Spadina Expressway
Encyclopedia
The Spadina Expressway was a proposed north-south freeway in Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
. It was only partially built before being cancelled in 1971 due to public opposition. It was proposed in the mid-1960s as part of a network of freeways for Metropolitan Toronto
. Its cancellation prompted the cancellation of the rest of the network. The completed section is known today as Allen Road
.
and Nordheimer Ravines
and Spadina Road. Various versions of the proposal showed it starting to the north of North York at today's highway 407, between Bathurst and Dufferin Streets. It then travelled south to meet highway 401 a half-mile east of Dufferin.
The interchange at the 401 evolved over time to a complex 26 bridge interchange, the most complex in Ontario to that time. The Spadina was envisioned at first to provide access to the Yorkdale development from the 401, with a four-lane road. While the Spadina was being planned, the 401 highway was being developed into the present-day 12-lane highway and the Spadina was being revised to a six-lane highway to downtown, with a subway line in the middle. It cost $13 million in 1960s dollars to build, after being initially estimated to cost $1 million.
From the 401 south to Eglinton, the roadway was to be in a trench, with the rapid-transit line in the middle. South of Eglinton, it continued into the Cedarvale Park below ground level. The route south of Eglinton was never built and several variations of the plan were proposed. Plans were initially for the road to be on the surface of the ravines and the subway below the surface, at least as far as Spadina Road with a tunnel under St. Michael's College north of St. Clair. Another plan projected the roadway to be completely underground also for this stretch, on top of the subway line. From Spadina Road south of St. Clair and further south, the roadway would be underground to Davenport Road, opening into an interchange on Davenport Road.
The stretch from Davenport south was also not built. 'No highway' routes proposed rebuilding Spadina Road and Madison Avenue south to Bloor Street as arterial roads. The highway plan proposed a highway width from Spadina's west side to Madison's east side, in an exposed trench south to Bloor Street. If a Crosstown Expressway were to be built then the Davenport interchange might not have been built and a Crosstown interchange instead.
Various proposals for the Spadina south of Bloor Street were made. The 1969 functional design proposed an express route in the centre of the Spadina Avenue, and parallel two-lane streets on either sides to provide access to the businesses. Other proposals included no highway south of Sussex Street, just north of Harbord.
and Don Valley Parkway
highways. The route was laid out by two members of the board, future Metro chairman Fred Gardiner and James P. Maher, chairman of the Toronto Planning Board. The proposal died when York Township rejected the idea.
When Metropolitan Toronto
(Metro) was formed in 1954, one of its first priorities was highway building. Metro proposed building routes into and out of downtown, as well as encircle the downtown with an "expressway ring." The routes of the Gardiner and Don Valley expressways were less controversial and allowed to proceed, while others such as the Crosstown, Scarborough and Spadina Expressways were put off for further study. The other expressways planned to cut through developed areas, and were also considered to be needed less urgently. A parallel development to extend the provincial highway 400 was proposed to the west, to connect to the Lakeshore Expressway in the area of Fort York
.
In 1959, the Spadina Expressway became part of the Metro official transportation plan. The original plan intended to connect a "Highway 403 bypass" in the vicinity of today's Highway 407 in the city of Vaughan
south through North York Township, just east of Downsview airport, then south between Dufferin Avenue and Bathurst Street as far south of Eglinton. The highway would have gone into a ravine as far south as St. Clair Avenue through York Township. It would then enter Toronto proper, going directly south through the Annex neighbourhood, connecting to an east-west "Crosstown Expressway" south of Dupont Street, and ended at the intersection of Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue. Spadina Avenue would be reconstructed with express lanes in the middle all the way south to the waterfront.
The project planned a rapid-transit line in conjunction with the expressway. It would operate above ground north of Eglinton Avenue, and travel underground south to connect at Spadina station of the Bloor-Danforth line. The above-ground section was situated between the lanes of the highway.
, south-west of the Spadina-401 interchange. At one point, the Yorkdale development was under the threat of cancellation without the approval to proceed with the Spadina. Only after Metro Council formally approved the whole Spadina project in 1962, did the land owners T. Eaton Co. Limited
and developers Webb and Knapp (Canada) Limited announce construction. The interchange of the 401 with today's William R. Allen Road has connections with the private roadways of Yorkdale.
Estimates of the cost were first determined in 1961, of $65 million CAD, with construction to proceed from 1967 until 1970. At that time, Metro and Toronto were in discussions about the route south of Dupont Street, as to whether it would be an elevated highway or at ground level in that section.
On December 12, 1961, Metro Council first approved the Spadina Expressway project, committing $5 million CAD in a 13-8 vote. This covered the cost of the first section from Highway 401 to Lawrence Avenue
. At the same time Council put off approving the whole route and voted 19-2 to delete the Crosstown Expressway from the transportation plan.
Opposition to the project started before construction began. In 1960, members of the Cedarvale Ratepayers Association disrupted meetings of the Metro Toronto Roads Committee discussing the project. York Township, which became the Borough of York, opposed the construction of the highway through its municipality, and through the York Township-owned Cedarvale Ravine, characterized as "the only park area west of Bathurst Street and north of St. Clair Street available to serve 100,000 citizens", and members of the Association proposed a study of the need for the expressway, and to suggest studying the route of Dufferin Street instead. The Roads Committee turned down their requests. York Township threatened to go to the Supreme Court of Canada to block Metro from taking their park. Metro Chairman Fred Gardiner opined "I can't see how anyone would allow one of 13 municipalities to block an expressway."
As the route of the proposed Crosstown Expressway was being drawn up at the same time, neighbouring residents of Rosedale
opposed the construction of the Crosstown Expressway intended to connect to the Spadina, through their neighbourhood. Routing of the Crosstown was proposed along Dupont Street in the area, although the City of Toronto proposed a routing north of the railway lines, closer to Davenport. The Crosstown would continue east through the Rosedale neighbourhood to connect to the Don Valley Parkway.
