Cancelled expressways in Toronto
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.
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.
[4] The expressway component (Crosstown, Spadina and Gardiner and Don Valley extensions) was estimated to cost $210 million.
The planned expressways would require the same throughout the city and, with the exception of the northern ends of the roads, generally ran through well-settled areas.
A new resident to The Annex, Jane Jacobs, had been instrumental in blocking the Lower Manhattan Expressway in New York City before moving to Canada in 1969.
According to Jacobs, it was the construction of expressways into major American cities that led to an exodus of the middle class, and the death of once-vibrant downtown cores.
In 1971 Premier John Robarts retired and handed the Premiership to William Davis, who agreed to hear an appeal of the Municipal Board's decision.
On June 3, 1971, Davis rose in the Provincial Legislature and stated: If we are building a transportation system to serve the automobile, the Spadina Expressway would be a good place to start.
The Highway 400 extension stopped at Eglinton, where the province left it, although it was later extended with the at-grade Black Creek Drive to Weston Road.
Both ends of the Scarborough Expressway were built, in the east as a large interchange that quickly turns into a much smaller exchange with Kingston Road, and in the downtown core as a several-kilometre extension of the Gardiner past the Don Valley Parkway to Leslie Street.
Highway advocates, notably frequent political candidate Abel Van Wyk, believe in the necessity of the expressways to meet high demand from suburban growth and automobile traffic between suburbs and the downtown core.
In April 2009, the province announced that several initiatives of the Transit City plan, including an east–west Eglinton Light Rail line connecting to the airport, would proceed on accelerated construction schedules.
From there it would have proceeded south-easterly between Davenport Road and Dupont Street, before entering the Rosedale Ravine to connect with the main Don Valley roadway south of the Bloor Street Viaduct in the approximate location of today's Rosedale Valley Road and Bayview Avenue intersection.
East of Mount Pleasant Road, the expressway would have cut through the neighbourhood of Rosedale to connect with the Don Valley Parkway.
Metro Planning Commissioner Murray Jones estimated that 40,000 vehicles would move daily between the Highway 400 extension and the Don Valley Parkway.
[13] In 1964, Metro Planning Commissioner Eli Comay proposed the extension of Bay Street north of Davenport, to connect with a future Crosstown.
[citation needed] Comay publicly criticized the City of Toronto for allowing an apartment development at Davenport and Hillsboro Avenue, in the path of his proposed Bay Street extension.
[citation needed] Toronto Board of Control voted to reject Comay and allowed the development to proceed.
[citation needed] Metro Chairman William Allen quipped: "The only way to get the Crosstown out of my mind is to leave the country.
[citation needed] When the first section of the Don Valley was opened from Bloor Street to Eglinton Avenue, the roadway was the southern terminus, and is still used as an on/off ramp for the Parkway.
[citation needed] Toronto has not corresponded by rerouting Morningside Road to meet the southern end of Ninth Line at Steeles Avenue.
The wide right-of-way was revisited in the 2014 Toronto municipal election when John Tory's SmartTrack plan proposed heavy rail within the corridor and challenger Olivia Chow pointed out the existence of the buildings.
Tory was elected, but the heavy rail proposal was dropped in 2016 in favour of extending the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project west to the city limits bordering Mississauga.
It was moved entirely to within the Lakeshore East CN/GO railway corridor, commencing from the Don Valley Parkway/Gardiner Expressway interchange and would be depressed in a deep ditch.
Property along the road had been bought by Metro Toronto and some infrastructure (namely overpass to accommodate roadway with railway tracks in the centre) was built.
However, Metro faced opposition from the residents of the City of Toronto, which caused the road to be severed from the Gardiner Expressway.
Local residents continued to fight the plan and appeared before the Ontario Municipal Board to oppose Metro every time it tried to purchase more land for the route.
Bridges along the CN/GO corridor were generally built with room to place two-lanes of road on either side of the railway, these are empty today and allow for future rail upgrades.
In the early 2000s, much of the land east of Manse Road in Scarborough was sold by the post amalgamation City of Toronto for other purposes.
