Don Valley Stadium as the centre-piece of a £147 million construction programme needed to provide the necessary sports and cultural facilities to enable the city to host the 1991 Summer Universiade. Jan Železný threw in the javelin on 29 August 1993 (which was a world record at the time) and infamously nearly hit the TV commentators who were interviewing close to the start/finish line. There were plans to use the stadium in a Sheffield bid for the 2002 Commonwealth Games (which eventually went to Manchester) and also to use it as a potential joint ground for the city's two football teams. In both
Don Valley Parkway did not have the money and appealed to 'civic-minded citizens' to donate the land on which the highway would be built. None came forward. In 1939, city transportation planner Norman Wilson proposed a boulevard that would follow the valley into the northeast. On January 1, 1946, Toronto voters approved the building of a 'Don Valley Traffic Artery' following the same route as the "speedway" by a vote of 31,882 to 12,328. This was the same plebiscite where Toronto voters approved the construction of the Yonge segment of Line 1. The City then borrowed $1.5 million to finance the project. In