Toronto’s city manager says staff are preparing a plan and considering various 鈥減romising鈥 measures to 鈥渟ignificantly鈥 speed the construction on the Gardiner Expressway that has added dramatically to the city’s traffic woes.
Paul Johnson told the Star this could potentially include聽adding more crews, providing more equipment, accelerating the production of construction materials and/or extending work hours.聽
鈥淧eople can expect ... a significant reduction in the time of construction,鈥 he said Tuesday of the plan, which is still in the works. 鈥淏ut I think we need to temper expectations. This was a long project. It was spread over three years, so it’s not going to be finished by the end of the summer.鈥
颁颈迟测听聽indicate these were all options discussed at a workshop last month with the current contractor and聽industry experts. Now, staff are determining their feasibility and aiming to present the plan to council at the end of July.
Meanwhile,聽Mayor Olivia Chow said it’s 鈥渘o secret鈥 that she has been meeting with provincial Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria. 鈥淲e are actively putting a package together鈥 since 鈥渢here are different ways to speed it up,鈥 she said.
The city has already allowed some overnight work, modified dozens of traffic signal timings and reopened the Jameson gate on-ramp as part of a push to alleviate congestion.
Part of the challenges with putting together a construction acceleration plan goes beyond affordability, Johnson said. It also has to consider the supply chain, how fast suppliers can deliver material,聽whether聽materials can arrive in 鈥渄ifferent time frames鈥 and all the while getting 鈥渢he workforce and everything aligned,鈥 he said.
In the months since the Gardiner construction closed one lane in both directions,聽travel times have increased by聽an estimated 250 per cent during the morning rush hour.
Deputy mayor Ausma Malik聽鈥 whose ward, Spadina鈥擣ort York, includes the stretch of Gardiner from Strachan to Dufferin that鈥檚 under construction聽鈥 said in a recent email to the Star she knows the perpetual road work 鈥渉asn鈥檛 been easy鈥 on residents.聽
鈥淚 share their concerns and have been working to address concerns related to noise and disruption,鈥 she said, adding she has also prioritized making sure noise impacts are limited 鈥渁s much as possible.鈥
Johnson noted it will be a聽balancing act between noise bylaws, ensuring聽people aren’t 鈥渙verly negatively impacted鈥 and being mindful of workers’ safety overnight.
The Gardiner reconstruction is 鈥渟omething that will still take some time, but we’ve been able to look at options that would be a significant improvement in the overall length of the project鈥 while balancing local residents’ various needs, Johnson said.
The final piece, he continued, is a congestion management plan. Chow’s office said a staff report is expected for September.
Construction on the Gardiner today is part of a three-year, $300-million project to rehabilitate the aging highway聽鈥 which is only the second of six repair jobs needed to fully restore it.聽As part of the 鈥渘ew deal鈥 between the city and Queen’s Park, the province agreed to take on the financial burden of fixing both the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway. This freed up about $1.9 billion for the city, according to聽Toronto鈥檚 chief financial officer.
A new聽, which will be debated at next week’s executive committee, lays out where the money could be allocated:聽the TTC, housing and infrastructure development, parks and recreation, corporate real estate management and the Broadview eastern flood protection project. The money from the Gardiner upload is urgently needed to help with ballooning repair backlogs in many of these areas, but is nowhere near enough to cover the city鈥檚 projected needs, according to the report.
For example, the TTC, which would receive the largest share at $500 million over 10 years, is expected to need $8.2 billion over the same time period, mostly for vehicle overhaul and procurement. Also, transportation repairs will get $350 million of the Gardiner funds, a fraction of the聽estimated $7.8 billion needed this decade for road rehabilitation, primarily for roads and bridges built between 1950 to 1980.
In a statement to the Star, Chow said she supported Conforti鈥檚 proposal and agreed the city is in desperate need of cash to keep itself together.
鈥淥ver the years, we’ve seen our infrastructure start to fall apart,鈥 she said.聽
鈥淏y uploading the Gardiner to the province, we can now spend billions fixing transit, roads, housing, community centres and more. This is the generational impact of the New Deal.鈥
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