In 1961, Metro Roads Committee held meetings to hear submissions on the routing of the expressway. Forest Hill Village objected to the proposed route of the expressway though the village, as the village would suffer "serious economic loss" according to Reeve Laurie Simonsky. The road and the interchange at Eglinton Avenue would require the demolition of 276 buildings and bisect the village. Forest Hill proposed a tunnel from the Cedarvale Ravine north, under Forest Hill. Gardiner, former reeve of Forest Hill, admitted that the project would be harmful to the village, "but there is urgent need for an expressway to serve the northwest Metro area" and that the route through the village was the only one that would allow the expressway to enter the Cedarvale Ravine.
In June 1961, the section of the Spadina Expressway south of the Crosstown Expressway was cancelled. The Spadina would now terminate at an interchange with the Crosstown, and Spadina Road north of Bloor Street would be widened. This ended a dispute between the City of Toronto and Metro Toronto. Metro wanted to build an expressway through to the Gardiner, while the city wanted to build an expressway further west, in the vicinity of Christie Street, which would connect the Crosstown to the Gardiner. The plan to build down Spadina Avenue would have demolished Knox College
, in the centre of Spadina, just north of College Street.
Opponents to the expressway started organizing. Ratepayers Associations banded together to object to the municipal expressway plan, forming the Coordinating Committee of Toronto Ratepayers Associations and the Metro Ratepayers Transportation Committee. The ratepayers objected to the $400 million CAD municipal expressway plan as expensive and "unleashing a torrent of private passenger vehicles into the city centre." University of Toronto professor James Acland of the Rathnelly Residents Association spoke of the futility of combining rapid transit and expressways on one route. "They won't persuade anyone to park his car and take rapid transit when there is a wonderful expressway inviting him to drive downtown." S. A. Hudson, president of the Lawrence Heights Ratepayer Association cited figures showing the roadway would carry 10,000 vehicles into the core at rush hour, requiring 69 acres (27.9 ha) for parking alone. The group placed ads in newspapers prior to the December 12, 1961 vote of Metro Council on the Spadina and Crosstown expressways, urging the rejection of the plan. The pressure was partially effective as Council voted 19-2 to delete the Crosstown, but approved the first stage of the Spadina by 13-8, while putting off approval of the downtown route.
The vote put the whole project in doubt. At the time the province paid for half of the cost of roadways, but it did not contribute to rapid transit. The province before approving any road funds for the project, wanted Council approval for the whole project, while the vote covered only the Lawrence to Highway 400 section, including the interchange. The province's transportation minister, William Goodfellow, wrote to Metro to state that since Metro had not voted to approve the whole project, that the province would not consider connecting Spadina with Highway 401.
The vote to have Metro's Road Committee study the route south of Lawrence, led to the Roads Committee to hold public hearings. North York Council voted unanimously to fight for approval of the whole project. Councillor Irving Paisley blamed that downtown business interests were behind opposition to the project. "The whole scheme is being jeopardized by several organizations with political strings, local grievances or selfish aims." Paisley organized a campaign to support the building of the project, together with the Yorkdale developer Webb and Knapp. Paisley himself wrote the submissions of 8 of the 25 North York ratepayer associations in favour of the project, including the submissions of some associations that were defunct. Employees of the Yorkdale developer started a letter-writing campaign, and Paisley and Webb and Knapp collaborated on submissions.
Hearings heard deputations from more than 30 ratepayer associations. Strong support was heard from North York associations and opposition was mostly from York, Forest Hill and the City of Toronto associations. Opponents also proposed a $10 auto tax and $25 truck tax to pay for the cost of Metro expressways instead of paying the costs from property taxes and wanted Metro to finish the Gardiner and Don Valley expressways before starting any others. York Reeve William Saunders became a staunch opponent of the project, publicly announcing that York would fight the project in court. York's Cedarvale Park was in the path of the project and by law, the lands could not be taken by Metro without York's consent. The Roads Committee asked the Metro Legal Committee to look into proposing provincial legislation to get the lands.
On February 19, 1962, Metro Roads Committed approved the whole project by a 5–1 vote, the only dissenter being future Toronto Mayor William Dennison
. The meeting was picketed by opponents with signs proclaiming "Spadina Expressway No!", "Taxes at Critical Level" and "We are Watching How You Vote." The committee also recommended removing the Crosstown from the plan. Metro Chairman William R. Allen, whom the road would ultimately be named after, spoke in favour of the project based on the rapid transit portion of the project, which included commuter parking lots at northern stations. "If this does not get the motorist out his vehicle and back to rapid transit, Metro Council cannot be blamed."
On March 6, 1962 the full Metro Council voted 14–8 to approve the whole project, with the Lawrence to 401 section to start construction in 1964. The approval would allow Metro to purchase lands for the project, but approval to actually construct the highway would not take place until the 1967 budget. By this time, opposition had developed on several points:
Source: Globe and Mail editorial, March 9, 1962
(OMB) over its spending. The OMB had to approve the 1963 budget before Metro could. The Spadina was separated from the 1963 budget, and the OMB held hearings into the project. In submissions to the OMB, the townships of Forest Hill and York again objected. CCTTRA, and the CCTRA noted its objections:
Allan Ackman, of the Wellesley-Bloor Street ratepayers asked "what compensation is there for all the people will be exposed to the deadly poisonous clouds of fumes from the cars on it?" The Cedarvale ratepayers had obtained the advice of Lewis Mumford
on matters of town planning and stated that the expressway was of no use without the canceled Crosstown. Publisher Allan Perly objected to Yorkdale being such a beneficiary. The Deer Park ratepayers objected on the increases of taxation. The OMB upheld the Spadina project. The OMB stated in its decision that the "sectional interest must give way to the public need of the larger area." On the issue of the ravine parklands, the OMB stated "The board should and does expect that any park land that may be lost to York Township as a result of this undertaking will be replaced, insofar as may be possible in the circumstances, by suitable alternative lands for that purpose."
Construction started in 1963 with clearing of lands. In 1964, Metro released another transportation plan, which extended the Spadina south of Bloor, again requiring the demolition of homes south of Davenport. Toronto City Council adopted an Official Plan opposing the Crosstown Expressway and the Christie Expressway completely. Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs overruled the city, and modified the city's Plan to allow for the construction of both expressways. The City and Metro were now in disagreement.
