Toronto’s underground labyrinth
8 days ago
- #pedestrian networks
- #urban planning
- #transport infrastructure
- Toronto's downtown is a major commercial hub with extensive transport networks converging in a small area, leading to congestion.
- The Path, a 30 km pedestrian tunnel network, was developed by businesses to ease congestion and avoid cold winters, evolving into a 'pedestrian metro'.
- Owned by various businesses, the Path is well-decorated, clean, and policed, functioning like a high-end shopping mall while serving commuters.
- Unlike typical underpasses, the Path enhances urban mobility without significantly reducing street life, benefiting various transport modes.
- The Path's unique development model, without unified planning, is rare in transport infrastructure due to high value to landowners and spatial efficiency.
- Similar systems exist in cities like Montreal, Tokyo, and Houston, but pedestrian metros are not widespread, raising questions about their feasibility elsewhere.
- The Path demonstrates how private interests can collaboratively create valuable public infrastructure, offering lessons for urban transport solutions.