I absolutely agree but Metrolinx nor the TTC have any credibility of building rapid transit on time or on budget. Metrolinx and the TTC come out with new maps every few years but none of them get built. Electrification would be ideal but when is that going to take place? Metrolinx says within 25 years and that's no help.
As a rule I don't support tolls for existing infrastructure as it penalizes people living in one particular area for no other reason than they happen to be living in that particular area. If Toronto hadn't let the Gardiner rot in the first place this wouldn't be an issue. By talking endlessly about what to do with the Gardiner and always promising nothing but new plans to be done at some future date they have put themselves in this position.............it's called poor planning. Toronto should have had a comphrehnsive plan on the Gardiner well before CityPlace went up but again that would require transportation planning which Toronto is completely inept at. Now with all the condos right up against the damn thing even tearing it down is going to be a logistical nightmare.
I think the only thing the city can do is simply give the Gardiner away. It should simply hand over the Gardiner to any private company theat wants to take it over and they can charge whatever the market will bear. The proviso would be that they would be responsible for tearing down the DVP to roughly Spadina extension and clearing the whole damn thing up. They could then sell the land that section of the Gardiner was sitting on and use those proceeds to off set the inital cost of the Gardiner purchase. They would of course be responsible for the Gardiner up keep.
It would be a win-win as it would still allow a freeway entry into the inner city which is essential for commercial vehicles, would absolve Toronto of any Gardiner maintenance, would get rid of a downtown eyesore, would help reconnect the city to it's Waterfron far more than any yellow crane ever would, and the city would get the tax revenue of the new land and condos that would go up along the torn down DVP to Spadina section.
It makes perfect sense, good for the private partner, the City, the Waterfront, and still leave the city with freeway entrance.
The only bad thing about the Gardiner is that it's not falling down faster as it would forse the city to act very fast but it won't and the city will wait til 2020 to make her decision and by that time it will be too late and all the work would have to be done for safety reasons.