Category Archives for "Highways and Bridges"

Mar 03

Gardiner Expressway Reconfiguration Environmental Assessment

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges

 

 

The future of Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway, between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway (2.4 km), has been an active subject of discussion within the City and Greater Toronto Region for many years now.   In 2010, Waterfront Toronto and the City initiated an environmental assessment (EA), which was put on hold following the municipal elections in late 2010.  The EA was restarted in early 2013.  A good summary of the issue and the alternatives in the EA is presented in our “From the President” report in our November-December, 2012 newsletter.

 

Transport Action Ontario (TAO) has been involved in the “Future of the Gardiner” stakeholder advisory committee since 2010.   In fact, three board members sit on the committee – one representing TAO and two representing other non government organizations.  Starting in spring, 2013, the committee and staff worked very hard to assess and refine the alternatives.   This culminated in the City’s Staff Report of February 21, 2014 which recommended the “Remove” option.  The staff report will be discussed by Toronto Public Works Committee and Council  in March.

 

TAO endorses the staff report and the recommendations therein.  We note that the “Remove” option was clearly preferred in three of the four screening lenses – urban design, environment and economics.  For the fourth lens – transportation and infrastructure – all four alternatives had roughly the same score.

 

TAO submitted comments to the Public Works committee endorsing the staff recommendation and asking that staff be granted the authority to proceed with developing detailed design solutions associated with the “Remove” option.   The comments can be viewed here:    TAO-GardinerSubmission2014-03-02

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 08

Provincial Election: Public Meeting on Transportation

By Transport Action Ontario | Aviation , Highways and Bridges , Intercity Rail and Bus , Urban Transit

 

With the Ontario provincial election coming up soon, Transport Action Ontario organized a public meeting at Toronto Metro Hall on `Transportation Policy: A Dialogue with Voters`.  Panelists were Cheri DiNovo (NDP), Frank De Jong (Green Party) and Frank Klees (PC).  A summary of the meeting proceedings is now available.

 

Summary of meeting proceedings

Advance list of Questions for the meeting

Jun 22

Comments on GTA-West Transportation Corridor, June, 2011

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges

 

 

In June, 2011,  comments were submitted to the project team on this corridor.  These were in follow up to the comments submitted in 2009 and 2010.

Due to the summer season and the pressures of time, it was not possible to obtain a formal review and approval of these comments by the  TAO board of directors.  Therefore the comments were personal ones submitted by Peter Miasek as an individual.  However, it is believed that they do reflect the collective opinion of TAO.

 

The comments can be viewed here:  GTA-West 2011-06-22

 

 

Dec 15

Alternate Routes for 407 East Freeway Extension

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Major Reports

 

Transport Action Ontario has publically released a report submitted on 15 December 2010 to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) on alternative routes for the proposed 407 East Freeway extension.  This project is undergoing a federal comprehensive environmental assessment.  The work summarized in the report was based on travel modeling carried out with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation`s (MTO) updated GTHA travel model.

 

The report is available in the following links:

Aug 12

Comments on GTA-West Transportation Corridor, August, 2010

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges

 

In August, 2010,  comments were submitted to the project team on this corridor.  These were in follow up to the comments submitted by Transport Action Ontario (TAO) in 2009.

Due to the summer season and the pressures of time, it was not possible to obtain a formal review and approval of these comments by the  TAO board of directors.  Therefore the comments were personal ones submitted by Peter Miasek as an individual.  However, it is believed that they do reflect the collective opinion of TAO.

 

The comments can be viewed here:  GTA-west 2010-08-14