5 POLITICS JOHN LORINC Divided highway Conventional wisdom for fixing the waterfront has always included taking down the Gardiner. Now two Toronto architects have a radical proposal: leave the expressway standing—and build beneath it 1S 17 POSSIBLE TO BEAUTIFY THE GARD! ner? That's the question Robert Fung, ir of the ‘Toronto Waterfront. Revital- ination Corporation, put to a pair of loeal architects last September. It seemed lke an odd request. For three years now, Fung has been encouraging the eity tore- ‘move the barrierlike Gardiner and re- placeit witha tunnel and a netyeorkcof new roads, at an estimated enst of $1.8 billion, Only the expressway's demise, Fung’s planning gurus have been saying, would spur the waterfront’ long-awaited re- naissance, But Joba van Nostrand, a part- ner in the firm Architeets Alliance, and Calvin Brook, who runs Brook Melleoy, ‘weren't go sure, Van Nostrand had floated the idea of renovating the highway in a ‘widely read editorial that appeared in the Star in January 2002. Init, he argued that the Gardinor isan integral part of Toron- to's history and thus werth preserving, “Taking down the Gardiner has very little todo with creating a new waterfront,” he wrote. “Signifieant changes,” he went on, “could be affected by leaving the elevated Gardiner in place—ike the viaduets of Paris and London.” ‘Phat controversial hypothesis grew out of some work he and Brook had been doing for the city’s plan- ning department, which involved gencr- ating designs for upgrading the central ‘waterfront without removing the high- way. When Fung came aeross some of their images, he hired the two architects to develop their ideas. ‘The result is the “Gardiner Express way Transformation Study," whiels van Nostrand and Brook showed me shortly before Christmas. Their audacious con- clusion: for about $500 million, the city could turn the Gardiner-Lake Shove cor- ridor into a vibrant urban space, The key to their solution is beguilingly simple: stead of demolishing the Gardiner over head, they want to shift the Lake Shore cout from beneath it, leaving room fora se- ries of new promenades, loft-style build ings and parks under the highway. They cited Vancouver's Granville Island, which hhas thrived in the shadow of a huge bridge. “If you've ever been under [the Gandiner',” said van Nostrand, “ts act: ally a magnificent space: In February, council ordered city plan. ners to spend the next year investigating the feasibility of the van Nostrand-Lirools plan and other ideas for rehabilitating the 45-year-old expressway. The fact that such a choice now exists—leaving the Gardiner up while urbanizing its nether regions—provokes vehement reactions from Fung's closest advisers, But a grow. ing number of erties have begun to ques- tion the pricey scenarios for demolishing the Gardiner, asking, in effect, whether the cure is worse than the cise VAN NOSTRAND AND BROOK ARE SITTING IN :usmall boardroom in the offices of vehi tects Alliance, which sprawl ehaotieslly among the pillars and wooden beams of anairy converted warehouse on Adelaide West. Both are well-recognized faves in the city’s architectural cireles, having ‘worked on projects ranging from add fons at Sunnybrook Hospital to urban de- sign scenarios for the portlands, They're licking through a series of PowerPoint slides showing earlier optimistic plans foe our lakefront. There's a map from an EASTBOUND - WESTBOUND. Follow the dotted line: architects John van Nostrand and Calvin Brook propose shifting Lake Shore Boulevard south ‘at Yonge ang turning it into a regular street, equipped with sidewalks and signal crossings1850s design competition, Jong strip of parkland Street, Another isa 19k an idea prope the desi whieh has a nuth of Front etch, by Prederi stead, of Cent showing a lal ofits predecessor, with the steally panding bly consumed ater Wy tracks and, after diner. “The city” van Nos: trand points out, “has heen trying to de- velop green space along the water since 1798, but ie yeen undermined, Toranto historically though the physical vestige aylald visio of tho allway, the Terminal Building, the grain silo remained integral to the waterfront, Deit sometimes in different forms, Gardiner, they argue, should I same intevests Nostrand says rtidor as an intriguing urban design riddle. Some of their tions example, th building of the viaduets under the r onge, Bay are attractive