“Where we are now will be the river,” the hard-hatted man says as we stand on dusty earth, overlooking a wide trench carved through century-old industrial landfill on Toronto’s east waterfront. But now, with the shape of a lush river valley and brand new island starting to emerge, thanks to an army of workers with 13 excavators, you can actually start to believe it. So far, the government project — designed by U.S. landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, overseen by Waterfront Toronto, built by EllisDon construction — has itself proved resilient, without pandemic delays. Shenker, Waterfront Toronto’s senior manager of communications and public engagement, explains what visitors will actually see when the river valley and island open to the public April 1, 2024, or sooner if Waterfront Toronto manages to speed things up. Waterfront Toronto has commissioned stylish bridges to connect Villiers Island to the surrounding site — some just for public transit, others for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.

Source: thestar August 23, 2020 15:00 UTC