The Gardiner Expressway, Toronto's long-lasting monument to asphalt and decay, has been undergoing renewal attempts for years. 

Recently, pedestrian sightings have shown that boom lifts (a common machine used for overpass road maintenance) have been given a rather intense makeover.

These installations are part of Waterfront Reconnect, an artistic endeavor that's being done in collaboration with The Bentway, an urban space below Toronto's decaying and partly torn down waterfront highway.

What’s going on with the googly eyes and blue paint under the Gardiner Expressway?

A Toronto underpass thread 🧵 pic.twitter.com/075PDsHAZv

— Tim Kocur (@t_kocur) June 5, 2023

"One of the biggest challenges was we have this increasingly beautiful waterfront that people can go to, but you have to go under this dirty highway to get here," says Tim Kocur, Executive Director of the Waterfront BIA.

The project is made up of two installations: 'Boom Buddies,' the name given to the googly-eyed contraptions, is part of 'Boom Town,' with other art projects making up the 'Pixel Story' installation. 

It's official!

The reimagining of the York Street underpass is complete.

"Boom Town," was inspired by the ongoing transformation of the Gardiner Expressway and the familiar presence of equipment to inspect and maintain the structure.

Learn more here: https://t.co/EFm4TomyZB pic.twitter.com/ylXcOQrXbe

— The Waterfront BIA (@WaterfrontBIA) June 2, 2023

The installation proposal made back in January has both organizers and artists awaiting feedback from the public.

While these installations are bursting with quirkiness and a positive vibe, reactions from those in the city have been quite the opposite. 

Not sure it wants to be alive, it’s facial expression seems confused. pic.twitter.com/AUHU8t9tt3

— Edward Row (@edwardrow) June 7, 2023

But for Kocur and the rest of those involved in the project, any feedback is good feedback. 

"These are all essentially pilot projects, so I have to stress that we are actually really kind of happy to get negative feedback because this is a learning experience," says Kocur. 

In the eyes of the BIA, Waterfront Reconnect, and The Bentway, all news is good news, as incentives and projects for the area have been in planning as far back as 2019. 

"The ultimate goal here is after the Gardiner rehab, in three or five or however long it is going to take to be completed — is what can we encourage the city to take on as a new standard? So ideally, the city will maintain a higher standard at these connection points,” Says Kocur. 

Robert McKaye, the Senior Manager of Planning and Design for The Bentway, believes that getting those across the city to view the Gardiner Expressway in a new light can be an easy slam dunk — given enough time. 

"We are testing out new ideas now to see what we can bake into future pieces of infrastructure in our city," says McKaye. 

The Bentway and the Waterfront Reconnect project are part of an ongoing artistic experiment that will be featured along the Gardiner for several years to come, according to McKaye.