'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
Loblaw leaders push back on 'misguided criticism' of grocer as boycott begins
Loblaw's new chief executive, as well as chairman Galen Weston, pushed back on what they called 'misguided criticism' of the grocer as a push to boycott the company gains steam online.
TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions
Canada's financial intelligence agency says it has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.
Orangutan observed treating wound using medicinal plant in world first
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed an orangutan intentionally treating a wound on their face with a medicinal plant, the first time this behavior has been documented.
This Canadian restaurant just lowered its prices. Here's how it did it
A Canadian restaurant lowered its prices this week, and though news of price tags dropping rather than climbing sounds unusual, the business strategy in this case is not, according to experts in the field.
There's a limit to how much interest rates in Canada and U.S. can diverge: Macklem
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canadian interest rates don't have to match U.S. or global rates, but there is a limit to how much they can diverge.
Prince William and Kate release photo of daughter Charlotte to mark ninth birthday
Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
Doctors concerned about potential spread of bird flu in Canada
H5N1 or avian flu has been detected at dozens of U.S. dairy farms and Canadian experts are urging surveillance on our side of the border too.
Airbnb's Icons allow you to drift off in the 'Up' house or rest in Prince's 'Purple Rain' mansion
The vacation destination rental company announced a new category of 'Icons,' a collection of 'extraordinary experiences hosted by the greatest names in music, film, television, art, sports, and more.'
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Goring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.