Not since
two-block-long Fort York Boulevard was threaded under the Gardiner
from the Lake Shore to Bathurst has the city of Toronto built any
new road links. I may have sniffed out some more asphalt, thanks to
a query from Leaside’s Erik Nippak, who laments the lack of progress
on the Redway Road connection between Millwood Road and the Bayview
extension. It turns out this relatively minor, and controversial,
road is part of a much larger scheme, one that takes in the entire
Don River valley from Steeles to Lake Ontario.
But first, let’s
catch up on the local traffic woes that fuel the debate about Redway.
Motorists who drive down Leslie Avenue find that it stops dead at
Eglinton Avenue, and many cut through the maze-like suburb of
Leaside toward the Bayview extension and then downtown. The
inhabitants of this vehicular briar patch -- most of whom are
drivers themselves -- are tired of being a high-traffic conduit.
Since Leslie is
never to be extended, the Leasiders want a smaller southern bypass
to unclog their streets. Redway Road, originally proposed as a four
lane link, ran into thorny political opposition -- let’s just call
it Rosedale. Those tony denizens have repeatedly said no way to
Redway, seeing it as a congestion funnel, aimed right at them. There
are those who slag Torontonians as auto-haters, but it is often
car-rich neighbourhoods that fight traffic the hardest -- and they
often win.
In 2004, the
Redway redux has the road slimmed to two lanes, but it is a mere
600-meter smidge compared to the much larger rethink now
encompassing the Don River Valley. A few years ago, Toronto city
council shot down a proposal to widen and charge tolls on the
overloaded Don Valley Parkway. In doing so, the councillors ordered
up a master plan of this heavily used transportation corridor -
taking in all roads, rails and highways between Vic Park and
Bayview.
Everyone took
aim at the DVP upgrade plan -- some attacked the proposal to toll
the extra lanes, and even pro-road engineers rolled their eyes at
the exorbitant cost of building into the valley. Still, some
illuminating number-crunching has followed, resulting an an
unexpected revolution in transport planning. When geography and
money are tight, the focus turns to moving as many people as
possible, not vehicles. When GO transit announced that creative
scheduling would allow an extra rush hour train on the line that
traverses the valley, it was revealed that a single train can carry
as many people as an entire DVP lane over one hour.
The city, the
TTC and GO are now looking at how transit can beef up in the
corridor, including adding “queue jump” lanes to the DVP. This
low-tech trick allows buses to use existing shoulders to bypass
traffic whenever the roadway dons its alternate identity; the
Parking Lot. The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is involved as
well, because it owns ten-lane Highway 404 north of the 401. MTO is
busy building a new High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane southbound on
the 404, which will eventually hook up with the westbound 401. City
and provincial engineers are also scrutinizing the top of the DVP to
see if those crazy lanes can be made more rational.
The future
benefits to Parkway drivers may appear slim, since transit is seen
as the mode that can deliver real commuter volumes to the corridor.
But that brings us back to Redway. Because this connector could
potentially be used by buses to link downtown to the highrise
neighbourhoods of Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park, the road might
actually be built. And you can bet if it does, Leasiders will make
damn sure cars can use it too.
Commuters and
residents can pick and choose among all the possibilities when the
Don corridor study goes to public meetings in late April.
Ed Drass,
National Post
Email the
Traffic Guru at
edrass@nationalpost.com or fax him at 416-322-7016