Easing the headaches of Gardiner roadwork

Within city hall, the project is known as the “Gardiner Expressway Strategic Rehabilitation Plan.”

For the thousands of people who commute and visit the city each day by car, it’s becoming known by a host of other names, none of them flattering and none of which we can print in a family newspaper.

Suffice to say those curses capture well the headaches, frustration, anger as motorists have seen their daily trips along western stretches of the Gardiner Expressway turn into a plodding crawl.

Even by Toronto’s traffic congestion standards, this threatens to be next-level annoyance.

The reason? Repair work on the highway has reduced it to just two lanes each way between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue. The eastbound on-ramp near Jameson Avenue is also closed.

This is no temporary weekend road closure. These lanes are closed until 2027, except for a few months in 2026 when they will be opened to accommodate the extra traffic expected for the FIFA World Cup games in Toronto.

It’s part of an ongoing project to rehabilitate the roadway, which opened in 1965, and repair the cumulative wear and tear effects of age, weather and winter salt. This is the second of six stages with all work expected to be done in 2030.

There’s no denying that critical infrastructure must be maintained. Whether it’s a leaky roof on your house or a busy city expressway, putting off repairs inevitably means bigger disruptions and higher costs down the road. By that measure, traffic inconveniences are far better alternative than the dangers of a decrepit elevated roadway.

But there is also no sugar-coating the scale of the disruption. This stretch of highway carries 200,000 vehicles a day and it’s having a serious impact on motorists who depend on the artery. The prolonged lane closures are certain to impact tourism and the city’s economy. With daily bottlenecks now expected into the future, good luck trying to convince downtown employees that they should be coming into the office more often.

These delays are just part of what the Toronto Region Board of Trade calls a “congestion crisis” costing more than $11 billion annually in productivity losses. It’s perhaps no coincidence that the board has just launched a congestion task force, comprised of local leaders, to make quick recommendations on how to reduce congestion and then develop a longer-term plan for what it calls a “more efficient and integrated transportation system.” Given that Toronto traffic ranks among the slowest in North America, all suggestions on potential remedies are welcome.

There is a glass half full perspective that the traffic tie-ups along the Gardiner will prompt people to look at the merits of transit and switch to more environmentally friendly methods of travel, notably GO Transit trains. But transit won’t be a workable option for everyone coming to the city for work and play.

Making this bearable starts with keeping traffic moving on the narrowed sections of the Gardiner and alternate routes, such as Lake Shore Boulevard West. The city says it is using a congestion management plan that includes diversions, traffic agents and tweaks to traffic signals. For example, city staff said that after seeing significant tie-ups at one intersection on Lake Shore, traffic lights were further adjusted, shaving three minutes off eastbound travel times during the morning rush.

Traffic agents should be widely deployed to keep cars moving and deter intersection blockers, those frustrating motorists who pull into an intersection with no hope of getting through when the light changes. It’s illegal but rarely enforced.

Transit should be enhanced where possible to ensure hassle-free alternatives are available. Unfortunately, water main replacement and track work has meant diversions of King streetcars for most of the year, hindering its attractiveness as an option.

Ultimately, the best solution is getting the work done as quickly as possible. It’s complicated work that will essentially replace the existing roadway. But city — and its commuters — can ill afford to have the project run over budget or fall behind schedule.

While this roadwork may be a necessary pain, the city must do all it can to minimize the impact and keep commuters on the move.