Gardiner lanes close for 2.5 years

(Update)

A commuter nightmare that could last two years is only just beginning. That’s the scenario for anyone driving into Toronto as of now. The city has closed two lanes of the Gardiner expressway for three separate projects.

At the Kipling bridge at 9am, it became clear this was no ordinary Toronto traffic jam.

“It’s pretty crazy. I literally just got off on Lakeshore because I’ve been on the road for an hour now. What would it normally take? half hour. It’s been an hour and fifteen.”

Three projects have begun. One replaces steel guardrails, another rehabilitates three bridges. And much of the elevated highway will also get a new concrete deck. Two lanes will be under construction at a time, one in each direction. When a portion is finished, two other lanes will close and traffic will shift over.

“It’s really annoying but at the same time I feel that there’s pieces of the highway falling off so, I guess it’s probably a necessity.”

Frank Clarizio is with Toronto Capital Works: “The Gardiner is a 60-year old piece of infrastructure & it needs ongoing maintenance and rehab.”

Disgruntled drivers calling the city to complain are told to try carpooling, or transit. These repairs are scheduled until 2016 – but this could be the new normal.

Frank said: “So we can expect traffic getting back to normal in two years? Yes, but there’s ongoing rehab projects to maintain the Gardiner and we’ll be planning those works in the future years as well.”

The city is trying to mitigate some of the congestion by doing things like changing the timing of the traffic lights on some of the alternate routes like Lakeshore Rd. But the Gardiner gets 150 thousand cars a day and there doesn’t seem to be any easy way to manage that overflow.

“What can are you going do? Unless I get a helicopter or something, otherwise, there’s no other way downtown.”