In 1966, the section from Lawrence Avenue north to Wilson Avenue opened. Construction then started on the section south to Eglinton Avenue. York Council had dropped its opposition to the expressway and made an agreement with Metro on the use of Cedarvale Park for the expressway. This agreement provided for the creation of 12 acres (4.9 ha) of park lands in the Borough of York to replace the park lands lost to the expressway trench. This plan would have meant the expropriation of homes for the replacement lands and residents of York protested the plan to the Council. The cost of the expropriation plan was an estimated $4 million of construction, plus the loss of the assessment, while putting a cover over the roadway within the park would have cost $5 million. The opposition led Metro to agree to building the expressway within a tunnel under the park.
As construction proceeded, opposition to the expressway grew among City of Toronto residents. In October 1969, the "Stop Spadina, Save Our City Co-ordinating Committee" (SSSOCCC) was formed, under the chairmanship of University of Toronto
professor Allan Powell. The group was a coalition of students, academics, politicians, ratepayer groups and business people. Notable among the opposition was urban theorist Jane Jacobs
, who moved to the Annex in 1969, fresh from a battle to stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway
in New York City
. Marshall McLuhan
, too, was opposed to the expressway and said: "Toronto will commit suicide if it plunges the Spadina Expressway into its heart... our planners are 19th century men with a naive faith in an obsolete technology. In an age of software Metro planners treat people like hardware — they haven't the faintest interest in the values of neighborhoods or community. Their failure to learn from the mistakes of American cities will be ours too." In the 1969 civic election, three councilors were elected in Toronto on a platform of immediately ending Spadina construction: Ying Hope, William Kilborn and John Sewell.
SSSOCCC developed its public campaign. SSSOCCC produced a short film by McLuhan entitled "The Burning Would" explaining the reasons to stop the project while poking fun at expressway backers. SSSOCCC also held public lectures with Jacobs and started a petition campaign. SSSOCCC members David and Nadine Nowlan, professors at U of T released their book The Bad Trip, an economic analysis of the project and explanation of their opposition.
Metro Council voted to apply to the OMB for permission to borrow the funds and requested that the OMB held hearings. OMB Hearings began on January 4, 1971. Opposition groups banded together under the banner of "The Spadina Review Corporation" and hired one of Canada's top trial lawyers, J. J. Robinette, to plead their case. Metro presented its case based on technical studies showing the road was needed to manage expected traffic. Council was represented by its solicitor and its witnesses included Metro and City Commissioners and American transportation planner Alan Voorhees. Opposition groups based their case on the factors of noise, pollution, destruction of homes and the expected increase of traffic the roadway would cause. Their witnesses included neighbourhood residents, as well as urban planners, economists and architects. No elected officials, nor the Metro chairman, appeared to defend or oppose the project. The Board held 16 days of hearings and gave its approval by a vote of 2-1, OMB chairman J. A. Kennedy dissenting, on February 17, 1971.
The Corporation then proceeded to appeal directly to the provincial government cabinet. On June 3, 1971, the provincial government of Bill Davis
withdrew its support, effectively killing the project. The province would support the new Spadina subway line extension only. Speaking in the Ontario Legislature, Davis said:
Toronto Mayor William Dennison
was shocked at the result. "It's shocking that a group who never at any time suggested workable alternative routes has successfully opposed something as important in the growth of Metro as was the Don Valley". Metro Toronto chairman Albert Campbell was incensed at the provincial government. He was quoted with prophetic words: "It may mean that we will never build another expressway."
At the time of cancellation in 1971, the expressway was paved to Lawrence Avenue while the portion running further south to Eglinton Avenue had been graded only and was given the nickname the "Davis ditch". Traffic from and to the southerly end of the road at Lawrence, spilled onto neighbourhood streets, as the activists predicted, especially Marlee Avenue. Esther Shiner
, who lived near the Lawrence intersection, was elected to North York Council in 1973 on a platform to get the expressway completed to Eglinton Avenue. She headed the "Go Spadina" public campaign that was successful in persuading Metro, against the wishes of the City of Toronto, to pave the ditch and opened the road to Eglinton in 1976.
In response, Davis made plans to transfer a strip of land south of Eglinton to the City of Toronto to block any further extension. Metro and the province ended their dispute in an agreement to build the Black Creek Drive arterial road, a southerly extension of Highway 400. Metro would transfer its Spadina lands south of Eglinton to the province, and the province would build Black Creek Drive south to Weston Road. Metro officials dragged their feet by attempting to get the buffer strip moved to Bathurst and St. Clair, enabling a possible future extension to Bathurst, and a widened Bathurst street, but the province threatened to simply expropriate the lands and the lands were turned over to the province in 1984.
On February 7, 1985, on his final day in office, Davis delivered to the City of Toronto a 1 metres (3.3 ft) wide strip of the land on the south side of Eglinton Ave. West at the Allen intersection, with a 99-year lease, blocking any possible extension to the south. Opponents such as Shiner had wanted the province to hold onto the land, hoping that a future premier would be willing to consider the highway. Shiner felt that "the expressway will be built, bit by bit, into the city". Shiner had received a $20 million estimate from Metro officials to extend Spadina as a four-lane south to Davenport.
After the land transfer, North York Council made several attempts to get Premier David Peterson
to reconsider Davis's actions but he refused to meet Council representatives over the issue. Shiner attempted to get a Metro-wide plebiscite but failed. North York sponsored a telephone survey of Toronto residents, although a majority supported transit improvements instead. Shiner's attempts ended only when she died of cancer in 1987. Metro Chairman Dennis Flynn and Metro planners still pushed for the completion as late as 1988, with the release of a traffic study of northwestern Metro that recommended extending the Spadina south, but Metro Council defeated further studies in a 14–12 vote on July 5, 1988. Another proponent left the scene that year as long-time Metro Commissioner of Roads and Traffic Sam Cass retired.
