The city will close the Gardiner Expressway for four nights in November in order to conduct annual maintenance work rather than shutting it down for a whole weekend, as has been the practice in the past.
Mayor John Tory made the announcement following a meeting with the city’s road closure coordination committee on Wednesday, calling it a “significant improvement.”
“The data shows the Gardiner is used more on the weekend than during these overnight periods so it actually made more sense to close the roads overnight,” he said. “On a Saturday this summer, for example, 46,000 vehicles were on the Gardiner in a 24-hour period. Overnight volume, though, is around 6,000 vehicles. Now that we are actually measuring these things it only makes sense to be doing what we are doing.”
The overnight closures of the Gardiner will take place between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on Nov. 13th, 14th, 27th and 28th.
Tory said that while he can’t say that the Gardiner will never have to be closed for a full weekend again; he noted that his preference going forward will be to use the overnight hours to complete the sort of maintenance work that was previously done on a designated fall weekend each year.
“We are going to try it and I am very, very hopeful and will certainly be keeping my fingers crossed,” he said.
The Gardiner is typically closed from Friday night until late Sunday night during the fall maintenance weekend, though the city was able to avoid a full closure back in 2015.
The majority of the work to be completed during the overnight closures this November involves the resurfacing of the roadway, Tory said.
The Don Valley Parkway was closed for a weekend in April for maintenance and will not require any closures this fall.
