There has been talk for years about tearing down the Gardiner. It seems like it’s an annual event and it’s that time again. However, this time there is more than talking going on and the prevailing winds are saying that a section of the Gardiner is going to come down. Full demolition would be too costly to even be a consideration. As a first step City Council has voted to spend $11 million on an environmental assessment, which will take up to 4 years to complete. They also voted to spend $30 million to redesign the York/Bay/Yonge exit loop from the eastbound Gardiner.

The costs for demolishing a section the Gardiner and replacing it with an 8-lane boulevard are estimated between $200 million and $400 million. The fear aside from the financial ramifications of taking down the 2.5 km stretch of the Gardiner between Jarvis and the Don Valley Parkway is traffic gridlock. There were estimates done that are not detailed and can not be taken as fact that replacing the Gardiner with an 8-lane boulevard would only add one to two minutes to a commute time. This doesn’t seem very likely. Still on the table is talk of the 1.5 km Front Street extension west of Bathurst which many feel would do a lot more than replacing the section of the Gardiner.

For now it seems like the only thing that is going to happen is that we are dishing out $11 million for a study. Are you in favour of spending between $200 million and $400 million to demolish a section of the Gardiner and replacing it with an 8-lane boulevard? If they are so concerned with traffic gridlock I think that they should invest that money into expanding our subway and GO train systems.