Gardiner Expressway construction will end early

The much-maligned construction work underway on the Gardiner Expressway will be completed up to two months ahead of schedule, weather permitting, Toronto Mayor John Tory announced Thursday.

“It’s going to get done faster by increasing crews and equipment resources and of course what goes with that is a cost of the project,” Tory told a news conference at city hall.

The city will spend an additional $2 million to accelerate the work, but that’s a relatively small price to pay when compared to the estimated $1 million a day that the Gardiner construction causes due to increased travel time and lane closures, Tory said.

“I believe this is a very sound investment that people across Toronto would say ‘go ahead and do that we think that’s what you should be doing.’”

Tory credited the revised timetable to public servants sitting down with the contractor, after being “given a push …by elected political leadership.”

The lanes on the western portion of the expressway are now expected to re-open in May 2015, ahead of the busy summer driving season and the Pan Am Games. This will not mean an end to construction on the Gardiner, which is in need of extensive repairs.

Tory has already announced a six-point plan to battle traffic congestion, which includes greater enforcement of no-stopping rules and a strategy to get public sector construction projects completed faster.