[LINK] "Rossi's Tunnel Vision. Rocci's Gift"

[rfmcdonald]

James Bow reacts fairly positively, actually, to the proposal by second-tier Toronto mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi to recreate the Spadina Expressway--that abandoned north-south highway that would have plowed through Toronto neighbourhoods and was defeated by Jane Jacobs--as a tunnel.

For me and for many others who grew up in the old City of Toronto, the decision to halt the Spadina Expressway at Eglinton Avenue was (alongside the decision to maintain Toronto’s streetcar system) the decision that made Toronto into the great city it became in the seventies and the eighties. Since then, echoes of that decision have been repeated in American cities like Portland, which famously tore down an expressway and replaced it with an LRT. American cities looking to break the cycle of dependence on the automobile and build vibrant, pedestrian friendly downtowns, have consistently looked to Toronto to see how it’s done — even today, in spite of the numerous challenges Toronto faces.

When Rocco Rossi proposed that the Spadina Expressway be completed by building a long tunnel from Eglinton Avenue to the Gardiner, one half-expected the body of Jane Jacobs to come clawing its way out of its grave and go lurching forward, zombie fashion, in search of Rossi campaign volunteers in order to eat their brains. The visceral nature of my own reaction was enhanced by the timing of this announcement: shortly following leading candidate Rob Ford’s expressed desire to eliminate streetcars from Toronto’s streets in ten years time. Put those two together, and it’s as though my own childhood is being attacked as some kind of worthless mistake.

So, why am I not as angry, now?

Part of it is the way Rossi couched his proposal. You’ll notice that he never refers to the Spadina fight, stays well away from the Spadina name (calling it the Toronto Tunnel), but he has taken steps to mitigate the worst elements of the original Spadina plan. The expressway will no longer dump its cars on Spadina Avenue at Harbord, but will continue to the Gardiner. It will be underground all the way. And he promises that “the Tunnel will not disrupt a single neighbourhood, street or family home. In fact, it will divert traffic directly downtown which currently exits the Allen Expressway into neighbourhoods, thus reducing traffic levels in residential areas”.

Well, fine. We’ll hold him to that promise.

[. . .]

All in all Rossi’s proposal is far more constructive and far more balanced between car drivers and transit users than Rob Ford’s misguided and mathematically impaired policy. Rossi hasn’t promised to take streetcars off our roads; he’s only promised to commission a study to look into the idea of building a tunnel for cars. And, as I said on Twitter, if given the choice, I would much rather deal with Rossi’s suggestion that we study the idea of completing the Spadina expressway, than Ford’s insistence that we remove streetcars from Toronto’s streets within ten years.