Cancelled Expressways in Toronto - History - Beginning of Construction

Beginning of Construction

Construction of the network started with what was then known as the Lakeshore Expressway, which would connect the QEW from its terminus at the Humber River with the downtown core. The initial western section opened in 1958, continuing eastward as an elevated highway to York Street in the city core in 1962, and further to the Don River by 1964. During construction the Lakeshore was renamed the Gardiner Expressway, after the first chair of Metropolitan Toronto and major supporter of the expressway plans, Fred Gardiner. A second expressway, the Don Valley Parkway, opened between Bloor Street and Eglinton Avenue in 1961, and continued to develop north and south until it connected to Highway 401 in the north and the Gardiner Expressway in the south.

These plans were only the beginning of an even larger network that was first proposed in 1959 and fully developed by 1966, when it became the official plan. In 1959, Metro developed the concept of 'rings' of expressways around the central core. The inner ring included the Crosstown east-west along Davenport connecting to the Don Valley in the east and the Highway 400 extension to the west, the Highway 400 extension down Christie and Grace Streets from Davenport, connecting to the Gardiner near Fort York just west of the downtown core, and the Gardiner and Don Valley Expressways. The outer ring is composed of Highway 401 along the north, Highway 427 on the west, the Gardiner on the south and the Scarborough to the east, connecting the Gardiner Expressway in the downtown core with Highway 401 in the far eastern reaches of the city. Other links included the Richview, a shorter at-grade expressway connecting the western end of the Crosstown at the Highway 400 extension with Highway 27 further west, and eventually connecting to the proposed Highway 403 and the Spadina Expressway which ran north-south and connected the middle of 401 with the downtown core, ending on Spadina Avenue near the University of Toronto.

By 1962, the Spadina Expressway was approved and construction proceeded in 1963 from Wilson Avenue south to Lawrence Avenue. At first, Metro approved only the construction from Lawrence to Wilson. However, the province would not give funds for its construction unless Metro approved the whole route, which was done. During construction, priority was given to access to the new Yorkdale Shopping Centre, which opened in 1964. Drivers could drive from Lawrence Avenue north along a paved section of the expressway north to Yorkdale. The interchange to Highway 401 would be completed later. In 1961, one link in the inner ring, the Crosstown, was cancelled by Metro Council, although carried forward by Metro planning officials. Toronto and Metro proposed alternate routes for Highway 400, with Toronto favouring a route along the railway lines.

Metro developed its official transportation plan, starting in 1964 by evaluating three concepts, a road-oriented plan, a transit-oriented plan and a mixed plan, referred to as the 'balanced system'. The road-oriented system omitted the Spadina subway, and included all of the expressways. The mixed system did not omit any roads, but did omit a Queen Street subway. The transit-oriented plan included Eglinton Avenue and Queen Street subways, extending the Spadina north to Vaughan, and extending the Bloor-Danforth line east into Scarborough. It also included express bus routes along the expressways and commuter rail. The inner ring of highways was not included.

• A - Distances were direct routes between points, not distances along road alignments
• B - costs were estimated by Nowlan at $16 million per actual mile ($26 million per km) (the base routes were 197 mi (317 km) of expressway)

Sources:

• Metro Toronto Planning Board, The Metropolitan Transportation Plan, 1964.
• Nowlan and Nowlan (1970), pg. 42

The balanced plan, expected to be implemented by 1980, was estimated to cost $1 billion to construct. The expressway component (Crosstown, Spadina and Gardiner and Don Valley extensions) was estimated to cost $210 million.

The mixed system, although it was the most expensive, was approved by Metro Council in December 1966. The official plan now included the Crosstown again, although it was not approved for construction. Toronto still rejected the Crosstown, and the Ontario government rewrote the Toronto city official plan to accept that it might be built. Construction of the Crosstown was not expected until the 1970s. After completion of the Spadina south to Lawrence, approval was then given to proceed south to Eglinton, and start the process of expropriating homes and park lands for its construction, although without an interchange for the Crosstown.