Phase 1 of The Bentway opened in 2018, demonstrating how the Gardiner Expressway can support civic life alongside mobility needs, and the imagination that Toronto is capable of. What comes next for the Gardiner?
In partnership with the City of Toronto, The Bentway is developing the Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan (PRP) to outline how the Expressway – from Dufferin to the DVP – can evolve to better serve our city.
The Expressway runs elevated for 6.5km and past 17 downtown neighbourhoods, moving more than 140,000 vehicles every day. A defining feature of Toronto’s landscape, the Gardiner corridor links major civic priorities present and future – including planned Ontario Line stations at Exhibition Place and East Harbour; attractions like BMO Field, Rogers Centre, and Scotiabank Arena; as well as the Waterfront, Quayside, and the Port Lands. As the City of Toronto works to rehabilitate the roadway, and bring new life to surrounding communities, there is an opportunity to reimagine how this infrastructure can connect, perform, and inspire.
testing creative strategies
The Bentway believes that testing innovative thinking can help prove out new possibilities for the Gardiner.
We’re using demonstration projects to test recommendations of the Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan through real-time prototypes, which offer touchpoints and opportunities for public feedback and engagement.
Read more about our under-Gardiner pilot projects here:
Waterfront ReConnect: Boom Town
On view through 2025
Winnipeg-based firm 5468796 Architecture and Toronto’s Office In Search Of employ vibrant colour, playful characters, and environmental lighting to enliven the York Street intersection, improving safety and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists.
Waterfront ReConnect: Pixel Story
On view through 2025
O2 and ENTUITIVE address the many vantages, scales, and speeds from which we experience the Gardiner, using colour, iconography, and storytelling to draw attention to the Simcoe Street intersection, and the entire under-Gardiner corridor, as a cultural connector.
Bentway Staging Grounds
On view through 2025
Bentway Staging Grounds is a site of active, environmental learning that continues The Bentway’s creative work along the Gardiner Expressway. Visitors are invited into a living laboratory for urban ecology, with experimental gardens that use rainwater run-off from the highway above to support the growth of flowering plant species.
Confluence
October 1 – 30, 2022
In 2022, The Bentway teamed up again with our neighbours at Exhibition Place to demonstrate the benefits of connectivity between our sites. Artist duo Striped Canary created a large-scale art project that invited visitors back into a set of hidden “Cubicles” under the Gardiner.
Pulse Topology
October 2 – 31, 2021
In the height of COVID-era lockdowns, The Bentway, Exhibition Place, and artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer invited audiences to discover a massive storage chamber under the Expressway, never-before-seen by the public. The project created a shared space for human connections through an artwork powered by collective heartbeat.