‘Busiest ever’ billion-dollar 2019 construction season starts in Toronto

Mayor John Tory kicked off what is expected to be Toronto’s busiest -ever construction season Monday morning with more than $1 billion in work planned for roads, bridges, expressways, sewers and watermains.

Tory said this is the largest investment into a construction season for the City of Toronto.

The city said there will be construction taking place across Toronto on more than 600 roads. City staff will be coordinating construction, as much as possible, to minimize the disruption to the public.

They also plan to accelerate projects and minimize traffic congestion by extending work hours for key projects. The city said 63 projects will operate on extended, overnight or 24-7 work hours.

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Here is the breakdown for the 2019 construction projects and their prices tags:

Approximately $590 million will be spent on rehabilitating and improving transportation infrastructure including:

• $100 million on major roads.
• $70 million local roads.
• $200 million on expressways including the F.G. Gardiner Strategic Rehabilitation.
• $60 million on sidewalks and cycling infrastructure.
• $45 million on Vision Zero infrastructure and the Road Safety Plan.
• $115 million on bridges, culverts and other transportation infrastructure in the municipal right-of-way.

Approximately $480 million will be invested in water infrastructure including:

• $200 million on watermains and water services.
• $75 million on sewers.
• $75 million on basement flooding protection.
• $130 million on storm water management projects including the Don River and Central Waterfront.

Some of the major projects planned for this year include:

• Kipling Avenue, Bloor Street West and Dundas Street West, Six Points Interchange Reconfiguration.
• Four bridges over the Don Valley Parkway, rehabilitation of Don Mills Road, Spanbridge Road, Wynford Drive and Lawrence Avenue bridges.
• Gardiner Expressway Strategic Rehabilitation from Jarvis Street to Cherry Street, first phase.
• Bloor Street West from Bathurst Street to Spadina Avenue, watermain replacement, streetscaping, bike lane construction and road resurfacing.
• Richmond Street from York Street to Bathurst Street, watermain replacement.
• Jarvis Street from Dundas Street to Queen Street, road resurfacing (resuming from 2018).
• Don and Central Waterfront, first phase, Coxwell Bypass Tunnel boring.
• Queen Street East and Eastern Avenue, TTC track replacement.
• Birchmount Road from Eglinton Avenue East to Lawrence Avenue East, road resurfacing.
• Midland Avenue from Danforth Avenue to Lawrence Avenue East, road reconstruction.
• Old Weston Road from St. Clair Avenue West to Rowntree Avenue, road resurfacing.
• Royal York from Dixon Road to Summitcrest Drive, road resurfacing.
• York Mills Road from Leslie Street to Don Mills Road, road resurfacing.
• Willowdale Avenue from Empress Avenue to Finch Avenue, road resurfacing and bike lane installation.
• Bayview Avenue over the west Don River, bridge repairs.

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The City of Toronto said the work will result in about 140 kilometres of road paving and 200 kilometres of sewer and watermain improvements.

The public is being advised to plan their travel in advance, consider alternate routes and obey work zone signs.

“Toronto’s infrastructure is used every day by millions of residents, businesses and visitors. These large investments made by the city guarantee that we keep adapting to the growth Toronto is experiencing and we keep improving our transportation and water infrastructure, ” Tory at a press conference Monday.