and brightly it ‘The city could showease U en ridor so the “portals” —at ‘and go on. PANES 7 mazpad DN COR Cs Advonced engineering. Inspired performance Uncompronised room on comfort And sleek, modern styling thot demands attention on eS Re TR UR SCCM CRT w 2004 Mazda6. But we couldn't Oa rr EU Ce eA CR deavour by hosting a design competi tion to find distinctive approaches. Thus transformed, the underpasses could be- ight, with none structionist power: come places in their own of their current ob But tho attention-grabbing, elemen of their plan involve demolishing many of the Cardiner's offramps and relocating Lake Shore Boulevard. To tively, eastbound traffie would have to be ‘phoned off, using the Front Street ex- tension (intended to run from Li age to Bathurst), before it hits the d town portion of the Gardiner; west the Don Valley Parkway vio expanded ramps at Richmond Street East, With those modifications the land-hogging offramps—sueh as the Tooping one at York—could he eliminated ithout snarling downtown trafic. ‘The ould then be shifted out from under the Gardiner: at Spadina, they'd lay it north of the raised highway: and Jarvis, it would sdstreet, Harbour. Straight- fened and returned to ground level, the Lake Shore would be equipped with side- > this effec traffic would e several of Lake Shore between SkyDome run south of the big! ith another de ordin: landscaping, Thi ation is based tute observation: in terms of lim pres iting pedestrian movement, the Lake Ce Tea sea) Cory ea) (oot EEN (gee Shore, not the Gardiner, is the true eul- prit. Reconfiguring this mess of aro Logether with innovative des tothe highway's fank- ‘opers to build to the ed o thatthe city effective Pointing t0 examples in as Barcelona, Sydney and Tokyo, Brooke and van Nostrand straightfor ‘ward to retrofit the Gardiner with noise: dampening panels, anti-splatter bright lights, even ivy. With the tions, the land tucked! among the Ganiner's imposing concrete arches, there could be eivie ‘ommereial b fered markets, “Our sens s should be entry lev parking stru¢ tures with decent cladding, skateboard parks, even light industry.” (The city, they of the $10 mal lion a year it now spends on maintenanec becau sitwater runoff from the Lake Shore would no longer leaeh up the highway footings) At the west end, when rruns high sbove Fort York, they envision a and visitor centre for the se addi neath b believe, would save 5 the Gardiner ane ‘e site, perhaps even a eanal to symbolize the location of the original shoreline. Sinee Fort York Boule- TRO a WEVA 8 ) MazDavard opened last year, it’s po imagine such a scene. twunklike footin of landseaped green space on th ment that is hard) large and busy of Toronto! the Da among. others), but the traffie ds to be in the round; the ravine tralls pass serenely be tween the piers as if they features in d and these semi-naturali urban parks. Brook van Nostrand have also found examples in other cities where decent, fune tional buildings or parks have been located under ele way ay viaduet atdoor theatre si ramps from the Bro rate In New under the off lyn Bridge: The Gardiner's now rise from a strip north side of the new street, a tranquil environ- a barrier. Tn fact Paris, the viaduets under the railways are infilled with Tes always e gant arehite undermine tobe seduced by van Nost afés, restaurants and clubs, anele ‘and and Br ‘aural rendering, The way to plan is with medioere urban design, On the other hand, the reason their vision Dears ser hat it propose: something Toronto has learned to do well, that is reuse old structures trict warehou from garment dis- to the underpass at the refurbished Summerhill train where the liquor store onto the sidew wind llcheneath the track Artistic licence: promenades, lofts and markets would be tucked among the Gardin« Tawa production of mounted by a troupe of of seaffolding under the Bathurst Street bridge. It ‘mesmerizing: intimate, gritty and quint- essentially urban, Clever architects have long recognized that often the most imag inative structures are found at irregular intersections or on marginal bits of land The prospeet of designing building public spaces under the Gardiner pose and just such a challenge, but one familiar to city in the throes of a romance with its industrial heritage. (ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT PROBLEMS IN turban planning is a variation