The demolition of two overpasses began Friday night and will continue until Tuesday morning as the City of Toronto continues to untangle one of its worst intersections.
Etobicoke’s Six Points Interchange is where Bloor Street West, Dundas Street West, and Kipling Avenue all converge.
The city has spent the greater part of a decade planning to improve it and this weekend sees the demolition of two overpasses necessary to complete the work.
“This was very much like a highway interchange with on-ramps, off-ramps and an underpass,” said the city’s chief engineer Michael D’Andrea.
“What we’re doing with the demolition of these two bridges is a major milestone in the project, to actually bring the entire road network to grade.”
When construction is complete, the area known as “spaghetti junction” by many locals, will be a lot more straightforward.
Along with making it less confusing for motorists, improvements like a boulevard and dedicated bike lanes will make it a lot safer for pedestrians and cyclists alike.
D’Andrea said this phase of the demolition work is scheduled to be finished by 5 a.m. Tuesday morning.
But while the intersection at Bloor West and Kipling will be reopened, he said it will be down to a single lane in both directions.
With several pieces of heavy demolition equipment spewing up dust, many locals came out to watch the progress.
Jessica Savage has lived in the area for 15 years and calls the intersection’s previous configuration a “disaster.”
She said she’s looking forward to seeing the pedestrian-friendly improvements.
“I actually used to walk my kids to daycare on the other side of the bridge and it was pretty scary trying to pass through here,” said Savage.
City Councillor Stephen Holyday told Global News he was excited to see progress being made on a project many years in the making.
Construction is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2020.
The City of Toronto held a contest to name three new roads that will be created but has not revealed the winning submissions.