A portion of Kipling Avenue closed for construction over the weekend has reopened 12 hours earlier than planned, city officials say.
Kipling Avenue has been closed between Dundas Street West and Bloor Street West as of 7 p.m. on Friday so that crews could remove two bridges near the Six Points interchange. The construction is part of a major overhaul of the area known as “Spaghetti Junction.” The city said it hopes to transform the intersection into a more “community-centric area.”
Crews worked 24 hours a day over the weekend to complete the construction, the city said.
With the removal of the bridges, the city hopes to unlock land that can be used for parkettes, public art or a community centre.
The city also hopes to widen Kipling Avenue to add dedicated cycling lanes and additional turning lanes.
“That whole interchange was designed for the automobile so it is undergoing a major redevelopment into a mixed use, residential area, pedestrian friendly area,” the city’s chief engineer Michael D'Andrea told CP24 on Friday.
In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the city said that one lane of Kipling Avenue in each direction reopened to vehicular traffic around 5 p.m. The scheduled time for construction completion was 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
The area, however, is still closed to pedestrians. The city said that a temporary sidewalk will open on Tuesday on the west side of Kipling Avenue.