on the old joke about the chicken: Why did the podest the road? An 's footings cause they wanted to get to the other side. perhaps because of a nice shop fer there, or a park with ebil- some sunlight, ians. As any dren, or a subway stop ‘or maybe just other ped ‘honest planner will admit, one to en is far more di than tafe ight Nobody lik Lake S ting som ult it think. It's not just about and lands aped sidewalk the Gardine ore corridor in its current form,{3 lights south of Lawrence, 2 north of Eginin) (416) 447-6141 Anil fe parking Queen's Quay Terminal (main floor (416) 203-0463. Tio hours fe poring ‘Montreak: 1050 Laurier Ave. W. « Vancouver: 2401 Granville st. Fora catalogue ora store near you: 1-800-363-8737 or vst Til eee ar ar r a UNDECLARED INCOME? ‘veld Criminal & Cv Peale! ers Leen eee eee fee Cue vee Canta CH ty ct ong ote we hy seats Leer ont ‘ete, sat cert rls tee moe ui ps ‘laments oie Ticket, Paperback and Tilley Endurables. Travel light. Dress for dinner or suit up for hiking all from the same small suitcase ~ Tilley makes it easy. Classic styles for men and women all designed to meet the well, at least your hat will float, So no matter where your vacation takes you, take Tilley. re Caen nat dl eady-mar needs and withstand the rigours of life on the go. And if a wave takes your swimsuit, “Tiley Endurables Toronto: 900 Don Mills Road Me Che KEITH DUNANT'S PRINTS OF TORONTO LLERY S39 DUNDAS STREET, TORONTO + 35.0465 TUES.SAT. 124 PM, * WE DO HOUSE PORTRAITS + POLITIES continued ‘The van Nostrand-Brook plan adopts a nuanced view of why its physical barri cer and concludes that the elevated high- ‘way per se isn't the psychological barrier we've long assumed it to be. Proponents of removing the Gardiner wholesale, in contrast, see it as un impermeable urban obstacle, one that cannot be improved ‘upon. The hard parti figuring out how to remove or bury this enormous roadvway. A network of Robert Fung's advisers, ‘ily planners, traffic consultants and ar- chitects have been kicking around various solutions since Fung called for the Gar 4iner’s demolition in Mareh 2000. By last summer, eight new options bad emerged, which city officials pithily categorize as the “8 Rs": replace, remove and retain (and ameliorate). The key to the favoured “replace” option—known simply as 8a—is the location of the tunnel. The idea is to puta covered trench along the north edge of Fort York to the Spadina-Lake Shore intersection, digaing under future paxk space set aside on the railway lands, The Gardiner would remain in operation while the tunnel is built, eritieal staging deteil intended to reduce disruption during the lengthy construction phase. Before Christmas, Bruce Bodden, one of Fung’s top advisers and program man- ager for the Toronto Waterfront Revital ization Corporation, agreed to show me hhow 8a performs in a high-tech simulator housed at UI of T's Institute for Trafic Studios. Bodden heads Marshall Macklin Monaghan, a well-connected engineering firm that has worked on such projects as the National Trade Centre and the ‘$4.-illion expansion of Pearson Inter national. He arvived with two traffic ex- perts, one wielding a 10-footlong map. We met in the ITS lab, which is run by the renowned American traffic engineer Baher Abdulhai, A bank of monitars ‘on the front wall are linked to live video feeds of traffie hol spots around the city; facing these are rows of workstations, each with a terminal networked to the simulator. The program works by feed: ing layers of dats—traifie signals, peak- period volumes, driving styles and vehicle types—into random-number generators designed to mimie roxd occurrenees like ‘accidents in real time, The siraulator ean model what happens on the reconfigured traffic eorridor, showing everything from bird's-eye view to the perspective of an individual driver. ‘The TWRC remains committed to the principle of removing barriers and the prineiple of removing the Gardiner," Bod- den said. The hitch, he added, is that “its complicated and expensive, and the cor arch 2003 Teron iteMetropolitan Preparatory Academy Tee earl CNA) Lee wart Metropolitan Preparatory Academy is a semestered, co-educa- tional, day school located in Don Mills. The school provides a structured environment with small classes for 500 students from grade 6 to 12. Approximately 90 students graduate from Metro Prep each year, with 98% gaining