TORONTO — Downtown drivers rejoice: Mayor John Tory says construction along the Gardiner will be completed by summer 2016, three months earlier than anticipated.
Tory took a tour of the deck rehabilitation repairs on the westbound Gardiner Monday morning, and publicly addressed the traffic congestion problems caused by construction projects.
“We need to find ways to see construction projects – including this one – done faster so that we can get back to the normal flow of traffic,” Tory said.
“We have already moved forward with a number of projects where we are working longer hours and using different techniques to get things done faster. Twenty projects right now are on the accelerated ‘hurry up’ program that has been instituted since I have came into office.”
The current Gardiner construction is in phase two of the deck rehabilitation project which will see the replacement of the deck on the elevated portion of the expressway.
Repairs were previously expected to be complete by October 2016.
Phase one began April 2014 and was set to be completed by June 30, 2015, but the work was accelerated at a cost $2 million and was finished two months early, by April 2015.
On August 19, phase two roadwork began along the 400-metre stretch between Strachan Avenue and Bathurst Street, shortly after the Pan Am games concluded.
READ MORE: More road closures to hit major Toronto highway as HOV lanes removed
Tory applauded Councillor Jaye Robinson, chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure committee, for her work in expediting the project.
“It’s being done in the obvious manner, by extending work hours, by increasing crews and equipment and resources and there is a cost that goes with that,” said Tory.
The city has agreed to pay up to $3.4 million to speed up construction.
“The $3.4 million would be paid if the contractor is able to complete the job three months ahead of schedule… This would bring completion to middle of July,” said Michael D’Andrea, executive director Engineering and Construction Services.
“It’s a sliding scale, so if (the contractor) finishes two months ahead of schedule, then he’s entitled to $2 million dollars and then beyond that, if he’s not able to reach the first milestone, then he doesn’t get paid. It’s a risk to him because he is putting in additional workers and resources to meet this acceleration timeline.”
Tory says that’s a small price to pay.
“Compared to the $1 million a day that it costs just to have these lanes narrowed down and the congestion that brings about,” Tory said.
“I look at it and say, if it’s a $1 million a day and we are saving 90 days on the construction compared to an investment of $3.4 million to get it done, it’s common sense to say you make the investment and you get the job done faster so that people can do business, productivity can be restored and we don’t have this huge cost to the economy.”
Not everyone was cheering for the shortened timeline.
After a brief Facebook outage Monday, Councillor Rob Ford tweeted a sarcastic remark that perhaps Tory could throw some similar incentives to get the site back up.
Additional deck rehabilitation work will take place on the elevated portion of the expressway once phase two is completed in summer 2016.
With files from Mark McAllister
Comments