So long Allen?

[attach]1304[/attach]Steven Baker remembers a time when the neighborhoods around Allen Road were different.

“There was a lot less traffic. It was more pedestrian friendly. You didn’t get the volume and the noise pollution and the fumes,” says Baker, a former teacher who lived and worked near Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue for 18 years before moving north to Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue.

That changed in the 1960s when construction started on the Spadina Expressway, a never-completed project whose remnant is a highway-like stretch of road starting just north of Sheppard Avenue and terminating abruptly at Eglinton. The uncompleted, trench-like road harshly bisects the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood.

“There was a continuity or a congruency between the whole neighborhood and then all of a sudden you had this asphalt jungle splitting everything into two. It was very disruptive,” says Baker.

Now, more than three decades after the Allen Expressway was completed, the city is once again examining the usefulness and impact of the road as part of a larger study of options to revitalize the Lawrence Heights area.

This past August, an international consulting firm presented the city with a technical feasibility study that suggested several possible options for revamping the Allen.

“Clearly The Allen Road divides the community into two in a fairly significant way,” says Ann-Marie Nasr, a project manger at the city’s planning division who’s working on the Lawrence-Allen Revitalization Project.

“What the study shows us is that … there are some options that can be explored for Allen Road. It came up with six and then narrowed it down to a few less than that,” says Nasr.

The possibilities include everything from adding more access points to the existing road to splitting the Allen into three separate gradients to accommodate cars, pedestrians, bikes and transit.

One option — transforming the Allen into a single boulevard, level with its surroundings and complete with bike lanes and pedestrian access — recently garnered a flurry of media attention when some news outlets reported it was the option favoured by the city.

However, Nasr rebuffs the idea that any decision or preference has been adopted.

“That’s just somebody’s opinion. That’s not the city’s opinion at all,” she says, noting a “do nothing option” that will be seriously considered.

A spokesperson for Ward 15 councilor Howard Moscoe seconded that, saying “it’s too early for councilor Moscoe to have a position on which plan is best.”

Regardless of which plan wins out in the end, the report lays out a vision statement that suggests transforming the Allen, beautifying it and integrating it into the community. It calls for a plan that would allow for pedestrian and bicycle use and promote alternatives to
driving.

However, Nasr cautions that any option is still years away from selection.

“Future change will be occurring over a 20 plus year time frame … The Allen is a big piece of infrastructure. Rebuilding a community is a big task. These sorts of projects have a very long time frame,” Nasr says.

Those who live near the Allen know as much. Baker still remembers when there were discussions about how the Allen would look.

“They talked about bicycle lanes, but I can tell you that they didn’t do it. They said they weren’t going to be slaves to cars. There were a lot of things that were modified that would have made this very dynamic,” says Baker. “Instead they did a lot of damage to the vitality of the neighborhood,” he says.

Still, Baker says he remains hopeful that any changes to the Allen “would revitalize the area in a very constructive way.”