New pedestrian path around Toronto Islands could be part of Billy Bishop Airport expansion

Not everyone is thrilled with the proposal to add more space to the ends of runways at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, but there is one potential part of the necessary expansion project that residents will no doubt be excited about.

In an overview of how the island transit hub might go about adding new runway end safety areas (RESAs) — which it is required to do to meet federal government safety regulations by 2027 —  PortsToronto, which operates YTZ, hinted at a new pedestrian addition to the property.

Toronto Island airport says it needs to pave over the lake to meet safety standardshttps://t.co/o13zUV61qW

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 16, 2024

In a single line buried in a deck used in a public presentation about the RESAs in mid-July, the authority wrote that one of the three options could include "possible space allocation for provision of landside perimeter pathway for public use" in the future.

A PortsToronto spokesperson clarified to blogTO Friday how, exactly, such a pathway would function and what it could look like.

City Hall Watcher newsletter creator Matt Elliott brought the concept to light in his August 16 edition. Deck from PortsToronto.

Although a path around the airport would be built and used primarily for "reliable access for municipal/utility vehicles," they said that "it is conceivable that it could also be used for other purposes, such as public access."

Though they admitted that such an endeavour would require an extensive study and that it is too early in the planning process to say for sure whether pedestrian use is possible, they added that "PortsToronto would be willing to do the work to assess if this is the option that we ultimately adopt."