WARNING: The Gardiner Expressway will be closed all weekend
Sometimes you don’t know what a nightmare looks like until you’re in it.
This weekend, from 11 pm tonight, Friday, October 21, until 5 am Monday, October 24, the Gardiner Expressway will be closed from Carlaw Avenue to Highway 427/Queen Elizabeth Way.
While closed, the City of Toronto plans on making “changes to traffic-signal timing to enhance traffic flow on nearby routes, mitigating traffic congestion associated with the expressway’s closure.”
Which, if you’ve ever driven across Toronto when the Gardiner is closed, is a lot like someone handing you an umbrella in a hurricane and wishing you the best.
If you’re curious what the closure is all about, the City has outlined everything they’ll be working on over the 54-hour period and that includes:
• resurfacing 1.4 “lane kilometres” of roadway
• crack sealing and repair of about 1,500 metres of asphalt surfaces
• asphalt core testing and estimates for future surface maintenance
• in-depth inspection and chipping of 15 bridges from Jameson Avenue west to Kipling Avenue
• cleaning and repair of 300 catch basins, with flushing and inspection of culverts
• shoulder re-grading to restore drainage at several locations
• installation of 900 metres of permanent median “tall wall”
• paving at various locations, including the ramp from Jameson Avenue to the westbound Gardiner Expressway
• pavement line marking from Spadina Avenue to Exhibition Place
• sign maintenance for entire length of roadway
• maintenance of 21 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, nine variable message signs (VMS) and 30 equipment cabinets
• installation of 37 signs at exit ramps
• repair of approximately 100 metres of guiderail, including end treatments and safety systems
• mechanical sweeping operations and debris removal
• inspection, repair and re-lamping of street lights, and
• pothole repairs.
One thing’s for sure, Bloor, King, Lake Shore, and the Queensway are going to look more like parking lots this weekend than actual roadways.
Good luck and god speed. You’ll need it.
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