Why Allen Road Exists - The Spadina Expressway Conflict

Highway politics in Toronto! Ever wondered why there’s a highway in Toronto that just pulls off the 401 and ends suddenly? Yep, Allen Road has a story behind it, and it’s a useful focal point to consider the balance between the democratic will of the many vs the rights of the few. Time to talk about the Spadina Expressway!
References
Cowan, E. (1971, June 6). Ontario Vetoes a Partly Built Expressway in Toronto in Favor of Rapid Transit. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/1971/06/06/ar...
Grubb, A. M., Cechik, M. (2019). Reconstructing the past: the case of the Spadina Expressway. Requirements Engineering, 25(2), 253-272. doi.org/10.1007/s00766-019-00...
Milligan, I. (2011). “This Board Has a Duty to Intervene”: Challenging the Spadina Expressway through the Ontario Municipal Board, 1963-1971. Urban History Review, 39(2), 25-39. doi.org/10.7202/1003460ar
Nowlan, D., Nowlan, N. (1970). The Bad Trip: the untold story of the Spadina Expressway. House of Anansi
Osbaldeston, M.. (2008). Unbuilt Toronto : a history of the city that might have been. Dundurn Press.
Penfold, S. (2021). “People Drive Automobiles”: Esther Shiner, the Silent Majority, and the Popular Case for the Spadina Expressway, 1971-1987. Urban History Review, 49(1), 30-53. doi.org/10.3138/uhr-2020-0009
Robinson, D. (2011). Modernism at a Crossroad: The Spadina Expressway Controversy in Toronto, Ontario ca. 1960-1971. The Canadian Historical Review, 92(2), 295-322. doi.org/10.3138/chr.92.2.295
White, R. (2011). Jane Jacobs and Toronto, 1968-1978. Journal of Planning History, 10(2), 114-138. doi.org/10.1177/1538513210396293
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[@CHAOS80120]

Lol the sarcasm in calling the gardiner a national treasure was gold. Great video

[@smittenwithlearning2742]

Thank you :)

[@jprpecs]

Very informative! I learned many details about the controversy that I was unaware of. Great job laying out the narrative. A real pleasure to watch and learn from!

[@stinkyroadhog1347]

Very high quality production and well explained in 5 mins.

[@AutumnBosco]

Such a good video. I already had a light understanding of the topic but this was still well worth seeing to get more knowledge on this project. And the quality of the video and presentation was fantastic.

[@smittenwithlearning2742]

Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for kind comment :)

[@jeffwindrim975]

You should do a video about Kingston road. It was another failed highway. Also you have the underground PATH network that was built to be a underground road network that also failed and became a underground PATH for pedestrians.

[@smittenwithlearning2742]

Huh, didn't know anything about that. I'll be checking that out!

[@TheTdotPyro]

One thought to consider in the "will of the many" framing: there's no good evidence that there was an obvious majority of people who wanted this expressway. Bill Davis, who cancelled the project, won a strong majority of seats in both Ontario and Toronto, later that year. The Liberals, who were the only party advocating for finishing Spadina, only won 4 seats in Toronto, and came 3rd across the province.

[@hassassinator8858]

Why is this production quality so high?? I expected a few thousand subscribers at least :( keep it up!

[@smittenwithlearning2742]

That is genuinely the kindest comment I've ever gotten, thank you so much ;)

[@saiharanmuralee7050]

Couldn’t have said it better

[@guybeauregard]

Very informative. Stopping destructive expresways through vibrant communities like Spadina was absolutely the right thing to do.

[@kjss4345]

I thought it was gonna take the route along Dufferin st all the way to the Gardiner?

[@smittenwithlearning2742]

I didn't read anything like that back when I made this video -- but if you've found a source somewhere indicating that was the plan, I'd genuinely love to check it out! :)

[@Maxmulham]

Why not like, I dunno, make a tunnel in that unfinished section. And you're probably gonna say I'm bonkers because that is too expensive but I mean, is it really? Tunnels are EVERYWHERE in Europe. Just mazes and mazes of tunnels. They really have that much disposable income? We always talk about how many bike lanes Europe have. Never the tunnels...

[@TheHothead101]

Premier Bill Davis is a rare example of a Conservative Party W

[@bruceboa6384]

True. But remember, he led to "Progressive" Conservative party when that still meant something. By today's standard, he would fit in better with the NDP in Ontario.

[@BlanketBro8]

ngl allen road should combine near the end by eglinton so that theres only one traffic light instead of two and traffic might run a little more smoothly

[@iamzuckerburger]

Trams forever 🎉 Cars never!

[@ronberman8947]

This is why Toronto's traffic is awful. Incomplete, and lack of freeways.

[@TheRandCrews]

Yes cause more lanes and more expressways fixes traffic 😂, cancelled Spadina exrpressway would still be carrying less amount of people than the subway that replaced it

[@yukaira]

I swear we're gonna fix traffic just let me build one more lane bro

[@redstone5062]

It’s not wrong though. Building a freeway only to end it abruptly forces the Allen road traffic onto Lawrence or Eglinton. If they weren’t going to continue the project, they should have turned the Allen into a normal road with proper exits and entrances leading up to Eglinton. The 401 also operates as a barrier that channels traffic only through a few main roads like the Allen, so that doesn’t help matters either. What stopped this project was the money in Forest hill not students or conservationists lol. The residents didn’t want this hwy cutting through it. If this road was further west in poorer areas near dufferin or Caledonia, it would have been completed.

[@AG-er5vmTG]

@@TheRandCrews in this case it would have definitely alleviated traffic coming from the north west of the city. This isn’t a more lanes issue.