Municipal expressways in Toronto
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Toronto, Ontario is one of the few North American cities that maintains a system of expressways and arterial highways at the municipal level. They are fully managed and operated by the City of Toronto, and are typically characterized by reduced speed limits on expressways (80-90 km/h instead of 100 km/h on provincial freeways), increased speed limits on arterial highways (70 km/h instead of 50-60 km/h on most other roads), and limited access. Most of them were built by Metro Toronto in the 1960s to complement Ontario's 400-Series Highways; others were provincial highways that were downloaded.
After protests against neighbourhoods being allegedly destroyed, the Spadina Expressway cancellation heralded the end of the building of new municipal expressways in Toronto. The Highway 400 Extension, intended to connect with the Gardiner Expressway, became Black Creek Drive, connecting to Weston Road. The planned Crosstown, Richview and Scarborough (Gardiner Extension) Expressways have not been built and part of the Gardiner Expressway has been dismantled. Lands acquired for the proposed Scarborough Expressway (Gardiner Expressway Extension) and the proposed Richview Expressway remained in municipal government ownership for another twenty years after the shelving of the proposals. Much of the land remains in public ownership today, though future uses have not yet been determined.
In the subsequent decades, the Peel Region and York Region suburbs of Toronto have expanded greatly in population and industrial development. The availability of land for development and pro-development municipal governments have made those areas more attractive to residential development and industry. An extensive highway network has been developed of highways 403, 407, 410, 427 and 404 linking those suburbs with Toronto. This has led to increased road traffic into and out of Toronto and daily traffic congestion.
As an alternative to road construction, the city and province have made efforts to expand the TTC services within the core and expand GO Transit commuter train service. However, the costly efforts have not paid off; TTC ridership has declined since the 1980s while GO has failed to relieve congestion, pointing to a continual trend of growing car ownership.
The debate continues to this day about the merits of the cancelled expressways. Highway advocates, including industry and suburban commuters, believe in the necessity of the expressways to meet growing demand from suburban growth and automobile traffic between suburbs and the downtown core. Urban reformers (most notably the late Jane Jacobs) and other residents of the core are opposed to expansion because of the air pollution, noise and health effects allegedly associated with expressways.
The Canadian Automobile Association has proposed a plan of expansion within the City borders to address the congestion. This included the building of a new Scarborough Expressway through a route over Lake Ontario, new expressways and arterial roads and the building of the Richview Expressway. The City government has not been receptive and is focussed instead on transit alternatives.
A new citizen group called the Citizens' Transportation Alliance of Greater Toronto, based in Scarborough, Ontario, is advocating for a return to balanced transportation planning in Toronto. It supports construction of new subways, but also endorses the construction of one new expressway to the northwest of Toronto, most likely an upgrade of Black Creek Drive, and one expressway to the east through Scarborough, along a hydro corridor or an upgrade of Kingston Road. The group also supports filling in arterial road missing links.
Other plans debated have included the development of new toll highways and/or expansion of current expressways through the conversion to tolls.
Expressways
Expressways are divided, controlled access, and fully grade-separated.
- Gardiner Expressway
- Don Valley Parkway
- William R. Allen Road (from Transit Road to Eglinton Avenue)
- Highway 2A
Arterial Highways
These roads have a centre median divider to control traffic:
- Black Creek Drive (formerly Highway 400 Extension)
- William R. Allen Road (from Transit Road to Kennard Avenue)
- Highway 27
Defunct Expressways
- Crosstown Expressway (truncated portion forms the Bloor/Bayview ramp at the Don Valley Parkway)
- Richview Expressway (ramps remain at 427-401 junction)
- Spadina Expressway (truncated route renamed Allen Road)
- Scarborough Expressway
External Links
- [[http://www.gettorontomoving.ca/missinglinks22.html Missing Links: A Complete Illustrated History of Toronto's Controversial Expressway System]]
- [[http://www.gettorontomoving.ca Citizens' Transportation Alliance of Greater Toronto]]
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