In the first of a three-part series on Gardiner Gridlock, CTV Toronto examines the impact that the three-year cut to capacity on the downtown expressway is having on commuters – and their outcry.
Right underneath the Gardiner, at 5pm, everything comes to a standstill in the downtown core, it can take half an hour just to get 5 blocks onto the expressway.
Now that TTC and Go Transit fares are integrated, the Gardiner reductions should be no problem for many commuters, who can just park and take the train.
Eventually the ones who don’t necessarily need to drive might go on public transit. The more they do, the more room for those who have to drive. 🥹
Oof, they need to find better people to interview.
Brandon Parent lives 14km from his work (Leslieville to St Joes)- a 45min bike ride down by the water along the waterfront trail. Definitely doable for 8ish months of the year. TTC shows ~an hour.
“I know that the work they are doing is for safety, I get that.” Parent said. “I just feel like it wasn’t well-planned out.”
As a civil engineer, this is the go to complaint by alllll residents who are impacted by any construction. Driveways are inaccessible for a few days while concrete curbs cure? Poorly planned. Big trench that narrows a residential road down to 1 lane? Poorly planned.
With how large of a project this is, I promise you that a dozens of people have spent hundreds to thousands of hours reviewing the best way to reduce the impact while not spending 20 year to complete the works.
It boils down to people wanting infrastructure to work without the inconvenience of the upkeep it requires.
