A chunk of the Gardiner Expressway broke free from the elevated highway Saturday night and crashed to the roadway below, narrowly missing a car stopped at York Street.

There were no injuries when the piece of cement fell just before midnight. But the piece, which was reportedly about the size of a basketball, shattered as it struck the roadway median below.

The scattering fragments of cement struck a car waiting at a stoplight, causing minor damage to the vehicle, police told the Toronto Star. Acting Staff Sgt. Craig Lewers added that the freezing and thawing of ice was the likely cause of the incident.

A portion of the intersection was closed for several hours while police investigated and city crews inspected the expressway.

"They didn't find anything significant," Toronto Roads Manager Myles Currie said Sunday. "Safety is our number one priority so we went out and we did some removing of some areas that looked like they may be suspect."

This is not the first time parts of the Gardiner Expressway have broken free and crashed to the road below. In 1999 in an area just east of Spadina, pieces of the Gardiner fell to the roadway, creating a mess but not hurting anyone.

A weakened structure was blamed for a fatal bridge collapse in Laval, Quebec last September. Engineers had inspected the bridge just hours before it collapsed. They had been sent to the bridge to inspect reports of concrete breaking free.

The engineers said the bridge was okay. It is believed that weakened steel reinforcing rods were likely to blame for the incident.

Currie said a repeat of the Laval incident is unlikely in Toronto.

"We're pretty confident in the structure," Currie said.

"We inspect the bridge every six months. The bridge code requires us every two years and we're exceeding that. And every day our guys are driving and looking at the structure."

Currie added that the maintenance plan includes removal of loose concrete in the spring and fall of every year. But to be cautious, a thorough inspection of the bridge will be conducted on Monday.

Construction of the Gardiner Expressway began in 1956 and took 10 years to complete at a cost of $103 million.

With a report from CTV's Roger Petersen