Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Bentway is a public trail and corridor space that runs underneath the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was built on land that had held rail lines, parking lots and outdoor storage, and it is widely cited as a leading example of adaptive reuse in urban design.
Judy Matthews, a Toronto urban planner and activist, first proposed turning the space under the Gardiner Expressway into a park. On the 17th of November 2015, after the mayor approved the initiative, Matthews donated funds to the City of Toronto through the Judy and Wilmot Matthews Foundation.
The Bentway's name came from a public contest that drew 884 suggestions, narrowed by a panel of 12 to four finalists. After a first vote favored The Bentway and a contested late surge for The Artery, a runoff was held, and The Bentway was declared the official winner on the 6th of June 2016.
The Bentway's multi-use trail is 1.75 kilometres long and runs between Exhibition GO Station and Spadina Avenue. It passes through six Toronto neighbourhoods, Liberty Village, Niagara, Fort York, the Fashion District, CityPlace and Harbourfront, home to about 77,000 residents combined.
The first phase of the Bentway, which included a winter skating trail, opened on the 6th of January 2018.
Bentway Staging Grounds is a public space south of Canoe Landing Park that opened in September 2023, featuring ramps and elevated walkways for pedestrians and cyclists. It was designed by Agency-Agency of New York City and SHEEEP of Toronto, and it channels highway runoff water into planters that support native plant species.