Thank goodness for the foresight of residents and politicians to eliminate poor planning practices from our urban development vernacular.

 

The debate over the Spadina Expressway, and its eventual cancellation, are regarded as a turning point in local history. It preceded the beginning of the so-called "Reform Era" in Toronto politics, which brought to City Hall the likes of David Crombie and John Sewell — leaders who were more interested in creating a people-oriented city rather than a car-oriented city. It also highlighted the growing schism between the downtown city and the more suburban boroughs of Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough. The debate over the expressway was one of several issues that led to increased development in areas to the north and west of Toronto.

 

The construction of the Spadina Expressway was initially at the insistence of the owners of the Yorkdale Shopping Centre. As construction proceeded, opposition to the expressway grew among residents of the neighbourhoods in its path, including affluent and well-established communities of Forest Hill and The Annex. The new road, they feared, would tear apart their neighbourhoods and choke the area with new traffic and air pollution. It would also ruin an irreplaceable natural area and require the demolition of hundreds of homes, as well as historic buildings such as Spadina House.

 

Marshall McLuhan said of the expressway: "Toronto will commit suicide if it plunges the Spadina Expressway into its heart... our planners are 19th century men with a naive faith in an obsolete technology. In an age of software Metro planners treat people like hardware — they haven't the faintest interest in the values of neighbourhoods or community. Their failure to learn from the mistakes of American cities will be ours too."

 

Grassroots protests by downtown residents and, eventually, a considerable lobbying effort, turned the tide against the expressway. (Notable among the opposition was urban critic Jane Jacobs, who moved to the Annex in 1969, fresh from a battle to stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway in New York City.) However, the Ontario Municipal Board backed the Spadina Expressway in a 2-1 decision.

 

In June 1971, an appeal led the provincial government of Bill Davis to withdraw its support, effectively killing the project. Speaking in the Ontario Legislature, Davis said: "If we are building a transportation system to serve the automobile, the Spadina Expressway would be a good place to start. But if we are building a transportation system to serve people, the Spadina Expressway is a good place to stop" (quoted in Sewell, 1993). Others maintained that Davis based his decision on political considerations rather than sound planning because of an impending provincial election to be held later that year.

 

In 1983, when Davis announced his retirement from Provincial politics, one of his last acts was to grant a 1 metre wide strip of land on the south side

Eglinton Ave. West

to the City of Toronto to ensure that no southerly extension would ever be built.

 

 

What Happened?

When the project was stopped, the expressway was complete from

Wilson Avenue

to

Lawrence Avenue

, and the land had been cleared and graded for it to continue south to

Eglinton Avenue

. Five years later the section to Eglinton was completed; still later, a northern extension was built as an arterial road rather than an expressway, and now extends beyond

Sheppard Avenue

.

 

Renamed the William R. Allen Expressway after a former chair of Metropolitan Toronto, the expressway was later given the title of William R. Allen Road to indicate its truncated status; it is referred to as "The Allen" by locals. The Spadina subway line, opened in 1978, runs down its median from Wilson to Eglinton, where it descends underground and follows the approximate route planned for later sections of the expressway. Many pro-car politicians felt that the biggest construction hurdle, the segment from

 

 

The cancellation of the Spadina also spelled the end for the rest of the proposed network, including the Crosstown, Richview and Scarborough expressways. To date, no further expressways have been built in Toronto, leaving only two express routes to serve the downtown core: the

 

 

The end of the Spadina was also a turning point in Metropolitan Toronto's (later City of Toronto after 1997) growth history; many businesses disliked the new urban-reform measures which were seen as anti-development policies. Because of its perceived anti-car policies, Toronto was no longer as attractive to development as it formerly was and businesses migrated towards Peel Region and York Region where taxes were lower and where there were less restrictions and opposition to growth. The appeal of Peel and York regions has also increased due to the expansion of the provincial highway network to meet growing demand.

 

The provincial government did, however, build a parallel highway to the west of the Spadina, which is a short arterial extension of Highway 400, known as

 

This information provided courtecy of Wikipedia

Black Creek Drive

. It was transferred to the City upon completion in 1982. It was intended to draw some of the traffic away from the truncated Spadina.

Black Creek Drive

ends south of

Eglinton Avenue

on

Weston Road

, which continues south. However, pro-car politicians note that both Black Creek and Allen only go as far as

Eglinton Avenue

, neither making it to downtown

Bloor Street

or Gardiner Expressway, leaving a major gap in the Toronto expressway system. This gap, however, has allowed thriving and desirable neighbourhoods such as the Bloor West Village, the Junction, the Annex and Parkdale to survive and thrive.

Don Valley Parkway

and the Gardiner Expressway, whose own future is under continual debate. Many planners have pointed to this as a major factor in the city's considerable traffic congestion since private car ownership has continued to grow despite the lack of roads constructed. Furthermore, the expensive Spadina subway line and other costly public transit initiatives have failed to divert traffic off of existing roads. The TTC commuter parking garages at the Yorkdale Mall have similarly been unsuccessful in encouraging ridership; most of the garages served more efficiently as mall parking.

Lawrence Avenue

to

Eglinton Avenue

which passed through a heavily built-up area, had been overcome in 1970. They pointed out that an extension from Eglinton to

St. Clair Avenue/Bathurst Street

through the Cedarvale Ravine would require little demolition of private properties and alleviate the current bottleneck that exists where the

Allen Road

terminates at Eglinton.