1949-1961: Planning For The Route
The first proposal for a highway from the north-west to downtown (other than the Highway 400 extension) was for a highway named "North West Drive", or "Spadina Road Extension". The 1949 proposal, by the Toronto and Suburban Planning Board, was part of a plan for numerous expressways in the Toronto area, including the eventual Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway highways. The route was laid out by two members of the board, future Metro chairman Fred Gardiner and James P. Maher, chairman of the Toronto Planning Board. The proposal died when York Township rejected the idea.
When Metropolitan Toronto (Metro) was formed in 1954, one of its first priorities was highway building. Metro proposed building routes into and out of downtown, as well as encircle the downtown with an "expressway ring." The routes of the Gardiner and Don Valley expressways were less controversial and allowed to proceed, while others such as the Crosstown, Scarborough and Spadina Expressways were put off for further study. The other expressways planned to cut through developed areas, and were also considered to be needed less urgently. A parallel development to extend the provincial highway 400 was proposed to the west, to connect to the Lakeshore Expressway in the area of Fort York.
In 1959, the Spadina Expressway became part of the Metro official transportation plan. The original plan intended to connect a "Highway 403 bypass" in the vicinity of today's Highway 407 in the city of Vaughan south through North York Township, just east of Downsview airport, then south between Dufferin Avenue and Bathurst Street as far south of Eglinton. The highway would have gone into a ravine as far south as St. Clair Avenue through York Township. It would then enter Toronto proper, going directly south through the Annex neighbourhood, connecting to an east-west "Crosstown Expressway" south of Dupont Street, and ended at the intersection of Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue. Spadina Avenue would be reconstructed with express lanes in the middle all the way south to the waterfront.
The project planned a rapid-transit line in conjunction with the expressway. It would operate above ground north of Eglinton Avenue, and travel underground south to connect at Spadina station of the Bloor-Danforth line. The above-ground section was situated between the lanes of the highway.
Read more about this topic: Spadina Expressway
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