Gardiner Expressway

Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway

Route information

Maintained by the City of Toronto

Length:

18 km (11 mi)

History:

Proposed in May 1947, established 1955–1966, extended late 1990s

Major junctions

West end:

Highway 427 /

Queen Elizabeth Way

East end:

Don Valley Parkway (continues as

Highway 2 / Lakeshore Blvd.)

Location

Major cities:

Toronto, Ontario

Highway system

Roads in Ontario

Ontario Municipal Expressways
← Kingston Road (1936)	Gardiner Expressway (1955)	Don Valley Parkway (1961) →

Roads in Ontario

The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends from the foot of the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) in the east, just past the mouth of the Don River, to the junction of Highway 427 and the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) in the west. East of Dufferin Street, the roadway is elevated, running above Lake Shore Boulevard east of Bathurst Street. It originally ended at Leslie Street to the east. This part was demolished in 2001.

The highway is named for the first chair of the now-defunct Metro Council, Frederick G. Gardiner, who championed it, the Don Valley Parkway and Spadina Expressway projects. The six-lane section east of the Humber River was built in segments from 1955 until 1964 by the Metropolitan Toronto government with provincial highway funds. The ten-lane section west of the Humber was formerly part of the QEW provincial highway. The Gardiner Expressway is now wholly owned and operated by the City of Toronto.

When the Gardiner was built, it passed through industrial lands, now mostly grassy fields or parking lots, but urban renewal developments have commenced starting in the 2000s. Extensive repairs became necessary in the early 1990s, and since then the Gardiner has been the subject of several proposals to demolish it or move it underground as part of downtown waterfront revitalization efforts. The City of Toronto commissioned a study of possible options (keep,demolition,reconstruct) for the segment east of Jarvis Street to the Don River and City Council voted in June 2015.

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Wikipedia