The Ford government and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow are celebrating rare good news from a major construction project, with the Gardiner Expressway rehabilitation work significantly ahead of schedule.
This week, provincial and city officials announced work to renovate the city artery had been cut down to just 1.5 years, partly after a push from Queen’s Park to introduce round-the-clock construction.
“I’m pleased to share our government’s investments to accelerate construction on the Gardiner Expressway, has not only enabled 24/7 work but has reduced the project timeline by nearly two years,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said in a statement sent to Global News.
Chow celebrated the same milestone in a video posted to social media, where she said the construction timeline had been halved.
“Tonight, the last section of the girders are going in and the construction time has been cut by half from three years to 1.5 years,” she said. “And that’s thanks to the very hardworking, dedicated crews here and the partnership with the provincial government.”
Construction had originally been set to be finished by April 2027, which was then moved back to April 2026 as the project stayed ahead of schedule.
If it remains 1.5 years ahead of schedule, the Gardiner Expressway could be open before the 2026 FIFA World Cup descends on Toronto next summer.
A recent study found the Gardiner construction was doubling travel times in some key areas.
For example, the commute between Humber River and Strachan Avenue, which took just eight minutes before construction began in 2024, now takes 24 minutes. Similarly, the stretch between Jarvis and Dufferin streets has gone from 11 minutes to 30 minutes.
Facing concerns about congestion last year, Sarkaria floated the idea of 24-hour construction.
The idea sparked a back-and-forth between Queen’s Park and City Hall, with the city suggesting constant work could already take place.
The province eventually offered Toronto $73 million toward the cost of rehabilitating the road, on condition that it greenlit construction on the Gardiner Expressway 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
Ontario is currently in the process of taking control of the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway from the City of Toronto a part of a deal between the two governments.
The agreement will see Ontario take on the costs associated with maintaining the two key routes, along with other funding commitments for subways, housing and a settlement over the future of Ontario Place.