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| The planned Portlands |
In October, we went down to have a look at the new “built in Nova Scotia” bridges being installed in the Toronto Portlands and although we did get to walk across one of the bridges, we were disappointed to find that the other two were not open yet. That trip did inspire me to do some research on this area of the city and I discovered that there is a very ambitious plan to revitalize the area to convert what is now an industrial wasteland with deflect building and piles of dirt into parkland and prime real estate. During our October walk (see the post called “Caution Construction”) we had a difficult time even walking the area, so when I saw a news article about the now “open”bridges and the new “artificial river”, I decided it was time to go back for another look.  |
| What it looks like now |
As we got to the waterfront, you could see that the road leading to the first bridge, a double span with lanes for bicycles, vehicles and pedestrians was finally open and clear. Now I say open, but really only one span was actually operational so us walkers had to share with bicycles, but we were able to walk across the bridge and onto the Portlands. There was still a lot of construction going on, and we did have to avoid excavators and dump trucks, but although landscaping still has to be completed, you could see clearly what this would look like when finished, and it should be very nice.
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| Built in Nova Scotia |
Once across the bridge, we could continue on across the bridge we previously explored on into the actual working Portlands, or we could walk down a new wide avenue to the fourth bridge which crossed the “Artificial River”. Having done the other bridge, we chose to walk down to the one we had not visited. The road across this bridge continued down along the waterfront into another industrial area, but the bridge crossed a man-made river which winds through the Portlands and will eventually connect the Don River wth Lake Ontario, allowing it to flow peacefully through a newly designed recreational park rather than just dumping into the mostly unused Keating ship channel.
These four bridges and the artificial river are just the first part of an ambitious 1.3 billion flood protection and revitalization project for the Portlands. There will be a section of the project that will be used for more Toronto High Rise Condos and a large section will be landscaped and reforested into a beautiful recreational area. As we walked across the fourth bridge, we could see the work being done in the area and it is easy to imagine what it will look like when finished. The “river” has water in it, but is not yet connected with the real river and many little trees already line its banks.  |
| The River Ends Here for Now |
Now those proposed condos will be in an amazing prime location, so I can only imagine they will become very popular locations and I am sure they will be very pricey, as they will have beautiful views, parkland next door, and are still right downtown Toronto. I wonder what they will cost?
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| The Ship Canal |
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| Toronto from the new bridge |
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| Those dirt piles will one day be condos |
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| The Bridge and the River |
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| This will be recreational parkland when finished |
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