Heads up, drivers! The Gardiner Expressway will be completely closed over the weekend for maintenance and repairs.
The one-time, 35-hour closure is scheduled from 11 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20 to 10 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22. The York on-ramp will also be closed and will reopen by 5 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 23.
The City of Toronto says the shutdown will allow crews to do work of over 30 overnight lane closures at one time, “which means less hassle for drivers and saves money,” the city wrote in a Facebook post last week.
“During this closure, crews will be busy resurfacing the lanes, fixing cracks and potholes, replacing guiderails, and removing any loose concrete from the underside. They’ll also inspect and fix signs and lights, clear catch basins to prevent flooding, and clean up debris and graffiti. Repairs will also be done on the Dufferin Street Bridge,” the city said.
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The city performs regular spring and fall maintenance on the Gardiner every year. On its website, the city says when a significant number of kilometres of pavement milling and paving is required, a full weekend closure is scheduled.
“It would take approximately 30 to 40 separate daily lane closures to complete the same amount of highly coordinated work that will be performed in just 54 hours over a single weekend,” the city said.
Traffic agents will be deployed on alternate routes during this time and traffic signals will be adjusted in real time, the city added.
The planned construction comes as the city is undertaking a major multi-year rehabilitation of the over 60-year-old expressway, to address the effects of age, heavy daily usage, weather and salt.
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The city’s first project as part of the Gardiner Expressway Strategic Rehabilitation Plan included repairs from Jarvis to Cherry streets. Now, the city is on its second phase of the six-part plan, where the elevated portion of the expressway from Dufferin St. to Strachan Ave. is being replaced. As a result, that stretch of the Gardiner has been reduced to two lanes in each direction.
In July, the provincial government announced it was providing $73 million to the city to speed up construction on the Gardiner, potentially ending the rehabilitation project a year earlier than anticipated. This means construction on the Gardiner could be completed by April 2026 instead of its initial timeline of April 2027.
