Toronto drivers brace for more gridlock on Gardiner Expressway as bridge repairs begin
City says work needed on 5 bridges to keep highway operational
Drivers are gearing up for more construction on the Gardiner Expressway that will close down a lane of traffic for a stretch of the busy highway for close to a year.
The city says critical repair work is needed on five bridges located in the section of the Gardiner which runs from Highway 427 to the Humber River.
In order to complete the repairs, the westbound Gardiner Expressway will be reduced from four lanes to three between Park Lawn Road and Grand Avenue for approximately a year, starting April 16, city officials said in a news release last week. This lane reduction was initially set to begin on Monday.
Starting Monday, Islington Avenue will be reduced from three lanes in each direction to two lanes in each direction where they pass over the Gardiner Expressway, which is expected to continue until November.
Some residents living in Toronto's west end neighbourhoods say they've already been coping with lane closures and construction on the Gardiner for months since work began to refurbish the 60-year-old highway and portions of its elevated structure that run through the downtown core.
Joelle Regnier said she's planning on leaving for work 45 minutes earlier than usual once the lane closure begins.
"Already my heart is like, oh my goodness, what road am I going to take?" she said.
"I know I'm speaking on behalf of many residents here. It's discouraging and a little bit disheartening," Regnier said.
She said she wished the city could have been more proactive about maintaining the highway.
"I think one has to wonder … when there is critical work that needs to be done suddenly, urgently from one day to the next, one has to wonder about preventative maintenance and how well that's being done with," she said.
Iegor Satyr said he used to be able to get downtown within about half an hour, but it now usually takes him at least 40 minutes.
"It takes way longer to get to where you're going," he said.
Satyr said he also thinks road construction could be managed better to avoid creating gridlock, especially during the summer when most of it takes place.
"You can't just turn every road into a 40-kilometre zone."
As frustrating as these delays can be, the city is in a tough spot when it comes to these critical repairs, said Matthias Sweet, an associate professor in the school of urban and regional planning at Toronto Metropolitan University.
"Once you have actual infrastructure failure, things get only worse, so you're choosing between really tricky pain now and even potentially worse pain down the road," he said.
"So the city doesn't have an enormous amount of choice on these kind of matters."
The city says crews will be enabled to work up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet the planned construction schedule.
There will be a phased approach to construction as well to minimize impact on traffic, as well as traffic monitoring on the Gardiner Expressway and diversion routes and traffic agents at "key intersections" during busy periods to help keep traffic flowing.
The bridge repairs are expected to be completed by November 2026, with a pause from May to July 2026 to accommodate traffic for the FIFA World Cup.
With files from Sarah Tomlinson and Naama Weingarten