# A Jane’s Walk about the Gardiner Expressway

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2015-04-19

architect-this-city, atc, athiscity, cities, east-bayfront, east-waterfront, freeway, gardiner-expressway, highway, jane-jacobs, janes-walk, keating-channel, portlands, shape-my-city, toronto, transportation, uncategorized, urbanism, waterfront

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![image](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/f69e7d851b8de796f063b84e7465be05.jpg)

This May 2nd at 1:00pm I’m going to be participating and speaking at a Jane’s Walk here in Toronto called, [Gardiner Expressway: To be or not to be?](http://janeswalk.org/canada/toronto/torontos-gardiner-expressway-be-or-not-be/) 

The other “walk leaders” include Andrew Hilton, City Councillor [Jaye Robinson](http://jayerobinson.ca/), Ed Levy, Kyle Baptista, and architect [Les Klein](http://www.quadrangle.ca/our-practice/our-people/principals/les-klein) (Quadrangle Architects).

This will be my first time going to a Jane’s Walk, but it’s clearly a topic that I’m interested in. For over a year [I have been arguing that we should remove the Gardiner East](http://brandondonnelly.com/post/77312055142/revisiting-the-gardiner-east-debate) (the portion east of Jarvis Street).

This has proved to be a contentious position and topic. One critic said that I only want to remove the Gardiner East so that – as a real estate developer – I can make it harder for people to get into the city, which in turn will force them into buying more condos in the city. 

That was not my thinking.

Instead, I view it as an opportunity to truly unlock the eastern portion of Toronto’s waterfront and the Portlands area. Take a look at the Keating Channel (shown above) and tell me whether or not you could imagine a better and more urban kind of waterfront. I get excited when I think of the potential.

And, if we’re going to do this, I believe now is the time, before the area gets developed. Because once it gets developed around the Gardiner, things will never be quite the same – even if we do eventually remove or bury it.  

[Click here](http://janeswalk.org/canada/toronto/torontos-gardiner-expressway-be-or-not-be/) for more information on the Jane’s Walk. Please also keep in mind that there will be many other viewpoints expressed at the Walk. This is just mine.

_Image: Gardiner Expressway and Don River,_ [_Flickr_](https://www.flickr.com/photos/ashtonpal/10304502853/in/photolist-ELAin-gGzgGi)

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/a-janes-walk-about-the-gardiner-expressway)*