Blamblog - Brett Lamb's Blog



	About happycreature[at]gmail[dot[com] [ BLAMBLOG ] Ed Locke's Grandpa Happy Creature Ms. Johnson PIX www.flickr.com This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from blamb. Make your own badge here. [ PILOTS! ] Bill Doskoch 72hrchik BlogTO Dead Robot estrojenn Finn's Space John Gushue Rick Mercer Rocketboom Simple Splendor Squiddity Confessions of a Monkey [ A-TEAM ] AllThingsChristie & BWE Circadian Shift Daily Dose Davezilla Dooce Jett Superior Kitty Bukkake Sugarmama Tony Pierce [ TORONTO ROCKS ] Accordian Guy Alan Hunt Andrew Spicer Angie McKaig armchair garbageman Bacon and Eh's Bored Astronaut Cellar Dweller Chip Tijuana Chromewaves Clara* Consolation Champs Biker Chick Dave Howard Day in the Life Digifox Easternblog freckle stof Help! Ice Queen indigoblog JBWarehouse Liz Vang Luminescent Lunerose Maria Marmalade moot point Nug Photojunkie Pony Pshaw Radio Weisblogg Raymi Riri's Braindump RobotJohnny Rusty Robot Sally McKay Sarah Pengelly Secret Storm ShanghaiM Ultrablog United Bingdom wainbows Warren Kinsella Zoilus [ ALL IN THE FAMILY ] Merv! Dad! Gillian Kevin! [ ORGANIZIZED ] GTA Bloggers TorontoComic Jam [ BEACHCOMBERS ] Good, Matthew Good, Jennifer Ian King Jeff Merritt [ GOTHAM CITY ] Explanada Lindsayism My Blog is Poop Yoon! [ ST. ELSEWHERE ] Blogebrity blogumentary Brett Lamb: Oz Bunny McIntosh Dust My Broom elanamatic Go Fug Yourself Grrrl Meets World James Bow Little Lioness SKSmith Shelly Skillzy Tom Tomorrow [ 6 O'CLOCK NEWS ] boing boing Cursor Drawn! Fark Garlicster Metafilter Plastic The Register SciFi Daily Sexblogs Slashdot Space.com The Smoking Gun Zeropaid [ CARTOONS ] Corrigan Children of the Atom Fiona Smyth Maakies MacKay MNFTIU.cc Secret Lair Smell of Steve [ VARIETY HOUR ] B3TA Hoogerbrugge Milk & Cookies Mumbleboy Onion Rathergood XE [ RERUNS ] [ 2005 ] JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST [ 2004 ] MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER [ 2002 ] [ 2003 ]	Tuesday, June 08, 2004 The CAA & the Magical Floating Highway The CAA released a proposal [pdf] to revive expressways in Toronto that is equal parts nutty and deceitful. There's even an editorial by Sam Cass, The "Mr. Expressway" of the former Metro government back in the day when multi-lane highways were all the rage. Okay, first the nutty: the plan recommends building an expressway out in the lake: Reviving the 1966 Scarborough Expressway plan to bridge this gap is no longer an option because more than 700 houses would face demolition. Instead, CAA proposes something refreshingly different — an offshore expressway that would carry traffic east from the Gardiner to Highway 401 via Highway 2A in the area of Meadowvale Road. This concept is called the Offshore Extension. An elevated highway across Lake Ontario, the extension would be positioned at least one kilometre from shore and visible only as a graceful, curved white line on the horizon. For commuters,the bridge would finally provide an alternative eastern route to Highway 401 and stop-and-go traffic on overburdened arterial. ... One of the many benefits to this proposal is the virtually unlimited widening potential as the Greater Toronto Area continues to populate. A graceful, curved white line on the horizon? If you've ever had a clear view of the 401 on any given day, you'll know that one of the features of the highway is the brown strip of exhaust fumes that hover over the highway and discolour the air. The Beach residents aren't going to like that much. But then, as the wack-job who first proposed the scheme [via Andrew Spicer] points out, the solution would be much easier if Toronto was a different shape. Gee, if there wasn't a bay at all, we wouldn't need bridges ... hey, wait a minute, that would make the city the shape it is now! While the dreamy expressway ideas get the attention, what's more disturbing is document's attempts at myth-making. Repeated over and over is the idea that transit has been funded at the expense of roads and they have a map showing transit expansion compared to the proposed expressway routes that were never built. They neglect to mention that transit has been starved for fund over the past decade (the TTC is the least-subsidized transit system in North America) and that high fares and reduced service contribute to congestion on our roads. But then, it's the CAA. What else would you expect? 11:36 PM , # , \|