The Spadina subway line runs down the median of the project right-of-way from Wilson to Eglinton. The route south of Eglinton follows the approximate route planned for later sections of the expressway, albeit underground. During the planning of the route, alternate routes directly south along Christie Street and south along Bathurst Street were also considered. After the use of the University section of the subway by Bloor-Danforth trains was abandoned, the original route of the subway to connect with the St. George station was agreed upon. The University section of the Yonge line was made into a part-time route until the Spadina subway extension was built. After the cancellation of the Expressway in 1971, the subway's construction had not been started. Route studies occurred again and the original route confirmed once more and it proceeded to construction. It opened in 1978.
In 1996, Metro Council voted to end the matter finally and sell the 112 expropriated properties south of Eglinton Avenue. The properties were appraised and sold at fair market value, offered first to their former owners. The proceeds were divided between Metro and Ontario, with Metro keeping two-thirds up to $30 million, and proceeds above $30 million split equally. One home purchased by Metro in 1967 for $50,000 had escalated in value to $440,000 by 1997.
, Allan Sparrow
and Colin Vaughan
. This new council viewed the Metro government and its officials with suspicion as not being accountable to local residents. In the 1950s and 1960s, Metro and City Councils had pushed through numerous large projects in transportation, and housing. The impacts on the central neighbourhoods had been substantial and had led to grassroots organizing. Councillors Sewell and Vaughan came directly from the grassroots campaigns.
According to Albert Rose in his study of Metro from 1953–1971, the cancellation of the project raised four issues that would affect Metro Council afterwards:
Source: Rose(1972)
Premier Davis called a provincial election not long after the decision, in October 1971. Davis' campaign strategy used the Spadina decision to differentiate his government from past Progressive Conservative governments. Davis, who was both attacked and lauded for the Spadina cancellation, was re-elected with increased support in Toronto. Davis would remain in power in Ontario until 1985, when he retired from politics.
The Spadina Expressway cancellation marked the beginning of the end of construction of Metro's planned expressway network. Metro highway projects such as the Crosstown, Scarborough and Richview expressways did not proceed. Other than extending the Allen Road, Metro Toronto did not built another expressway, and erased the other expressways from its official plans. Metro would proceed in future years to complete the Spadina subway line, extend the Yonge Street line, and build the Sheppard subway line.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It was only partially built before being cancelled in 1971 due to public opposition. It was proposed in the mid-1960s as part of a network of freeways for Metropolitan Toronto
Metropolitan Toronto
The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was a senior level of municipal government in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area from 1954 to 1998. It was created out of York County and was a precursor to the later concept of a regional municipality, being formed of smaller municipalities but having more...
. Its cancellation prompted the cancellation of the rest of the network. The completed section is known today as Allen Road
Allen Road
William R. Allen Road, known more commonly as Allen Road, The Allen Expressway or simply The Allen and formerly as the Spadina Expressway, is a short expressway/freeway in Toronto, Ontario, which runs from Kennard Avenue in the north, to Eglinton Avenue West in the south...
.
Planned route
The Spadina was intended to run from north of Highway 401 into the downtown of Toronto via the CedarvaleCedarvale Park (Toronto)
Cedarvale Park is a park located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered by very steep hills, and is located in the Cedarvale neighbourhood of Toronto. The Spadina subway line tunnels underneath it, between St. Clair West and Eglinton West stations...
and Nordheimer Ravines
Castle Frank Brook
Castle Frank Brook is a buried creek and south-west flowing tributary of the Don River in central and north-western Toronto, Ontario, originating near the intersection of Lawrence Avenue and Dufferin Street....
and Spadina Road. Various versions of the proposal showed it starting to the north of North York at today's highway 407, between Bathurst and Dufferin Streets. It then travelled south to meet highway 401 a half-mile east of Dufferin.
The interchange at the 401 evolved over time to a complex 26 bridge interchange, the most complex in Ontario to that time. The Spadina was envisioned at first to provide access to the Yorkdale development from the 401, with a four-lane road. While the Spadina was being planned, the 401 highway was being developed into the present-day 12-lane highway and the Spadina was being revised to a six-lane highway to downtown, with a subway line in the middle. It cost $13 million in 1960s dollars to build, after being initially estimated to cost $1 million.
From the 401 south to Eglinton, the roadway was to be in a trench, with the rapid-transit line in the middle. South of Eglinton, it continued into the Cedarvale Park below ground level. The route south of Eglinton was never built and several variations of the plan were proposed. Plans were initially for the road to be on the surface of the ravines and the subway below the surface, at least as far as Spadina Road with a tunnel under St. Michael's College north of St. Clair. Another plan projected the roadway to be completely underground also for this stretch, on top of the subway line. From Spadina Road south of St. Clair and further south, the roadway would be underground to Davenport Road, opening into an interchange on Davenport Road.
The stretch from Davenport south was also not built. 'No highway' routes proposed rebuilding Spadina Road and Madison Avenue south to Bloor Street as arterial roads. The highway plan proposed a highway width from Spadina's west side to Madison's east side, in an exposed trench south to Bloor Street. If a Crosstown Expressway were to be built then the Davenport interchange might not have been built and a Crosstown interchange instead.
Various proposals for the Spadina south of Bloor Street were made. The 1969 functional design proposed an express route in the centre of the Spadina Avenue, and parallel two-lane streets on either sides to provide access to the businesses. Other proposals included no highway south of Sussex Street, just north of Harbord.
1949-1961: Planning for the route
The first proposal for a highway from the north-west to downtown (other than the Highway 400 extension) was for a highway named "North West Drive", or "Spadina Road Extension". The 1949 proposal, by the Toronto and Suburban Planning Board, was part of a plan for numerous expressways in the Toronto area, including the eventual GardinerGardiner Expressway
The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, colloquially referred to as "the Gardiner", is a municipal expressway in the Canadian province of Ontario, connecting downtown Toronto with its western suburbs...
and Don Valley Parkway
Don Valley Parkway
The Don Valley Parkway is a controlled-access six-lane municipal expressway in Toronto connecting the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Ontario Highway 401, the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway. North of Highway 401, it continues as Ontario Highway 404. The parkway runs through...
highways. The route was laid out by two members of the board, future Metro chairman Fred Gardiner and James P. Maher, chairman of the Toronto Planning Board. The proposal died when York Township rejected the idea.
