Toronto lays out plans for 'very ambitious' summer construction season
Jonathan Rumley | CBC News | Posted: April 26, 2016 4:20 PM | Last Updated: April 26, 2016
All lanes of Gardiner Expressway will be open by end of July, councillor says
Bring out the pylons.
It's nearly summer in Toronto and that means construction crews will be out in full force. The city has released a list of 22 major road closures that will likely affect your plans to commute.
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- John Tory 'hurries up' Gardiner construction
Coun. Jaye Robinson, the city's chair of public works, held a news conference on Gerrard Street to shed light on what to expect on city streets from June until the end of the year.
"It's going to be a tough summer," she told reporters. "We have a very ambitious schedule of construction work planned for 2016."
In a statement, the city acknowledged it is spending more than $550 million on maintaining and upgrading infrastructure. Roads, sewers and water mains all require work, and that means traffic disruptions.
There are fewer potholes to tackle this year compared to 2015 due to a relatively warm winter, Robinson said. More than 64,000 have been filled so far and more than 250,000 were repaired last year, according to city figures.
She also announced that all lanes of the Gardiner Expressway will open by the end of July, which is a few months earlier than October, when it was previously scheduled to reopen. Work is currently being done from Jameson to Spadina avenues to replace the deck of the aging highway.
Here are some other major projects in the works, according to a city release:
- Bayview Avenue will be resurfaced from just south of Highway 401 to Steeles Avenue.
- Warden Avenue will be resurfaced from Sheppard to Steeles avenues.
- Martin Grove Road will be resurfaced from Vulcan Street (north of Highway 409) to Finch Avenue.
- Gerrard Street will be affected by water main and road work from Yonge to Sherbourne streets.
- Don Mills Road will be resurfaced from Lawrence Avenue to York Mills Road.
- College Street will be affected by Toronto Transit Commission track replacement, along with sidewalk and road repairs, at both Bathurst Street and Lansdowne Avenue.
- Richmond Street will undergo water main and TTC track replacements, along with road resurfacing, from Church to York streets.
- Queen Street will be affected by water main replacement from Bathurst Street to Spadina Avenue.
- Lake Shore Boulevard will see trunk sewer replacement from Dwight to Superior avenues.
- Finch Avenue will undergo water main replacement at Highway 27.
"As a result of the construction, it is expected that the city will complete over 122 kilometres of road resurfacing work and 238 kilometres of sewer and water main work in 2016," the release read.
"Much of our infrastructure is aging and we need to do this work in order to maintain and improve our network of roads, bridges, sewers and water mains," Robinson said.
"We are continuing to do what is necessary to minimize disruption to the public by making sure that we co-ordinate construction work, extend hours of construction and make the traffic changes needed to ensure that people can keep moving efficiently while these projects take place," Mayor John Tory said in the release.
Online tools are available to help city workers and residents deal with the road issues. Torontonians are encouraged to visit the city's website to check out the services available.