admittance to top- level universities of their choice across Canada and abroad. www.metroprep.com 1 Individualized Academic Programs = Comprehensive Technology Program A Possibility of 5 Full Credit Courses per Semester (AdvancedtAcademic Level Only) 1 Stimulating Arts Program 1 Extensive Outdoor Education Program & Ministry Inspected Private School | Member of Ontario Federation of Independent Schools Charter Member of theToronto District College Athletic Assocation Please contact Steven Redding for a school prospectus or an admission interview AN EXPERT IN GREATING “THE NATURAL LOOK’ 31 Alvi ‘ FACIAL REJUVENATION “ULTRASONIC LIPOSUCTION “+ LASER SURGERY eZ ‘www.cosmeticscanada.com Ave. (Yonge & St. Clair) Toronto | Potties continued poration bas to answer to the three levels ‘of government.” As Rob Wanless, MMM's senior transportation planner, walked us through &9, it became evident just how complicated, The tunnel would rise to meet the Lake Shore in a pair of stag- gered locations near SkyDome—twe places because the Lake Shove, as it run through the core, would be divided into a one-svay pair like Richmond and Adelaide ‘That alignment is designed to accommo- date the all-important turns onto the north-south streets leading to downtown. ‘The TWRC has cross-section diagrams and photos of famous boulevards, from the Champs Elysées to Fifth Avenue, to give a sense of the Lake Shore's new con- guration. But the truth is that for such of the route the Lake Shore would abut the backsides of all those reeently built condos along Queens Quay West—hardly fa precondition for a great new street ‘Then there are the tunnel ramps: if you want to imagine how those will funetion, imagine the streotear tunnols at Spadina south of Bloor or the St. Clair West sub- ‘way, then add lots and lots of ears, Past Jarvis, the traffic headed east would be directed onto x new roadway placed on the railway embankment that sits just norih of the present-day Gar- diner. This is essentially a several-block- Jong on-ramp: once you're up there, the only place to go is the DVP. A more boule- vardlike Lake Shore, in tun, would run just south of the elevated roadway, with- ‘ut the Gardiner overhead, Wanless also sketched out what hap. pens outside the traffic corridor, on Front Street, At its February meeting, council ‘was to vote on the $285-million four-lane cextonsion—viowed as essential to dealing ‘with the Gardiner. For it to become gen- uinely effective as an alternative route into the city, however, Front and Welling- ton Streets must become a high-volume one-way pair east of Spadina. In other words, if you're coming in from Missis sauga to, say, the TD Centre, you'll exit the Gardiner as it passes the CNE and zip, downtown across Front. Heading. back, you'll get onto Wellington and reverse the trip, with the route jogging south to met Front just east of Spadina. The interse tion of Spadina and Front, now a mess be- cause it carries about 9 quarter af the traffic heading to and from the Gardiner, will become almost unrecognizable once the extension is built. The three busy streets will eonverge in a confusing maze of turn lanes and streetcar tracks. ‘To show how allthis ought to function during the morning rush hour, one of the IPS tearm fired up the simulator. The eom-POLITICS continued puter zoomed in and out from the map, picking up the traffic at-one of the tunnel exits, where the cars on the Gardiner merged with those on the Lake Shore, then headed north on York Street. The technician manipulated the program to view other areas: the cars and trucks, shown as cubes, moved around the map asifon some high-end version of SimCity. Finally, Bodden got to the bottom line: Abduthai’s model shows travel times in and out ofthe core within a minute or two of what exists today. “This is not an exer- cise in adding capacity,” Bodden insisted, “Based on the testing at U of T, i's possi- ble to replace the Gardiner and do it while functioning at similar levels of perform. tance to today's.” Thave no doubt that Option 8a would work from a traffic point of view—no small achievement. But wide surface roads ean be barriers tn their own right: just look at major suburban thorough= fares, You can see across them, but they are obstacles in every other sense, largely because there's no reason to be on them in anything but a cur: These roads are ex- posed, boring and devoid of