When Metropolitan Toronto
Metropolitan Toronto
The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was a senior level of municipal government in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area from 1954 to 1998. It was created out of York County and was a precursor to the later concept of a regional municipality, being formed of smaller municipalities but having more...
(Metro) was formed in 1954, one of its first priorities was highway building. Metro proposed building routes into and out of downtown, as well as encircle the downtown with an "expressway ring." The routes of the Gardiner and Don Valley expressways were less controversial and allowed to proceed, while others such as the Crosstown, Scarborough and Spadina Expressways were put off for further study. The other expressways planned to cut through developed areas, and were also considered to be needed less urgently. A parallel development to extend the provincial highway 400 was proposed to the west, to connect to the Lakeshore Expressway in the area of Fort York
Fort York
Fort York is a historic site of military fortifications and related buildings on the west side of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was built by the British Army and Canadian militia troops in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to defend the settlement and the new capital of the...
.
In 1959, the Spadina Expressway became part of the Metro official transportation plan. The original plan intended to connect a "Highway 403 bypass" in the vicinity of today's Highway 407 in the city of Vaughan
Vaughan
Vaughan is a city in York Region north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Vaughan is the fastest growing municipality in Canada achieving a population growth rate of 80.2% between 1996–2006, according to Statistics Canada having nearly doubled in population since 1991. Vaughan is located in Southern...
south through North York Township, just east of Downsview airport, then south between Dufferin Avenue and Bathurst Street as far south of Eglinton. The highway would have gone into a ravine as far south as St. Clair Avenue through York Township. It would then enter Toronto proper, going directly south through the Annex neighbourhood, connecting to an east-west "Crosstown Expressway" south of Dupont Street, and ended at the intersection of Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue. Spadina Avenue would be reconstructed with express lanes in the middle all the way south to the waterfront.
The project planned a rapid-transit line in conjunction with the expressway. It would operate above ground north of Eglinton Avenue, and travel underground south to connect at Spadina station of the Bloor-Danforth line. The above-ground section was situated between the lanes of the highway.
1961-62: Proposal and approval
The expressway was considered critical for the development of the planned $42 million CAD Yorkdale Shopping CentreYorkdale Shopping Centre
Yorkdale Shopping Centre is a large shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It contains over 250 stores and is located in the community of Downsview, in North York. It is the fifth largest shopping mall in Canada and also enjoys the highest sales per square foot of any mall in Canada, with...
, south-west of the Spadina-401 interchange. At one point, the Yorkdale development was under the threat of cancellation without the approval to proceed with the Spadina. Only after Metro Council formally approved the whole Spadina project in 1962, did the land owners T. Eaton Co. Limited
Eaton's
The T. Eaton Co. Limited was once Canada's largest department store retailer. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an Irish immigrant. Eaton's grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada, with stores across the country, buying offices across the globe, and a catalogue...
and developers Webb and Knapp (Canada) Limited announce construction. The interchange of the 401 with today's William R. Allen Road has connections with the private roadways of Yorkdale.
Estimates of the cost were first determined in 1961, of $65 million CAD, with construction to proceed from 1967 until 1970. At that time, Metro and Toronto were in discussions about the route south of Dupont Street, as to whether it would be an elevated highway or at ground level in that section.
On December 12, 1961, Metro Council first approved the Spadina Expressway project, committing $5 million CAD in a 13-8 vote. This covered the cost of the first section from Highway 401 to Lawrence Avenue
Lawrence Avenue
Lawrence Avenue is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is divided into east and west portions by Yonge Street, the dividing line of east-west streets in Toronto....
. At the same time Council put off approving the whole route and voted 19-2 to delete the Crosstown Expressway from the transportation plan.
Opposition to the project started before construction began. In 1960, members of the Cedarvale Ratepayers Association disrupted meetings of the Metro Toronto Roads Committee discussing the project. York Township, which became the Borough of York, opposed the construction of the highway through its municipality, and through the York Township-owned Cedarvale Ravine, characterized as "the only park area west of Bathurst Street and north of St. Clair Street available to serve 100,000 citizens", and members of the Association proposed a study of the need for the expressway, and to suggest studying the route of Dufferin Street instead. The Roads Committee turned down their requests. York Township threatened to go to the Supreme Court of Canada to block Metro from taking their park. Metro Chairman Fred Gardiner opined "I can't see how anyone would allow one of 13 municipalities to block an expressway."
As the route of the proposed Crosstown Expressway was being drawn up at the same time, neighbouring residents of Rosedale
Rosedale
- Australia :* Rosedale, New South Wales* Rosedale, Queensland* Rosedale, Victoria* Rosedale, South Australia. The former Rosenthal.- Canada :* Rosedale, British Columbia* Rosedale, Calgary* Rosedale, Manitoba, rural municipality in the province of Manitoba....
opposed the construction of the Crosstown Expressway intended to connect to the Spadina, through their neighbourhood. Routing of the Crosstown was proposed along Dupont Street in the area, although the City of Toronto proposed a routing north of the railway lines, closer to Davenport. The Crosstown would continue east through the Rosedale neighbourhood to connect to the Don Valley Parkway.
In 1961, Metro Roads Committee held meetings to hear submissions on the routing of the expressway. Forest Hill Village objected to the proposed route of the expressway though the village, as the village would suffer "serious economic loss" according to Reeve Laurie Simonsky. The road and the interchange at Eglinton Avenue would require the demolition of 276 buildings and bisect the village. Forest Hill proposed a tunnel from the Cedarvale Ravine north, under Forest Hill. Gardiner, former reeve of Forest Hill, admitted that the project would be harmful to the village, "but there is urgent need for an expressway to serve the northwest Metro area" and that the route through the village was the only one that would allow the expressway to enter the Cedarvale Ravine.
