Crews remove ‘a few hundred’ pounds of loose concrete from Gardiner

WATCH ABOVE: Dave Trafford reports on loose concrete on the Gardiner Expressway and how the city is trying to fix the problem. 

TORONTO – City staff removed a “few hundred pounds” of loose concrete from the underside of the Gardiner Expressway overnight Thursday, a few days after a van was badly damaged by falling concrete.

The city sent four crews to inspect the patch of Lake Shore Boulevard near Lower Spadina Avenue overnight to look for loose concrete. City workers use a hammer to bang on the underside of the Gardiner and listen for concrete that sounds loose.

Stephen Buckley, the city’s general manager of Transportation Services, said crews gathered “a few hundred pounds” of loose concrete overnight.

But, he said, the city’s aggressive rehabilitation program has made the Gardiner significantly safer over the last three years.

“The number of incidents and claimed incidents over the past few years has dropped significantly,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The number of incidents and claimed incidents over the past few years has dropped significantly," he said.

He said there were a few dozen falling concrete incidents in 2013. That number dropped significant to just four positively identified incidents in 2014. There has only been two claimed incidents in 2015.

READ MORE: A Global News investigation into the state of the Gardiner Expressway

The city differentiates between “claimed incidents” or accusations the concrete came from the Gardiner and positively identified incidents. Buckley said sometimes the concrete that’s thought to have fallen from the expressway may have just been debris from the highway above.

But, the concrete that badly damaged a vehicle earlier this week “likely” came from the Gardiner Expressway, Buckley said Friday.

“So last night our crews went out there and inspected the location where the complainant had complained the piece had fallen off,” he said. “It is possible that the piece did fall off from the Gardiner at that location.”

The city can’t definitely determine if the concrete came from the Gardiner until they get their hands on it.

Mayor John Tory said he’s “concerned” about falling concrete but believes the Gardiner Expressway, and the Lake Shore Boulevard which runs underneath, are safe.

“This is very concerning to me because none of us would want to be driving along and have any kind of a chunk of concrete hit the windshield,” he said.

“If one piece is falling off the Gardiner, let alone two, three or four, it’s one too many.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If one piece is falling off the Gardiner, let alone two, three or four, it's one too many."

– With files from Dave Trafford