pedestrians, ‘With 8a, the success of the plan must go beyond traffic and sightlines; this eontig- uration can only be viable ifthe new Lake Shore proves to he amenable to urban: style street life ‘At least one prominent urbanist has grave doubts: “If this is what you did to Lake down the Gardine” says Ken Green: berg, a former city of Toronto planner, “it’s more ofa barrier than whet you have now. If the whole idea is to veconmeet the city to the waterfront, that's not the way to doit.” For Greenberg, the real solution lies with major investments in new com- muter transit service, which would take enough volume off the Gardiner and the DYP to justify taking the ultimate step: removing the highway without trying to accommodate current traffic. Before [left, Bodden and his colleagues did give me a look at a slide that depicted an idea for linking some of the regions north and south of the reconfigured Lake Shore: a pedestrian bridge connecting Roundhouse Park to a parkette on the north side of Queens Quay West. The telling detail is that there were no images of pedestrians strolling slong, or across, the Lake Shore as it unwound through the central waterfront. And that's because this new road—which ealls for five lanes of trafic, tunnel exits and wellused tun Janes—seems unlikely to evalve into a normal urban street that pedestrians ‘would feel comfortable with, They'll need abridge. NO ONE SHOULD ASSUME THE FATE OF THE Gardiner is merely a complicated plan- | ning problem, Toronto's economie inter ests continue to play a major role in the current debate, although in more com.) plex and subtle ways, The loudest comn- plaints against demolishing the elevated highway tend to come from commuters and business groups worried about mov- ing goods in and out of the core ‘But it's also important to parse the bi- ses on the other side. Phe engine behind waterfront revitalization Is the develop- ‘ment industry: At the austere level of land- uuse planning theory, the removal of an ey sore is supposed to trigger reinvestment. But the construction and engineering in- dustries—both well represented on the TWRC—stand to earn billions in fees and wages ithe city pulls dawn the Gardiner. ‘There are also ogos to account for. The planners and traifie engineers who figure out how toslay the Gardiner beast will be- come international superstars in their fields. Which isn’t to suggest the Gardiner file has been commandeered by vested commercial and professional interests, just that there's more to the Gardiner do- bate than meets the eye. City councillors were invited to check outa simulation of Option 8a at the traffic institute in mid-February, but the diseus- sion about it remains largely academic, at Teast until the city completes its assess- ment of the van Nostrand-Brook plan. And even ifeounell does want to look sevi- ously at removing the Gardiner, tean't do anything without first eompleting a three- year environmental impaet study So the chronology looks something like this: a ear or 80 for the city to study the retain- and-ameliorate plan, and another to in vestigate the various options for remov- | ing the expressway, Given that there's no political consensus about how to pay for all this, we have to expect a lot of wran- aling among the three levels of govern- ‘mont regarding ideas for financing (tolls, a parking tax, etc.). In the meantime, property development around the Gar= diner will continue apace, inflating proj- ect costs by limiting the citys ability to create detours during the demolition and construction phases. We could still be arguing over Option 8a—or some deseen- dant of it—in the run-up to the 2009 ma- nicipal election, even though little will have changed. By then, the Gardiner will have celebrated its 50th birthday. ‘So what, then, of Brook and van Nos- trand’s plan for rehabilitating the Gar- diner? "We think t eu start tomorsox” Brook told me. For n waterfront project that’s sorely in need of a shot of creative energy, the questionis, why not? mmm BREAKING NEWS CURRENT AFFAIRS DOCUMENTARIES ARTS & CULTURE It's your right as a Canadian to know what's really going on in the world. That's why CBC Newsworld is here. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. Tune in today and experience all that this network has to offer. You'll see ‘that it's the right choice for news and information, CBCNeEWSWORLD Trusted. Connected. Canadian.