In June 1961, the section of the Spadina Expressway south of the Crosstown Expressway was cancelled. The Spadina would now terminate at an interchange with the Crosstown, and Spadina Road north of Bloor Street would be widened. This ended a dispute between the City of Toronto and Metro Toronto. Metro wanted to build an expressway through to the Gardiner, while the city wanted to build an expressway further west, in the vicinity of Christie Street, which would connect the Crosstown to the Gardiner. The plan to build down Spadina Avenue would have demolished Knox College
Knox College, University of Toronto
Knox College is a postgraduate theological college of the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1844 as part of a schism movement in the Church of Scotland following the Disruption...
, in the centre of Spadina, just north of College Street.
Opponents to the expressway started organizing. Ratepayers Associations banded together to object to the municipal expressway plan, forming the Coordinating Committee of Toronto Ratepayers Associations and the Metro Ratepayers Transportation Committee. The ratepayers objected to the $400 million CAD municipal expressway plan as expensive and "unleashing a torrent of private passenger vehicles into the city centre." University of Toronto professor James Acland of the Rathnelly Residents Association spoke of the futility of combining rapid transit and expressways on one route. "They won't persuade anyone to park his car and take rapid transit when there is a wonderful expressway inviting him to drive downtown." S. A. Hudson, president of the Lawrence Heights Ratepayer Association cited figures showing the roadway would carry 10,000 vehicles into the core at rush hour, requiring 69 acres (27.9 ha) for parking alone. The group placed ads in newspapers prior to the December 12, 1961 vote of Metro Council on the Spadina and Crosstown expressways, urging the rejection of the plan. The pressure was partially effective as Council voted 19-2 to delete the Crosstown, but approved the first stage of the Spadina by 13-8, while putting off approval of the downtown route.
The vote put the whole project in doubt. At the time the province paid for half of the cost of roadways, but it did not contribute to rapid transit. The province before approving any road funds for the project, wanted Council approval for the whole project, while the vote covered only the Lawrence to Highway 400 section, including the interchange. The province's transportation minister, William Goodfellow, wrote to Metro to state that since Metro had not voted to approve the whole project, that the province would not consider connecting Spadina with Highway 401.
The vote to have Metro's Road Committee study the route south of Lawrence, led to the Roads Committee to hold public hearings. North York Council voted unanimously to fight for approval of the whole project. Councillor Irving Paisley blamed that downtown business interests were behind opposition to the project. "The whole scheme is being jeopardized by several organizations with political strings, local grievances or selfish aims." Paisley organized a campaign to support the building of the project, together with the Yorkdale developer Webb and Knapp. Paisley himself wrote the submissions of 8 of the 25 North York ratepayer associations in favour of the project, including the submissions of some associations that were defunct. Employees of the Yorkdale developer started a letter-writing campaign, and Paisley and Webb and Knapp collaborated on submissions.
Hearings heard deputations from more than 30 ratepayer associations. Strong support was heard from North York associations and opposition was mostly from York, Forest Hill and the City of Toronto associations. Opponents also proposed a $10 auto tax and $25 truck tax to pay for the cost of Metro expressways instead of paying the costs from property taxes and wanted Metro to finish the Gardiner and Don Valley expressways before starting any others. York Reeve William Saunders became a staunch opponent of the project, publicly announcing that York would fight the project in court. York's Cedarvale Park was in the path of the project and by law, the lands could not be taken by Metro without York's consent. The Roads Committee asked the Metro Legal Committee to look into proposing provincial legislation to get the lands.
On February 19, 1962, Metro Roads Committed approved the whole project by a 5–1 vote, the only dissenter being future Toronto Mayor William Dennison
William Dennison
William Dennison or Denison may refer to:*William Dennison , 18th-century Master of University College, Oxford*William Dennison, Jr. , American politician, Governor of Ohio and U.S...
. The meeting was picketed by opponents with signs proclaiming "Spadina Expressway No!", "Taxes at Critical Level" and "We are Watching How You Vote." The committee also recommended removing the Crosstown from the plan. Metro Chairman William R. Allen, whom the road would ultimately be named after, spoke in favour of the project based on the rapid transit portion of the project, which included commuter parking lots at northern stations. "If this does not get the motorist out his vehicle and back to rapid transit, Metro Council cannot be blamed."
On March 6, 1962 the full Metro Council voted 14–8 to approve the whole project, with the Lawrence to 401 section to start construction in 1964. The approval would allow Metro to purchase lands for the project, but approval to actually construct the highway would not take place until the 1967 budget. By this time, opposition had developed on several points:
- the high cost of the project, and the tax burden,
- putting the highway through a section of Cedarvale Park,
- building the Spadina will make the Crosstown inevitable, leading to further demolitions in the city,
- property owners whose properties would be affected,
- the addition of more cars to the downtown.
Source: Globe and Mail editorial, March 9, 1962
1963-69: Construction
By 1963, costs had risen to over $73 million CAD for the plan. Metro, which was also constructing the Gardiner Expressway, Don Valley Parkway and Bloor-Danforth subway lines had fallen under the scrutiny of the Ontario Municipal BoardOntario Municipal Board
The Ontario Municipal Board is an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada...
(OMB) over its spending. The OMB had to approve the 1963 budget before Metro could. The Spadina was separated from the 1963 budget, and the OMB held hearings into the project. In submissions to the OMB, the townships of Forest Hill and York again objected. CCTTRA, and the CCTRA noted its objections:
- produce air pollution,
- be useless without a crosstown expressway,
- destroy parkland and homes,
- provide a private shopping plaza with a magnificent entrance and easy access to Highway 401 at public expense, and
- increase an already heavy tax burden.
