One of Toronto’s busiest roadways is temporarily shutting down for a bit of spring cleaning.
The Don Valley Parkway (DVP) will be fully closed for annual maintenance from Highway 401/404 to the Gardiner Expressway from 11 p.m. on Friday, April 21, to 5 a.m. on Monday, April 24.
Over that period, a crew of over 200 — both city employees and contractors — will be squeezing in a lot of work across more than 14 km of infrastructure.
The long list of tasks includes the cleaning and resurfacing of the roadway, as well as repairs and inspections on bridges, signs, the road shoulder, street lights, guide-railing, cameras and much more.
More than 600 catch basins along the flood-prone parkway will be cleared or repaired, and culverts will be flushed as well.
Kyp Perikleous, head of the city’s transportation services division, said commuters will notice some changes on Monday morning.
“There will be 31 exit numbering signs that will now be installed up and down the Don Valley Parkway,” he said. “Plus, you will notice a lot of line painting in addition to long stretches of fresh asphalt.”
Over the weekend, those who would normally use the DVP are encouraged to take public transit or alternate routes such as Don Mills Road, Bayview Avenue, Victoria Park Avenue and Kingston Road.
“We’ve done signal timing adjustments on the parallel routes to try and assist with the flow of traffic,” Perikleous said.
In addition to the closure of the DVP, no parking or standing will be permitted on Broadview Avenue from the Danforth to Pape and O’Connor Drive. That will last from 10 a.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday.
Perikleous said if the work is completed ahead of schedule, the parkway will reopen early.
Other Closures
The DVP closure is not the only potential weekend traffic snarl.
There will be no TTC service on Line 3 (McCowan to Kennedy) on Saturday and Sunday due to track work. TTC shuttle buses will be running in the area.
As for streetcars, there is a number of closures including 501 streetcar service suspended from Shaw to Spadina. The 509 streetcar will be replaced entirely with buses, while the 510 will see buses running south of King and the 514 streetcar will not serve the Dufferin Loop.
GO train riders on the Lakeshore East line will have to deal with service being reduced from every 30 minutes to every hour starting Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. through to Sunday. The disruption is caused by construction work at Guildwood GO Station and the East Rail Maintenance Facility in Whitby.
As well, the Barrie GO line from Allandale Waterfront Go and Union stations is closed April 22-23 to accommodate pedestrian tunnel installation at Maple GO Station. Regular bus service will be running in each direction, with additional buses to be put in service.
Don Valley Parkway spring maintenance by the numbers*
14.3 km: length of roadway lanes to be resurfaced
32: number of bridges to receive non-structural inspection
17: number of bridges to receive structural inspection
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38: number of bridge joints to be flushed
600: number of catch basins to be cleaned and repaired along with the flushing and inspection of culverts
16: number of closed-circuit TVs to receive maintenance
30: number of overhead signs to be inspected and repaired
31: number of road exit numbering signs to be installed
27: number of equipment cabinets to be inspected/maintained
850 m: approximate length of guide-rail to be repaired
*Figures courtesy of the City of Toronto
— With files from Don Mitchell and Briana Carnegie, AM640
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