Toronto·COMING UP LIVE
Officials from Toronto and the province are set to provide an update Wednesday on a plan to accelerate ongoing construction on the Gardiner Expressway. You can watch the news conference, set to begin at 8 a.m. ET, live in this story.
Current construction schedule requires lane closures until 2027
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Ontario Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria will discuss how they plan to speed up construction work on the Gardiner Expressway at a news conference Wednesday at 8 a.m. ET.
Officials from Toronto and the province are set to provide an update Wednesday on a plan to accelerate construction on the Gardiner Expressway, a major project that has snarled traffic on the busy corridor into the city.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria are scheduled to hold a news conference beginning at 8 a.m. ET.
You can watch it live in the player above.
Work started in March to refurbish the 60-year-old highway and portions of its elevated structure that run through Toronto’s downtown core, as well as adding a new traffic system between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue.
The $300-million construction project is part of a larger multi-billion dollar effort to save the aging roadway and will require lane closures until 2027 to complete.
Toronto city staff said earlier this year about 200,000 vehicles move through this part of the expressway each day. The ongoing construction has cut about a third of the highway’s total capacity.
It’s not yet clear how the province will help the city speed up the project, but Ontario agreed last fall to upload the highway as part of the “new deal” negotiated with the city.
With files from Shawn Jeffords