'Like a parking lot': Toronto's Gardiner Expressway now down to 2 lanes in each direction for 3 years
A 700-metre stretch of the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto is now running on two lanes in each direction for the foreseeable future and some drivers are already expecting traffic to get worse.
“It's going to be chaos,” Nellie Carol, who lives at the Harbourfront, told CTV News Toronto.
One westbound lane from Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue was closed on Sunday in addition to the one eastbound lane that was closed last week. The closures are part of a rehabilitation project for the 60-year-old highway, which is expected to last until mid-2027.
Even before Sunday’s closure, Carol said traffic in the area was bad due to the lane reduction in the eastbound lanes.
“When I was travelling westbound…I could see the traffic [eastbound] was backed up all the way from Yonge Street all the way back to the [Highway] 427. It was like a parking lot,” she said.
Mary Ann Torres says her commute from Park Lawn Road in Etobicoke to Strachan Avenue more than doubled to 45 minutes last week and says she may need to get a new job if the traffic continues.
“Public transportation or alternative routes (Lakeshore, Queensway) are also affected,” she told CTV News Toronto. “I wish the city had a better plan that comprehensively addresses the need to fix the infrastructure and mitigates the impact.”
Another commuter, named Lauren, told CTV News Toronto that her drive from south Etobicoke to midtown Toronto is two times longer than it used to be after the first lane closure in the eastbound lanes.
Vehicles makes their way into and out of downtown Toronto along the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto on Thursday, November 24, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
“From 35-40 to 70-80 minutes, three days a week,” she said in an email last week. “Lakeshore, Gardiner and routes through the city are all a mess, and Google Maps/Waze quotes for travel duration have become completely unreliable. I understand that the work needs to be completed, but why during such critical times of day?”
Crews will work from Monday to Saturday between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. to complete the $300-million project, which involves replacing concrete deck and girders, rehabilitating the associated substructure and installing new street lighting.
At times, the city has said, there will be “intermittent” overnight closures of a second east or westbound lane. The eastbound on-ramp from Lake Shore Boulevard east of Jameson Avenue is also closed.
The city says it will carry out a congestion management plan on the stretch of affected highway, which sees roughly 200,000 vehicles pass through daily.
City staff said the highway will reopen briefly during the 2026 FIFA World Cup when the city is set to host a handful of games.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
One dead, 26 wounded in overnight shooting in Ohio: reports
A shooting on a street in Akron, Ohio, killed one man and wounded 26 other people early Sunday morning, according to reports by local news outlets.
Ambassador says interactions with Russia 'quite limited' but 'not unfriendly'
Canada's ambassador to Russia says while Ottawa has 'grave concerns' about the Kremlin's 'longer-term trends,' the war in Ukraine is 'a primary barrier to a change in the relationship.'
Bathroom break nearly derails $22 million project at city council meeting
A brief break during Wednesday's city council meeting in Saskatoon nearly cost the city dearly.
South Korea vows 'unbearable' retaliation against North Korea over its launch of trash balloons
South Korea said Sunday it’ll soon take retaliatory steps against North Korea over its launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border and other provocations.
Lanny McDonald and a few old Flames take the Stanley Cup on a surprise visit to the man who saved his life
The Stanley Cup was passing through town Friday, and Lanny Legend took it upon himself to take it for a surprise visit.
Chad Daybell sentenced to death for killing wife and girlfriend’s two children in jury decision
Jurors resumed deliberations Saturday on whether a man should be sentenced to death after being convicted days earlier of the murders of his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children in Idaho.
Mass parachute jump over Normandy kicks off commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day
Parachutists jumping from Second World War-era planes hurled themselves Sunday into now peaceful Normandy skies where war once raged, heralding a week of ceremonies for the fast-disappearing generation of Allied troops who fought from D-Day beaches 80 years ago.
Robert Pickton stabbed with toothbrush and broken broom handle: victim's family
The family of one of Robert Pickton's victims says the convicted serial killer suffered an incredibly violent death at the hands of another inmate.
Father who killed one-year-old son with axe may be allowed to travel in southwestern Ontario
A Mennonite father who killed his one-year-old son with an axe may be allowed to travel to parts of southern Ontario in the coming months