services general manager Gary Welsh in response to questions about how the congestion will be dealt with during construction.

Yesterday I asked Welsh how much the EA will cost. He said "very loosely a couple hundred thousand" because it won't be a "major" study. (Details, details.)

He also claimed only 850 vehicles per hour use the loop ramp during the morning peak (675 in the afternoon) and there will be "operational advantages" to removing the two ramps, although I couldn't really understand what those were.

I smell a traffic nightmare -- and not just related to the two ramps but the 120,000 cars who use the eastern stretch of the Gardiner each day.

The thought may have escaped Miller and his minions as they dream about a waterfront boulevard where downtown-dwelling pedestrians, light rail vehicles and cyclists live in perfect harmony, but the Gardiner is readily used by commercial vehicles attempting to transport goods to points outside of the centre of the universe (a.ka. Toronto).

Coun. Doug Holyday is totally against the takedown of the two ramps and the eastern stretch of the Gardiner.

"It's a continued attack on the car," he said yesterday. "This doesn't do anything to alleviate the congestion and the pollution caused by it ... the traffic will pile up but they (the mayor and his minions) don't care at all about that."