What 24/7 Gardiner construction will mean

Construction on the Gardiner Expressway will soon be around the clock, and for people who live nearby, it could mean more noise and traffic.

The $300-million project is demolishing and rebuilding a 700-metre stretch of the raised highway between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue in downtown Toronto. It's part of a larger, multi-billion dollar project to save the 60-year-old roadway.

Last week, the province announced it would provide up to $73 million to add more crews and equipment that will allow construction to go on 24/7. The goal is to fast-track the current construction so it's completed at least one year ahead of schedule, in April 2026, months before Toronto hosts the FIFA World Cup.

Until now, construction has been limited to operating between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. There's no set date for when work will extend 24 hours, as the city is working out a deal with its contractor, but city staff say it will likely be non-stop by early August.

Since work started in March, lane closures have worsened congestion, and city staff say they've received noise complaints from people who live nearby. 

About 140,000 drivers use the Gardiner each day, according to the province. Traffic is currently reduced to two lanes both ways, increasing travel times over 200 per cent at rush hour, according to a recent study.

The transportation minister himself, Prabmeet Sarkaria, told reporters Wednesday that construction has added close to 45 minutes to his daily downtown commute.

And people who live in Liberty Village, sandwiched between the Gardiner to the south and a stretch of King Street W. under construction to the north, told CBC Toronto last week that traffic is often at a standstill in the neighbourhood because of lane closures and reroutes.

With 24-hour construction, some of the $73 million in provincial funding will be used for measures intended to ease the flow of traffic in the area.

The city will add a left turn onto Spadina Avenue from Lakeshore Boulevard, so eastbound traffic can turn north into the city, adding another outlet for vehicles.

"Our traffic sensor data suggestions that over 50,000 vehicles a day make this turn and as a result, that traffic can be balanced between both Lake Shore and the Gardiner," Roger Browne, city director of traffic management, said in an email.

The westbound on-ramp at Jameson Avenue, west of Dufferin, will be extended with traffic signals potentially added to aid traffic flow from Exhibition Place, and lane closures on the Gardiner will potentially be reduced overnight.

For the thousands of Torontonians who live near the construction site, particularly in the Liberty Village condos overlooking it, the prospect of overnight construction work might be worrisome. 

The city began to allow 24/7 construction during the pandemic, which prompted noise complaints from residents near another stretch of the Gardiner that was then under construction.