Mayor John Tory says a letter from 14 development corporations urging councillors to vote in favour of tearing down the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway has not changed his opinion that the highway should be rerouted instead.
The developers, identifying themselves as the “CityBuilders,” sent a letter to all 44 members of council on Friday, noting that the tear-down option would help create a “revitalized waterfront” that could ultimately attract $2 billion in new development along Lake Ontario.
Tory, however, told CP24 on Saturday morning that he remains convinced that a “hybrid option,” wherein the highway would be rerouted between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway with a new exit put in at Cherry Street, is still the best course of action.
The so-called ‘hybrid’ option is expected to cost a total of $919 million over a 100-year period compared to $461 million for the removal option. The immediate cost for the hybrid option is estimated at $336 million compared to $240 million for the tear-down option.
“It is nice to talk about tearing down expressways, it is nice to talk about a lot of things but we have a city here that has to keep strong and has to keep jobs and allow for the development of the waterfront and the hybrid option will allow for all of that and not create traffic chaos,” Tory said. “It is a difficult and very sort of complicated debate but I just believe that the option that says we are not going to make congestion much worse in this city going forward is the best thing we can do to have a healthy, vibrant city and a healthy, vibrant economy. We have to keep traffic moving.”
A previous study commissioned by the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) suggested that removing the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway could add an additional 10 minutes to the commute of those who currently rely on the highway and cost the city an estimated $37 million a year in lost productivity.
Meanwhile, proponents of the tear-down option, including former Toronto mayor David Crombie, have suggested that the move would free up valuable waterfront real estate for development and save the city money that could be reinvested in other pressing infrastructure needs.
In the letter sent to councillors, the developers said that by removing the Eastern Gardiner the city could create 12 acres in prime waterfront real estate with an estimated value of $150 million.
The developers, who currently own or control about 51 combined hectares in waterfront real estate, also noted that the savings from tearing down the highway alltogether could be put toward other "critically important citywide initiatives," such as SmartTrack.
"New York and San Francisco tore down their elevated expressways, and land values and the tax base in the immediate vicinity rose significantly," CityBuilders member and Castlepoint Numa President Alfredo Romano said in a press release. "Our city is the largest landowner in the area and its taxpayers will benefit most from these enhanced values."
City council is expected to vote on the fate of the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway during a meeting that begins Wednesday.
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