We are unbelievably lucky to have a public space like the Martin Goodman Trail here in Toronto. This cycling and inline skating trail runs along our lakeshore for 56 kilometres, starting in the west near the Humber Bridge all the way in the east to Rouge River. It’s the perfect place to go be active, appreciate our waterfront, and spend the day outside.
The trail was named after the former Editor-in-Chief and President of the Toronto Star newspaper, Martin Goodman. It was opened just a few years after Goodman passed away in 1981. Although the trail has been open for just over three decades now, it did undergo a fairly large facelift in 1992 to repair damages that were making it a bit of a rough ride.
Since then, there have been a few extensions to the trail including the Ontario Place extension and the Queens Quay extension. The Ontario Place portion opened in 2009 and there was around 8,000 square metres of parking lots from the site that was turned into the trail and green space around the trail. The Queens Quay revitalization - which just opened this summer - has given the portion of our waterfront by the downtown core a complete makeover and has extended the trail even further.
A few other amazing things about it:
Over 150 new trees have been planted along the trail which will eventually grow into a beautiful canopy, and a stormwater management system has been installed in the green space adjacent to the trail so that water will run off of it and onto the grass, ultimately helping the trees. If you didn’t already know, the Martin Goodman Trail is also actually part of a much larger path in Ontario called the Waterfront Trail. It’s 730 kilometres long and stretches from Niagara all the way to Quebec. How amazing is that?
The Martin Goodman Trail will be easily accessible from Garrison Point because of our pedestrian bridge that will connect all of our residents right to the waterfront. Get ready to spend your summers biking, running, and skating the lakeshore!
Photo via Michael Gil on Flickr
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