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Thirty years ago, the post-industrial Liberty Village area hardly seemed poised to become a high-rise residential community. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, "commercial and industrial tenants left the area and historic buildings became vacant," according to a recent City of Toronto Staff Report. In the 21st century, however, Liberty Village has grown into a dense cluster of towers, rapidly transforming a stretch of the city just north of the Gardiner Expressway. Now, with the area facing increasing traffic, the City is moving forward with longstanding plans to build a new east-west road to alleviate congestion.
Planned to run from Strachan Avenue to Dufferin Street, the future street was evaluated via an Environmental Assessment (EA), which was endorsed by Toronto City Council on June 7th. As Liberty Village's six north-south streets currently come to a dead end at the GO tracks just north of the Gardiner, bottlenecks are sometimes created to the north, since east-west connectivity is very limited. As presented in the recent Staff Report, creating a new east-west street at the neighbourhood's southern terminus "would complete an urban grid pattern" for the area, facilitating more efficient transportation.
In development since 2008, the current plan follows a long-standing proposal for a western extension of Front Street. With an alignment just north of the rail tracks and the Gardiner, the Front Street extension (FSE) would have fulfilled as a similar function for the area while connecting to Bathurst Street via an expensive tunnel under the rail tracks. Due to cost concerns, however, the FSE proposal—which dates back to 1958—was finally removed from City consideration in 2009, clearing the way for the comparatively minimal intervention now planned.
Following a series of studies and consultations, the City's preferred plan will (as outlined in the March 30 Staff Report) "provide a new road with a multi-use path without on-street parking." The two-lane roadway would open six dead end north-south streets to a new connection. A sidewalk, playground, and public art installation, are planned on the north side of the street, alongside a multi-use pedestrian/cyclist path on the south.
Landscaping will be installed along the new thoroughfare, with a boardwalk on the south side of the street intended to provide urban vistas. At the street's Dufferin terminus, a signalized intersection has been identified as the best way to integrate traffic, while an non-signalized intersection has been deemed sufficient at Strachan.
In order to accommodate the preferred alignment—which was chosen for its lack of interference with GO infrastructure—the City would need to acquire parcels from "nine properties, representing approximately 2.149 hectares." The total cost for the project is estimated at $68-75 million, including capital and property acquisition costs.
With City approval now in the process of being finalized, the viability of the plan will hinge on successful property acquisitions. Council will now direct City Planning to prepare an Official Plan amendment for the area, while a more detailed financial implementation strategy for "Liberty Village New Street" is set to be presented to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee in mid-2017.
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We will keep you updated as the plans for the project currently known as "Liberty Village New Street" continue to take shape. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts about the initiative by leaving a comment in the space below this page, or by contributing to the ongoing discussion on our Forum.
