The federal government is considering expanding the Toronto Island Airport to accommodate commercial jets. This massive expansion could quadruple passenger traffic, bringing even more debilitating traffic and gridlock to Toronto’s downtown. Expanding the Island Airport would turn the waterfront into a slow-moving, exhaust-saturated, inaccessible nightmare.
It’s a terrible idea. Here’s what you need to know.
A Single Road In, a Single Road Out
Unlike Toronto’s Pearson Airport, which sprawls across nearly 2,000 hectares with multiple transit and highway connections, the Island Airport occupies just 85 hectares on the Toronto Islands. There’s no ring road, no multi-level interchange—just Bathurst Street funneling into the foot of the waterfront.
Even at current passenger levels, congestion is a problem. Add millions more travellers, and you’re looking at a gridlock nightmare—one where traffic spills over into surrounding neighbourhoods, clogs the Bathurst and Queens Quay intersection, and strains an already busy stretch of the downtown waterfront.
More Passengers Mean More Vehicles—A Lot More
Every additional passenger means more vehicle trips: the taxi that drops them off, the rideshare that picks them up, the employee shuttle that brings airport workers to their shifts, the delivery trucks that bring food and supplies to the terminal.
When you’re talking about jumping from 2 million passengers to 10 million, those trips don’t just increase—they multiply. Peak travel times, like Friday evenings or Monday mornings, would see especially intense surges. And unlike Pearson, where passengers can choose to avoid the traffic altogether by taking the UP Express, passengers headed to and from the Island Airport all funnel through a single choke point.
Infrastructure Gaps and Unanswered Questions
Here’s where things get even more complicated. Allowing jets to operate at Billy Bishop isn’t just about lengthening the runway. It would require a cascade of infrastructure upgrades: extended taxiways, expanded terminal facilities, new ground transportation areas, upgraded fuel and servicing infrastructure, and potentially even relocated hangars and service roads.
All of that construction means years—potentially decades—of additional truck traffic, lane closures, and disruption. And once it’s built, all those new facilities generate their own ongoing vehicle demands—more fuel deliveries, more maintenance vehicles, more employee parking lots.
What It Means for Everyday Torontonians
If you live in Liberty Village, the Waterfront Communities, or the Entertainment District, this isn’t an abstract policy debate. It’s about whether you’ll be able to get to work on time, whether your neighbourhood streets will become clogged with airport-bound traffic, and whether the peaceful waterfront you fell in love with will start to feel more like a highway off-ramp.
For cyclists and pedestrians using the Martin Goodman Trail or enjoying the revitalized waterfront parks, it means sharing space with significantly more vehicles. For transit riders on the 509 and 510 streetcar lines, it could mean longer delays as taxis, cars and shuttles compete for road space.
The irony is that Toronto has spent decades and billions of dollars transforming its waterfront into a world-class public space. Expanding the Toronto Island Airport to handle five times as many passengers threatens to turn one of the city’s most successful urban renewal projects into a traffic-choked nightmare.
TLDR? Turning the Toronto Island airport into a jet airport will bring debilitating traffic to our waterfront. It’s a bad idea. Toronto MPs need to step up and say ‘no’ to commercial jets.
