Mayor Olivia Chow says staff are "very close” to releasing a report that will outline steps the city can take to accelerate construction of the Gardiner Expressway as concerns over traffic congestion mount.
Since the major rehabilitation work began earlier this year, lane reductions on the busy highway have brought traffic to a standstill at many points throughout the day, causing significant delays for commuters.
In a letter to council last month, the mayor acknowledged that the initial three-year timeline to rebuild the highway is “simply too long” for the “vital artery” and more must be done to accelerate the work.
Speaking to reporters at city hall ahead of Tuesday’s executive committee meeting, Chow said staff will soon publicly release a report that breaks down what can be done to speed up work and improve congestion.
“We are very, very close,” she said of the final report.
In the meantime, she said many conversations have taken place with the province’s transportation minister to figure out what can be done.
“One aspect is how to speed up the construction,” Chow said Tuesday.
“The second piece of it is traffic jams. What are some of the ways that we can ease the traffic in and around so the Gardiner won’t be so jammed up.”
She noted that staff are working with industry experts to find solutions and two workshops on congestion management and construction acceleration were held in Toronto last month.
In Chow’s letter to council, she noted that measures have already been taken accelerate work and improve traffic flow between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue, including allowing for some overnight demolition work, modifying dozens of signal timings, and redesigning the traffic control setup for westbound traffic in order to open the Jameson Gate.
She said the city has also requested an acceleration construction proposal from the contractor.
“We are essentially rebuilding that elevated highway while keeping four of the six lanes in service at all times,” Chow told reporters on Tuesday. “So it is complex work.”
Chow’s comments come on the same day as the release of a new poll that shows Torontonians believe traffic in the city has reached a crisis point.
The survey, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, found that gridlock is prompting a segment of the workforce to consider leaving the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, with 53 per cent of respondents indicating they have contemplated relocating in order to escape congestion.
“It’s mind-boggling to see those kinds of numbers,” Board of Trade President Giles Gherson told CTV Toronto.
“What we’re hearing in general is that it is a crisis. And that it is the priority for a lot of people.”
With files from CTV Toronto's Natalie Johnson
