Gardiner Expressway might be torn down for a grand boulevard

The city may be gaining the access to the waterfront that many have dreamed of for decades. 

This will be the glorious reality of a Toronto without a large section of the Gardiner Expressway—which many have wanted gone for years. It's all possible if mayoral-hopeful Jennifer Keesmaat wins in October. 

The former city planner announced plans this weekend to tear down a portion of the Gardiner that incumbent mayor John Tory hopes to rebuild, and she says it'll be way cheaper to boot. 

Keesmaat says tearing down the eastern portion of the Gardiner and replacing it with a "grand boulevard" will be approximately $500 million cheaper than Tory's plan to rebuild it. 

As your mayor, I will tear down the crumbling eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway and replace it with a beautiful grand boulevard worthy of its prime waterfront location. It will save taxpayers up to $500 million and unlock valuable waterfront land for development. #topoli pic.twitter.com/ERzdCP2DcA

— Jennifer Keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat) September 30, 2018

The plan pushed by Tory was approved by city council in 2015, and drew the ire of many who saw to tear the expressway down. 

@jen_keesmaat obviously NEVER drives during rush hour on Gardiner/DVP. Tear it down to view what? 20 ugly sun blocking condos?NDP won’t be happy until we are all on bikes permanently. 5 years of chaos for a grande blvd? Terrible idea

— Birdy (@27dogdays) October 1, 2018

Tory of course criticized the plan, stating it would dump large amounts of traffic into the downtown core. Keesmaat says the tear-down would allow for more money for transit, eliminating at least some of the vehicular traffic. 

Thank you however an “improved” lakeshore drive can’t be a twice as wide lakeshore drive so traffic will be worse than it is. Both my husband and I use that part of the Gardiner every day. It’s already jammed during rush hour. There is no way it’ll add only 2-3 minutes. No thx.

— everett (@evdigsthesix) October 1, 2018

As the election approaches, the candidates are starting to propose larger and larger ideas. Toronto will have to wait and see what the city looks like once the vote is decided.