Redesigned Martin Goodman trail opens

By Kimberly Spice —

The waterfront revitalization continued to take shape as the newest 1.3 kilometre stretch of the Martin Goodman Trail opened in front of Ontario Place on Sept. 19.

Lead by mayor David Miller, government dignitaries appropriately arrived to the celebrations riding bicycles.

Included in the pack were local MPP and deputy premier and provincial energy and infrastructure minister George Smitherman, federal finance minister James Flaherty, Ontario Place strategic planning committee chair Linda Franklin, and Waterfront Toronto chair Mark Wilson.

“This is a complex piece of work,” pointed out Wilson on the unseasonably warm, sunny day. “It may look simple once it’s done but to actually go through all the process with the public, with the roads, traffic, cyclists; it’s a complex piece of design.”

The $4 million project took nine months to complete and re-routed the original trail from the waters edge to run parallel with Lakeshore Boulevard preventing pedestrians and cyclists from interacting with Ontario Place traffic.

Crossing the parking lot entrances visibly clear pedestrian and cycling pathways will help deter collisions between cars, pedestrians and cyclists.

Remembrance Drive, under the shadow of the iconic Inukshuk monument, west of Coronation Park, was transformed from a car throughway into a cyclist-pedestrian only trail.

The recent opening of the Martin Goodman Trail along with the Rees, Simcoe and Spadina wooden wavedecks completes a summer of openings along the waterfront.

Sherbourne Park, Canada’s Sugar Beach, East Bayfront, the West and Lower Don Lands, Port Lands and the future promenade development between Spadina and Parliament streets are a few of the projects still ongoing.