People warned to brace for another weekend of nightmare travel around Toronto
If you’re planning on attending any of the numerous events taking place in Toronto this long weekend — or just, you know, travelling around the city at all — you’ll want to be mindful of the major road closures and congestion points that are inevitably going to lengthen any and all commutes.
The Toronto Police Service has issued a special PSA cautioning residents and visitors of a particularly busy weekend of traffic due to the holiday Monday on top of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival Grand Parade and its associated celebrations.
The annual festival will take over chunks of arterial routes that will be blocked to all vehicular traffic from 12 am on Saturday, August 5 until 7 am on Sunday, August 6 — mainly Lake Shore Boulevard W from Fort York Boulevard to Colborne Lodge Drive, and Strachan Avenue southbound from Fleet Street.
Some streets in the area will also be limited to local traffic:
- Lake Shore Boulevard W westbound between Bathurst Street and Fort York Boulevard
- Dufferin Street south of King Street W
- Dowling Avenue south of King Street W
- Stadium Road south of Lake Shore Boulevard W
- Queens Quay W west of Bathurst Street
- Springhurst Avenue west of Jameson Avenue
- Springhurst Avenue east of Jameson Avenue
- Remembrance Drive
A number of on- and off-ramps will also be closed as of 12 am on Saturday morning:
- Westbound Gardiner Expressway on-ramp at Jameson Avenue
- Eastbound Gardiner Expressway off-ramp on Jameson Avenue
- Eastbound Gardiner Expressway on-ramps from Jameson Avenue, and Lake Shore Boulevard W at British Columbia Road
- Westbound Gardiner Expressway off-ramp at Dunn Avenue
- Lake Shore Boulevard W from westbound Strachan Avenue to Parkside Drive, and eastbound Lake Shore Boulevard W from Colborne Lodge to Strachan Avenue
- The Princes’ Gates (from 1 am Saturday)
Drivers should be aware that their cars will be tagged and towed immediately if illegally parked on any streets in the area, and that parking enforcement will be out in full force.
The above closures are in addition to a ton of ongoing roadwork closing off streets all around the city, including the Dufferin Bridge, Queen Street West between Bay and Victoria Streets, and Broadview Avenue, which is reduced to just one northbound lane between Gerrard Street E and Danforth Avenue.
Select lanes and shoulders are also being blocked off for some or all of the weekend:
- Don Valley Parkway South from York Mills Road to Bayview Avenue, and the Bloor Don Valley Parkway Ramp for geotechnical borehole drilling
- Lake Shore Boulevard W From Park Lawn Road To Legion Road for bridge flushing
- Lake Shore Boulevard E from near Cherry Street to west of the Don Roadway for emergency bent repairs
- Lake Shore Boulevard W From Spadina Avenue To Rees Street for concrete chipping
- Lake Shore Boulevard E from west of the Don Roadway to Cherry Street for cable inspections
- Lake Shore Boulevard E From Cherry Street to Carlaw Avenue for Don River Bridge construction
There are no scheduled subway closures in the coming days, thankfully, and crowds are being encouraged to use public transit to get to wherever they’re going, especially as service is being ramped up for Carnival.
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Other large-scale happenings include the VELD music festival, Scarborough RibFest, Toronto Patty Fest, We Are Lost festival, the Toronto Diversity Festival, fireworks at Canada’s Wonderland, and Queens of the Stone Age.
As always, the City of Toronto’s Road Restrictions and Expressway & Lake Shore Boulevard Closures pages provide lists of obstructions for residents to keep in mind, while the TTC Service Alerts Twitter account shares real-time TTC interruptions.