Allan Ackman, of the Wellesley-Bloor Street ratepayers asked "what compensation is there for all the people will be exposed to the deadly poisonous clouds of fumes from the cars on it?" The Cedarvale ratepayers had obtained the advice of Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford was an American historian, philosopher of technology, and influential literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer...
on matters of town planning and stated that the expressway was of no use without the canceled Crosstown. Publisher Allan Perly objected to Yorkdale being such a beneficiary. The Deer Park ratepayers objected on the increases of taxation. The OMB upheld the Spadina project. The OMB stated in its decision that the "sectional interest must give way to the public need of the larger area." On the issue of the ravine parklands, the OMB stated "The board should and does expect that any park land that may be lost to York Township as a result of this undertaking will be replaced, insofar as may be possible in the circumstances, by suitable alternative lands for that purpose."
Construction started in 1963 with clearing of lands. In 1964, Metro released another transportation plan, which extended the Spadina south of Bloor, again requiring the demolition of homes south of Davenport. Toronto City Council adopted an Official Plan opposing the Crosstown Expressway and the Christie Expressway completely. Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs overruled the city, and modified the city's Plan to allow for the construction of both expressways. The City and Metro were now in disagreement.
In 1966, the section from Lawrence Avenue north to Wilson Avenue opened. Construction then started on the section south to Eglinton Avenue. York Council had dropped its opposition to the expressway and made an agreement with Metro on the use of Cedarvale Park for the expressway. This agreement provided for the creation of 12 acres (4.9 ha) of park lands in the Borough of York to replace the park lands lost to the expressway trench. This plan would have meant the expropriation of homes for the replacement lands and residents of York protested the plan to the Council. The cost of the expropriation plan was an estimated $4 million of construction, plus the loss of the assessment, while putting a cover over the roadway within the park would have cost $5 million. The opposition led Metro to agree to building the expressway within a tunnel under the park.
As construction proceeded, opposition to the expressway grew among City of Toronto residents. In October 1969, the "Stop Spadina, Save Our City Co-ordinating Committee" (SSSOCCC) was formed, under the chairmanship of University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
professor Allan Powell. The group was a coalition of students, academics, politicians, ratepayer groups and business people. Notable among the opposition was urban theorist Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs, was an American-Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...
, who moved to the Annex in 1969, fresh from a battle to stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway
Lower Manhattan Expressway
The Lower Manhattan Expressway was a controversial plan for an expressway through lower Manhattan originally conceived by Robert Moses in 1941, but delayed until the early 1960s...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan
Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist...
, too, was opposed to the expressway and said: "Toronto will commit suicide if it plunges the Spadina Expressway into its heart... our planners are 19th century men with a naive faith in an obsolete technology. In an age of software Metro planners treat people like hardware — they haven't the faintest interest in the values of neighborhoods or community. Their failure to learn from the mistakes of American cities will be ours too." In the 1969 civic election, three councilors were elected in Toronto on a platform of immediately ending Spadina construction: Ying Hope, William Kilborn and John Sewell.
1969-1971: Review and cancellation
By 1969, all but $10 million of the approved $76 million was spent, completing the roadway only to Lawrence Avenue, and the road bed to Eglinton Avenue. Metro learned that the project would require a further $80 million for completion and halted construction and decided to review the project. The total cost of the project (including the rapid transit line) was now $237 million. A trench had been dug in Cedarvale Park, and Metro Roads and Traffic Commissioner Samuel Cass attempted to commit Metro to construction south of Eglinton by arranging to call for tenders in building a tunnel in the park. The call, going against Metro Council's explicit instructions, was noticed only one day before they would be published. The call was cancelled by Metro Chairman Albert Campbell.SSSOCCC developed its public campaign. SSSOCCC produced a short film by McLuhan entitled "The Burning Would" explaining the reasons to stop the project while poking fun at expressway backers. SSSOCCC also held public lectures with Jacobs and started a petition campaign. SSSOCCC members David and Nadine Nowlan, professors at U of T released their book The Bad Trip, an economic analysis of the project and explanation of their opposition.
Metro Council voted to apply to the OMB for permission to borrow the funds and requested that the OMB held hearings. OMB Hearings began on January 4, 1971. Opposition groups banded together under the banner of "The Spadina Review Corporation" and hired one of Canada's top trial lawyers, J. J. Robinette, to plead their case. Metro presented its case based on technical studies showing the road was needed to manage expected traffic. Council was represented by its solicitor and its witnesses included Metro and City Commissioners and American transportation planner Alan Voorhees. Opposition groups based their case on the factors of noise, pollution, destruction of homes and the expected increase of traffic the roadway would cause. Their witnesses included neighbourhood residents, as well as urban planners, economists and architects. No elected officials, nor the Metro chairman, appeared to defend or oppose the project. The Board held 16 days of hearings and gave its approval by a vote of 2-1, OMB chairman J. A. Kennedy dissenting, on February 17, 1971.
The Corporation then proceeded to appeal directly to the provincial government cabinet. On June 3, 1971, the provincial government of Bill Davis
Bill Davis
William Grenville "Bill" Davis, was the 18th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was a cabinet minister overseeing the education...
withdrew its support, effectively killing the project. The province would support the new Spadina subway line extension only. Speaking in the Ontario Legislature, Davis said:
“If we are building a transportation system to serve the automobile, the Spadina Expressway would be a good place to start. But if we are building a transportation system to serve people, the Spadina Expressway is a good place to stop”
Toronto Mayor William Dennison
William Dennison
William Dennison or Denison may refer to:*William Dennison , 18th-century Master of University College, Oxford*William Dennison, Jr. , American politician, Governor of Ohio and U.S...
was shocked at the result. "It's shocking that a group who never at any time suggested workable alternative routes has successfully opposed something as important in the growth of Metro as was the Don Valley". Metro Toronto chairman Albert Campbell was incensed at the provincial government. He was quoted with prophetic words: "It may mean that we will never build another expressway."
1971–1996: Completion to Eglinton, building the subway and end of project
Esther Shiner
Esther Shiner was a municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She served on the North York city council from 1973 until her death, and was also a member of the Metropolitan Toronto council. She served as North York's Deputy Mayor in the 1980s.-Early life and career:Shiner's parents were...
