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Plans to fill in Allen Road

Johnny Au said:
I don't know what is a better use of scarce funds: Toronto hosting the Summer Olympics (or the FIFA World Cup final match) or extending the Allen underground to connect with the Gardiner?
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Wait a second. Why don't we tunnel for the Allen, and then use that as a venue for the games, and then turn it into a toll road?

Private companies would be lining up to finance this. The city would make a fortune. The revenue from the games could be used to build the DRL, the Line 2 extension, and the Jane Subway. The revenue from the tunnel could be used to rebuild the entire city!
 
justindw said:
Wait a second. Why don't we tunnel for the Allen, and then use that as a venue for the games, and then turn it into a toll road?

Private companies would be lining up to finance this. The city would make a fortune. The revenue from the games could be used to build the DRL, the Line 2 extension, and the Jane Subway. The revenue from the tunnel could be used to rebuild the entire city!
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And that's what I call a gold digger.

AoD
 
justindw said:
Wait a second. Why don't we tunnel for the Allen, and then use that as a venue for the games, and then turn it into a toll road?

Private companies would be lining up to finance this. The city would make a fortune. The revenue from the games could be used to build the DRL, the Line 2 extension, and the Jane Subway. The revenue from the tunnel could be used to rebuild the entire city!
Click to expand...

Guys, I have an even better idea, please hear me out on this. The rail corridor is a barrier to our waterfront just as much as the Gardiner is. Therefore I'm calling for both the Gardiner and the rail corridor to be buried underground in a new super tunnel below Richmond/Adelaide, and put the DRL in the same tunnel. Anyone still with me? No?

Look, if we're going to tunnel through the city for the DRL, then why not put the Gardiner, SmartTrack and the rail corridor in the same tunnel under the same street? In fact why not also bury Richmond/Adelaide itself and build condos on top to generate even more revenue? Just relocate the bike lane to the shoulder of the Gardiner tunnel to make this possible.

My plan would be fully paid for by scrapping the much cheaper Gardiner hybrid, hosting the Olympics, and beginning construction of a second underground highway (i.e Allen Rd extension) for which I will charge tolls that will pay for my other underground highway. I'm no engineer, but I demand that I be taken seriously by the people on this forum. Whoever thinks this would be hard to build just needs to look at Boston. Yes, I know that Boston has never actually done this, but you people need to think outside the box. Because damn you Toronto you are too small minded to see the value of my fantasy.
 
W. K. Lis said:
Except that Toronto will not be building parking lots or garages for commuting cars on any kind of large scale, except at outlying subway or GO stations (should include outlying LRT stations and stops in that short list). This isn't some U.S. city that replaced vast sections of their downtowns with parking lots. Especially cities that are empty on the weekends.
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This post really baffled me. Toronto's problem is congestion. But when you finally get downtown, there is plenty of parking. I am almost always able to find free on street parking when I head downtown by car. In fact, it has been documented that there is too much parking in Toronto, and developers in Toronto are arguing that there is an over abundance of parking downtown, and want to lower the parking minimums that are required by the city during the site-planning. So no, building this would not require the city to start "building parking lots or garages" and become an 'empty on weekends' city.
 
dowlingm said:
A few downtown parking lots look a bit different than they did in 2011.
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I'm not quite sure what is implied here. Condos took over some parking lots? Sure. They also have huge parking garages down 5+ stories into the ground. Not sure it means there is less parking available.
 
toaster29 said:
I'm not quite sure what is implied here. Condos took over some parking lots? Sure. They also have huge parking garages down 5+ stories into the ground. Not sure it means there is less parking available.
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Right. Parking increased dramatically downtown over the last decade but it also converted to private reserved spaces from public on-demand spaces..
 
rbt said:
Right. Parking increased dramatically downtown over the last decade but it also converted to private reserved spaces from public on-demand spaces..
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Better read this article, at this link, from 2012.

Parking: An endangered species for downtown dwellers?

...
Among Lamb Development Corp.’s current downtown projects, the King Charlotte condos under construction in the Fashion District will have 232 units, 64 parking spaces and 183 bike lockers. The Theatre Park condos will have 233 suites and 97 parking stalls. Near Bay and Adelaide, Lifetime Developments and CentreCourt Developments is building INDX condos, which will have 798 units and 97 parking spots.

The Residences at Royal Canadian Military Institute is the most famous example of the parking spot’s decline. South of Dundas Street West on University Avenue, the 42-storey, 318-unit tower will be the first condo in Toronto to have no residential parking. It’s mostly as a result of structural issues (the site’s a tight squeeze at 55 feet wide by 125 feet deep), though Steve Deveaux, vice-president of land development for Tribute Communities, says it gave the company the chance to do something “progressive.”
...
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South of Eglinton, they should return the Castle Frank Brook to the surface.

CFBkey.gif

 
W. K. Lis said:
South of Eglinton, they should return the Castle Frank Brook to the surface.

CFBkey.gif

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Castle Frank Brook is actually diverted into Yellow Creek, allowing Rosedale Valley Road to exist. The drain was originally designed and implemented in preparation for the Spadina Expressway south of Eglinton, but was never undone when it got cancelled. Daylighting advocates point to it as one project that could be done today.

You can read about the Spadina Storm Trunk Sewer here. The site has other good information and photos for other storm drains too.
 
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