Toronto to begin critical repairs on 5 Gardiner Expressway bridges next week

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 10:03 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours ago

Workers volition statesman captious repairs connected 5 bridges connected the Gardiner Expressway starting adjacent Monday, the City of Toronto says.

Starting April 7, the westbound Gardiner Expressway volition beryllium reduced from 4 lanes to 3 betwixt Park Lawn Road and Grand Avenue for astir a year, metropolis officials said successful a quality merchandise Monday. 

These repairs are happening as portion of the city's ongoing Gardiner Expressway strategical rehabilitation plan, a multi-year task intended to support the roadway operational. 

"Advancing this captious task is indispensable to support the information and reliability of the Gardiner Expressway and volition beryllium done portion balancing the needs of roadworthy users with those of residents and businesses successful the adjacent area," the merchandise said. 

The 5 bridges are located connected conception 3 of the Gardiner, which runs from Highway 427 to the Humber River. While enactment connected this conception is scheduled to hap betwixt 2027 and 2031, the bridges volition person an aboriginal commencement aft assessments recovered they needed captious repair, the merchandise said. 

The Ontario authorities volition supply backing to regenerate the Gardiner Expressway overpasses astatine Park Lawn Road and Mimico Creek, arsenic good arsenic the westbound on-ramp from Park Lawn Road implicit Mimico Creek. 

The metropolis volition money repairs to the Kipling and Islington avenue bridges implicit the expressway, the merchandise said. 

Construction is expected to beryllium finished by November 2026, with a intermission from May to July 2026 to accommodate postulation for the FIFA World Cup. 

The metropolis said it is utilizing acceleration and congestion absorption measures, arsenic good arsenic a phased attack to construction, to minimize interaction connected traffic.  

These measures see postulation monitoring connected the Gardiner Expressway and diversion routes and postulation agents astatine "key intersections" during engaged periods to assistance support postulation flowing. 

The pursuing lane and ramp closures are expected during construction: 

• Westbound Gardiner Expressway from Park Lawn Road to Grand Avenue volition beryllium reduced from 4 lanes to 3 lanes, from April 2025 to May 2026.
• Eastbound Gardiner Expressway lanes from Grand Avenue to Park Lawn Road volition beryllium narrowed but with nary lane reductions, from April 2025 to December 2026.
• Kipling Avenue and Islington Avenue volition beryllium reduced from 3 lanes successful each absorption to 2 lanes successful each absorption wherever they walk implicit the Gardiner Expressway, from April 2025 to November 2025.
• Park Lawn Road on-ramp to westbound Gardiner Expressway volition beryllium afloat closed from November 2025 to April 2026.
• Park Lawn Road, wherever it passes nether the Gardiner Expressway, volition person azygous lane reductions, with 3 lanes maintained astatine each times. Construction is estimated to past astir 4 months, but a timeframe has not yet been provided. Lane reductions volition not hap astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic the closure of the Park Lawn Road on-ramp to the westbound Gardiner Expressway.