, who lived near the Lawrence intersection, was elected to North York Council in 1973 on a platform to get the expressway completed to Eglinton Avenue. She headed the "Go Spadina" public campaign that was successful in persuading Metro, against the wishes of the City of Toronto, to pave the ditch and opened the road to Eglinton in 1976.
In response, Davis made plans to transfer a strip of land south of Eglinton to the City of Toronto to block any further extension. Metro and the province ended their dispute in an agreement to build the Black Creek Drive arterial road, a southerly extension of Highway 400. Metro would transfer its Spadina lands south of Eglinton to the province, and the province would build Black Creek Drive south to Weston Road. Metro officials dragged their feet by attempting to get the buffer strip moved to Bathurst and St. Clair, enabling a possible future extension to Bathurst, and a widened Bathurst street, but the province threatened to simply expropriate the lands and the lands were turned over to the province in 1984.
On February 7, 1985, on his final day in office, Davis delivered to the City of Toronto a 1 metres (3.3 ft) wide strip of the land on the south side of Eglinton Ave. West at the Allen intersection, with a 99-year lease, blocking any possible extension to the south. Opponents such as Shiner had wanted the province to hold onto the land, hoping that a future premier would be willing to consider the highway. Shiner felt that "the expressway will be built, bit by bit, into the city". Shiner had received a $20 million estimate from Metro officials to extend Spadina as a four-lane south to Davenport.
After the land transfer, North York Council made several attempts to get Premier David Peterson
David Peterson
David Robert Peterson, PC, O.Ont was the 20th Premier of the Province of Ontario, Canada, from June 26, 1985 to October 1, 1990. He was the first Liberal premier of Ontario in 42 years....
to reconsider Davis's actions but he refused to meet Council representatives over the issue. Shiner attempted to get a Metro-wide plebiscite but failed. North York sponsored a telephone survey of Toronto residents, although a majority supported transit improvements instead. Shiner's attempts ended only when she died of cancer in 1987. Metro Chairman Dennis Flynn and Metro planners still pushed for the completion as late as 1988, with the release of a traffic study of northwestern Metro that recommended extending the Spadina south, but Metro Council defeated further studies in a 14–12 vote on July 5, 1988. Another proponent left the scene that year as long-time Metro Commissioner of Roads and Traffic Sam Cass retired.
The Spadina subway line runs down the median of the project right-of-way from Wilson to Eglinton. The route south of Eglinton follows the approximate route planned for later sections of the expressway, albeit underground. During the planning of the route, alternate routes directly south along Christie Street and south along Bathurst Street were also considered. After the use of the University section of the subway by Bloor-Danforth trains was abandoned, the original route of the subway to connect with the St. George station was agreed upon. The University section of the Yonge line was made into a part-time route until the Spadina subway extension was built. After the cancellation of the Expressway in 1971, the subway's construction had not been started. Route studies occurred again and the original route confirmed once more and it proceeded to construction. It opened in 1978.
In 1996, Metro Council voted to end the matter finally and sell the 112 expropriated properties south of Eglinton Avenue. The properties were appraised and sold at fair market value, offered first to their former owners. The proceeds were divided between Metro and Ontario, with Metro keeping two-thirds up to $30 million, and proceeds above $30 million split equally. One home purchased by Metro in 1967 for $50,000 had escalated in value to $440,000 by 1997.
Ramifications
The debate over the Spadina Expressway, and its eventual cancellation, is regarded as a watershed moment in local politics. Toronto City Council was changing at the time to oppose the "top-down" planning of the Metro government. A "Reform Era" in Toronto politics was blossoming, which brought to Toronto City Hall the likes of David Crombie, John SewellJohn Sewell
John Sewell, CM is a Canadian political activist and writer on municipal affairs; he was the mayor of Toronto, Ontario from 1978 to 1980.-Background:...
, Allan Sparrow
Allan Sparrow
Allan Sparrow was a Canadian political activist and long standing city councillor in Toronto. He was instrumental in stopping the Spadina Expressway, setting up civilian oversight of the Toronto Police, promoting cycling in Toronto and gay rights...
and Colin Vaughan
Colin Vaughan
Colin Vaughan was a television journalist, architect, urban activist and alderman serving the Canadian city of Toronto. He was best known as the political specialist for the Toronto television station Citytv from 1977 until his death...
. This new council viewed the Metro government and its officials with suspicion as not being accountable to local residents. In the 1950s and 1960s, Metro and City Councils had pushed through numerous large projects in transportation, and housing. The impacts on the central neighbourhoods had been substantial and had led to grassroots organizing. Councillors Sewell and Vaughan came directly from the grassroots campaigns.
According to Albert Rose in his study of Metro from 1953–1971, the cancellation of the project raised four issues that would affect Metro Council afterwards:
- Who Plans? - Until this point, planning had been done by professional planners or Metro department heads based on technical issues, such as projected traffic congestion. Metro had not provided a policy for the planners to follow.
- Role of the OMB in Policy - The OMB was in charge of approving capital borrowing, a consideration dating from the days of the Depression. In the case of the Spadina, it had had to decide on an issue far beyond approving whether a municipality could afford the project.
- Role of the OMB in Planning - The OMB became an approver of land development disputes, which often pitted municipalities or residents or developers against each other. Was this an appropriate role for the OMB?
- Role of the Metro Chairman - The Metro Chairman did not appear at the OMB to defend the project at the OMB. Chairman Campbell took a neutral position on a very important project.
Source: Rose(1972)
Premier Davis called a provincial election not long after the decision, in October 1971. Davis' campaign strategy used the Spadina decision to differentiate his government from past Progressive Conservative governments. Davis, who was both attacked and lauded for the Spadina cancellation, was re-elected with increased support in Toronto. Davis would remain in power in Ontario until 1985, when he retired from politics.
The Spadina Expressway cancellation marked the beginning of the end of construction of Metro's planned expressway network. Metro highway projects such as the Crosstown, Scarborough and Richview expressways did not proceed. Other than extending the Allen Road, Metro Toronto did not built another expressway, and erased the other expressways from its official plans. Metro would proceed in future years to complete the Spadina subway line, extend the Yonge Street line, and build the Sheppard subway line.