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.
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?
The Bentway and the City of Toronto have collaborated on a comprehensive vision for underutilized public spaces below and adjacent to the Gardiner Expressway, from Dufferin to the DVP.
project updates
The Bentway Islands – a new Bentway site
The Bentway, in partnership with the City of Toronto, is making plans to create a second public space site below the Gardiner Expressway between Dan Leckie Way and Spadina Avenue.
Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan ( UGPRP)
Building on the success of The Bentway Phase 1, the UGPRP outlines a vision for the Gardiner Expressway’s next chapter, connecting people, infrastructure, and the environment all the way from Dufferin St to the Don Valley.
Studying the Bentway’s carbon impact
As The Bentway embarks on our next chapter and plans for future growth along the Gardiner, Ha/f Climate is helping us better understand the impact of our physical spaces on the local environment.
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.
supporters
Special thanks to The Bentway’s supporters who are propelling this work forwards:
