Accelerated Gardiner Expressway timeline murky until deal finalized

Toronto officials have given the green light to an expanded work schedule that will see construction on the western leg of the Gardiner Expressway end at least a year earlier than expected, but the actual start date for that accelerated work is less clear.

The province committed $73 million of funding to speed up the work before city council’s meeting last week, after the congestion the work caused was deemed too costly to the region’s economy. The timeline for the project is expected to be complete by at least April of 2026, rather than the following April.

To get it done on that schedule, the city said work hours will be significantly increased to a minimum of 20 hours a day, six days a week, with some seventh workdays added as required. A city spokesperson said the work may be occasionally boosted to 24-7 schedules.

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Before the work begins, however, the city first needs to re-negotiate its contract awarded to Grascan Construction, which began the construction in the spring.

Spokesperson Laura McQuillan told Global News in an emailed statement that the city is currently in the process of finalizing those negotiations, but would provide no clarity on when the talks were expected to be complete.

A precise start date for the accelerated work was also unavailable, although McQuillan said it is “expected to commence in early August.”

She added that the negotiations would need to be complete before the expanded work begins. No further details were provided out of concern of influencing contract talks.

But city council will not be required to sign off on the details of the new negotiation, opting to give staff confidential limits to make a deal before councillors took an extended summer break before their next meeting in September.

The expanded work is expected to bring with it more noise, but residents of nearby Liberty Village said they were willing to cope with more volume if it meant reducing traffic in the area.

The neighbourhood has been plagued by congestion with surrounding construction projects pushing vehicles into the area. Residents have been growing more frustrated at the lack of results to date.

Sheldon Pangan-Mathurin lives in a building that neighbours some of the closest Gardiner construction and said she would be willing to deal with construction noise for a clear path out of the neighbourhood.

“I’d rather take the noise and 24-hour construction than have to deal with this s–t,” Pangan-Mathurin said.