Gardiner will be closed overnight instead of weekends for maintenance, City of Toronto says

Toronto’s road closure coordination committee revealed a change in the maintenance schedule for the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway this fall, after an assessment of the latest city road data.

Typically in a year, both the DVP and the Gardiner have closed for two weekends during the spring and fall, but after discovering the roadways had significant weekend usage, the committee has opted to move Gardiner maintenance to overnights and nix a DVP closure this fall.

Tory said a collaboration between city departments found ways to complete maintenance work in just a single spring closure in 2018.

READ MORE: York-Bay-Yonge exit on eastbound Gardiner Expressway closed permanently

Meanwhile, the city will also avoid daytime Gardiner closures by moving work schedules to four weekend overnights on Nov. 13 and 14 and Nov. 27 and 28. Only westbound lanes will be affected within the allotted closing hours of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

“The data shows that the Gardiner is used more on the weekends than during these overnight periods so it actually made more sense,” Tory said.

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The data Tory alluded to was compiled by the city’s transportation department, and in one example from the summer, stats showed 46,000 vehicles on the Gardiner in a 24-hour period. Overnight volume, however, was around 6,000 vehicles.

The primary work to be done during the closures is road resurfacing.

The road closure coordination committee was created and spearheaded by Mayor John Tory’s “Get Toronto Moving” campaign started in 2014.

The panel, which includes the city manager’s office, transportation, economic development, TTC, police, engineering and construction and Metrolinx, is tasked with minimizing road closures related to maintenance and city events.

Update on York Bay Yonge off-ramp replacement

In a related road issue, Tory confirmed that the new Harbour street off-ramp is on schedule and should be completed in January 2018.

The ramp will eventually bring four lanes from Lower Simcoe to Bay Street while improving pedestrian and bicycle access to the waterfront.

When asked whether the city might throw extra money at a contractor to complete the job sooner, as was done for the Dundas-Victoria and Dundas-Parliament streetcar track upgrades, Tory responded by saying crews were already working at top speed.

“They’re working as fast as they can, ” Tory said. “I would be surprised if we paid them more, that they could do it any faster.”

WATCH: Dundas Street between Bay and Church streets is closed for streetcar track replacement and road resurfacing. Caryn Lieberman has more.

3:07 Dundas Street construction closes major traffic artery in Toronto