King’s College Road, Knox College walk and Sir Daniel Wilson walk are getting ready to shed their dreary attire for a new look.
The primary focus of the construction, which began on Sept. 23 and will continue until mid-January 2003, is to establish the rights of the pedestrian. To reduce car use, the width of the road will be decreased, leaving only a single vehicle lane sandwiched by pedestrian walkways. The asphalt will be tossed in favour of paving stones.
“The decision [for construction] was made according to how to balance pedestrian movement, parking, its use for convocating and gathering and for passive recreation,” said Gail Shillingford, a consultant at Urban Strategies, the company involved in the overall design of the project. “There had to be a priority of these things. One of the things we felt was highest on this list of elements was that it was a student space and not a car space.”
The area will also be decked out in new lamp standards, black granite paving stones, and greenery. The entrance will be marked by a stone gate with pillars.
“[Redoing King’s College Road] will make the area more academic, more of a campus environment,” said Ron Pansino, the project manager. “The bonus will be getting the cars off. There will be increased places to sit and you will have no parked cars around you.”
Shillingford, however, doesn’t forecast any such benefits, “There will be no immediate benefits other than that it is one of the major passageways…I personally don’t think it will make much of a difference. You have to look at it as part of a bigger picture.”
This bigger picture is called the Open Space Master Plan, a long-term endeavor to beautify the St. George campus. As part of this endeavour, the makeover of King’s College Road will draw from the plan’s $4.6 million budget, financed by the university and private donors.
The effort also will serve as an incentive for prospective students. As the ceremonial entrance to the university, many potential students get their first impression of U of T from King’s College Road. And as Shillingford said, first impressions usually make or break whether a student will attend a university.
The makeover will also serve to attract alumni. Said Michael Finlayson, Vice President of Administration and Human Resources from 1991-2001, “We’re doing this work [on King’s College Road] as an incentive springboard for future donations.” The project will serve as a model to entice potential donors to invest in future projects.
These future projects are included in the Open Space Master Plan, of which the current construction is phase one. The plan, which was inspired by the overhaul of St. George Street, targets open spaces on campus.
It aims to establish pedestrian links between east and west campus and to connect existing and future green spaces in an effort to link the various colleges. The plan also emphasizes reducing the prominence of cars in favour of student movement and congregation.
“We’re redoing the university for beauty and for wholeness,” said Finlayson. “Many people thought the Open Space Master Plan made the university a better place and will make it a safer place as well by banishing cars.”
