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January 2023

The Gardiner is a defining feature of Toronto’s landscape. While the City works to rehabilitate the highway and bring new life to surrounding communities, we have an opportunity to reimagine how this infrastructure can connect, perform, and inspire

The elevated Gardiner Expressway stretches 6.5km through the heart of Toronto. The Under Gardiner PRP focuses on a primary study area between Dufferin Street to Yonge Street. Within this area the five districts emerge, each bounded by distinct neighbourhoods , civic assets, existing public realm networks, trails, landmarks, and unique relationships to the Gardiner. A secondary study area covers the portion from Yonge Street to the Don Valley Parkway.

Take a look at the map on this to help orient yourself!

In addition to unifying recommendations for the whole corridor, the Plan will take a focused look at five districts.

Check out the slideshow below and click on each image to review the emerging opportunities.

Exhibition Place West Anchor (Dufferin to Strachan)
Bentway-Fort York (Strachan to Bathurst)
Under Gardiner Islands (Bathurst to Spadina)
Toronto Terrace (Spadina to Simcoe)
Glass Gardiner (Simcoe to Yonge)

Two Complimentary Approaches

The preliminary recommendations and emerging opportunities we have identified are the product of two distinct, but complementary approaches to the research and analysis of this study.

The first approach starts with corridor systems thinking and aims to address the Under Gardiner corridor as infrastructure for safety and connectivity with a cohesive identity and predictable features.

At the same time, a complimentary approach was required to speak to the distinct conditions of the districts and neighbourhoods that the Under Gardiner passes through. This district-specific approach allowed for a more bespoke reflection of local priorities, ongoing projects, and driving factors identified through consultation and engagement.

Corridor-wide Systems

United through a suite of corridor-wide “systems” or “design lenses”, and informed by what we heard during the first consultation phase, the public realm recommendations are grounded in a landscape-first approach and aim for a new balance between commuters and residents; wind and rain; plants and trees; animals, birds and insects; concrete and nature.

Please review the slideshow below for more information on our systems!

Regrounding Landscape – Immersive Water Landscapes:
In the decades since the highway’s construction, not only has the physical context changed dramatically, shifting from an industrial waterfront and rail yards to vibrant, mixed-use high-density communities, our understanding of human impacts on the natural environment has advanced as well. The Under Gardiner PRP recommends reframing the highway’s relationship with local hydrology, including the way landscape retains, filters, and distributes water as part of a renewed blue-green infrastructure system.
Regrounding Landscape – High-Performance Plantings:
Building on a renewed strategy for water and sensitivity to the specific environmental conditions in the corridor, the Under Gardiner PRP suggests expanding on existing planting strategies used for vegetated wind buffers, bioswales for water retention and filtration, rewilding and naturalization, and pollinator and medicinal gardens, among others. To implement these enhanced systems, the plan will recommend further study informed by consultation with Indigenous knowledge keepers.
Connectivity and Accessibility: Stitching the City to the Shoreline:
The Gardiner Expressway represents a physical and psychological barrier between the city’s downtown core and the waterfront. To help remedy this long-standing disconnect, the Under Gardiner PRP recommends re-framing street-level intersections as gateways and filling in connectivity gaps by establishing a cohesive east-west network of paths and multi-use trails as well as new north-south connections to the waterfront.
New Vitality: Activation Anchors & Animating the Spaces Between:
The Under Gardiner corridor is an urban spine linking numerous destinations and hubs of activity, but these adjacencies could be greatly enhanced. In addition to enhancing connections among cultural institutions and commercial destinations, the Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan recommends introducing new frontages and uses in previously under-appreciated and overlooked spaces.
Community Care & Social Infrastructure:
As central waterfront communities intensify with new highrise neighborhoods, it is imperative that social infrastructure keeps pace. This means considering local access to childcare, libraries, schools, and community centers. It also requires establishing access to predictable, year-round, public amenities across the corridor including washrooms, warming stations, water fountains, cycling infrastructure, and wifi.

A new baseline…

The recommendations below were informed by stakeholder input, community input, shared experiences, and learnings from programming and maintaining Under Gardiner spaces.

The Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan recommends a New Baseline of streetscape standards for the performance and identity of the public realm to be applied consistently throughout its length. The standards aim to improve the overall experience of the corridor, enhancing the safety, accessibility, and predictability of amenities.

Safety & Comfort

Ensuring that public spaces are safe, comfortable, and accessible for people of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities is a top priority. Recommended baseline features include:

Pedestrian Lighting
Various approaches to pedestrian-oriented lighting are being explored, including an expansion of existing systems, exploration of in-ground and uplighting fixtures, and lighting to highlight the Gardiner’s architectural features.

Traffic Calming
Calming measures will be explored at key intersections and along the edges of Lake Shore Boulevard to create more hospitable environments for pedestrians.

Seating
For reasons of both accessibility and comfort, seating will be explored alongside other recommended provisions such as water fountains, wifi hotspots, and shelter from the wind.

Wayfinding & Identity

The sheer scale of the Gardiner Expressway is impressive and at times overwhelming for pedestrians and cyclists. To help people navigate the space at human scale, recommended baseline features include:

Multi-Use Trail
Guidelines for Under Gardiner multi-use trails will build on existing standards and as a way to enhance the corridor’s identity as well as connections to local destinations.

Consistent Bent Numbers
For years, the bents (the Gardiner’s structural columns) along the Under Gardiner Corridor have been numbered. By clearly, and consistently, displaying these numbers we can help people find their way, similar to how street address numbers provide wayfinding on conventional roads.

Reflective Intersection Treatments
To enhance safety and accessibility, reflective surface treatments (or “Bent Socks”) should be applied to bents at all north/south intersections to increase visibility for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers.

Signage Cages
The Under Gardiner Corridor passes through many neighbourhoods and landmark destinations. A consistent system of signage cages can serve as a platform for community programs, announcements, and signage about the many events and programs hosted at nearby destinations.

Productive Ecology

The path of the Gardiner Expressway generally traces the historic shoreline of Lake Ontario, which was extended southwards through human intervention and land-fill in the 19th and 20th centuries. The original wetlands supported a vast ecosystem of freshwater plants and provided a habitat for many animals, birds, insects, and fish.

The Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan recommends re-introducing some of these native plants, where appropriate, as well as new plant species which thrive in harsh conditions and can help to filter out road salt and other pollutants.

Perennial and Native Plants
A long-term planting strategy that ‘rewilds’ the Under Gardiner – the introduction of robust, low-maintenance native plant species – can contribute to habitat regeneration and biodiversity.

Resilient Plants
The quantities of road salt and pollutants, from the road deck above, can create hostile environments for native plant species. However, there are more hearty plants that not only tolerate, but thrive in high salt environments, and help to filter pollutants before they drain into Lake Ontario.

Rainwater Management
The downspouts that drain rainwater from the elevated road deck could be improved to minimize dripping water and puddles in the public spaces below. Directing water into rain gardens that help to filter runoff can reduce the impact on our sewer systems and the amount of pollution flowing into the watershed.

Predictable Amenities

Reliable and accessible amenities, such as public washrooms and water fountains, bicycle parking, and seating, are vital to a thriving public realm. As we increasingly rely on digital technologies, personal devices, and the internet, being able to provide public wifi and charging stations would also improve the experiences of the city.

Public Wifi and Phone Charging Stations
Staying connected requires access to power and wifi. Charging stations as well as public wifi allow us to stay in touch with personal networks and online services.

Public Washrooms and Water Fountains
Reliable access to washrooms, water fountains, and bottle-filling stations helps to address increased pedestrian and cycling traffic along the corridor. Providing access to drinking water is a health and safety consideration, especially during the hot summer months.

Bike Share, Bike Parking and Repair Stations
Combined with a safe multi-use path, bike parking and bike share stations at regular intervals along with seating and DIY repair stations will help to encourage casual and commuter cycling in the downtown core. Ideally, these amenities would be implemented in coordination with local stakeholders, BIAs, and City agencies.