News
May 7, 2024

With the Gardiner construction, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Here’s what’s happening ‘behind the scenes’

The Star

You could almost hear Toronto’s collective groan.

Last month, the city reduced traffic to two lanes in both directions on the Gardiner Expressway for rehabilitation between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue. The work there is scheduled to last for three years, except for a brief reprieve from May to end of July 2026 for the FIFA World Cup.

It doesn’t take much sleuthing on social media to find people criticizing the city’s plan, including from some public officials. One common complaint is that it looks like not much is going on.

“Anyone else concerned - at 9am, there are only 4 workers on the Gardiner Expressway construction site … It’s no wonder this project is going to take 3 years,” said an X account under the @joeliherzog.

“Why are there only 3-5 people working when I drive by?? Why aren’t there crews with spot lights working around the clock?!” said @GWalsh88.

But what people don’t realize is that much of the work is happening underneath the elevated highway and not visible to the public, according to the city.

So we asked for more details on what’s happening and where the project is at.

What is the city doing? And why?

The city says the Gardiner rehabilitation is necessary because the highway has been in service for more than 60 years and is at the end of its original service life. In addition to its age, heavy daily usage, weather and salt have taken a toll on the Gardiner.

The overall Gardiner rehabilitation project is split into six sections, the first part being completed in 2021. The current section involves replacing 700 metres of bridge surface, as well as girders, which are the large beams that support the deck itself.

“If the word used is ‘replacement,’ then this is a serious job,” said Tamer El-Diraby, a professor at the University of Toronto and expert in construction project management.

“That means there is a severe deterioration, that they see, that I guess patching it or fixing it is not going to be economical.”

He described replacing girders as “a very complicated process” which in many cases takes place out of sight.

The city will also rehabilitate the structures underneath the bridge and add a new traffic management system and street lights. Additionally, they’ll rehabilitate 35 concrete bents, the double T-shaped structures that hold up the girders and deck, collectively called the superstructure.

“The double-T configuration of the bents creates a particular engineering challenge. New foundations and supports are being constructed to ensure that the bents remain stable when the deck and girders are removed,” the city said in a statement.

The city will have to demolish the existing superstructure, which includes asphalt, the concrete deck and girders, and then replace it. Certain lanes will remain open during this work.

The city is currently working to remove and replace the south portion of the expressway. Demolition is expected to start by mid-May.

A great deal of work is required before demolition goes ahead, including making repairs to keep the area driveable amidst the construction. The city has already made changes to the drainage system, removed the centre median, poured a concrete road base, placed asphalt and painted new lane markings.

How is this affecting traffic?

The city has staggered the project over three stages to ensure that a minimum of two lanes of traffic can move in each direction for its entirety. Currently, they’re shifting traffic to the north to work on the southern portion of the expressway.

“The elevated expressway in this area carries three lanes of traffic in each direction, but as there are no shoulders, there is no additional width for traffic staging, which results in the need for long-term lane closures,” the city said.

As each stage is completed, the city will switch the configuration of the lane closures.

The city’s traffic management plan includes monitoring traffic on the Gardiner as well as other arterial roads to make signal timing changes to keep traffic flowing, such as extending certain green lights. They said they’ve made dozens of signal timing changes, including along the Queensway, on Lake Shore Boulevard, British Columbia Drive and Queen Street.

Can the city speed things up or minimize impacts?

City officials previously told media doing construction 24/7 had been considered and that they went with the current schedule to strike a balance between speed and disruptiveness.

Construction will primarily take place between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., Monday to Saturday, with occasional work on Sundays. Some work, such as girder removal and replacement, shifting of traffic barriers between stages and material delivery, could take place on evenings and weekends.

Work that doesn’t make much noise, like forming and placing concrete, is permitted overnight, as is work near the Exhibition GO station when it’s not in operation.

They said they’re taking lessons from construction on the completed section, from Cherry to Jarvis Streets, including accounting for noise complaints.

They said they considered closing the expressway entirely during conceptual planning stages, but decided against it due to the sheer traffic volume the highway carries and the fact that local roads don’t have the capacity to absorb that traffic.

Should we expect delays?

It’s difficult to compare the rehabilitation timeline with projects of a similar size and scope because each one presents its own unique challenges, said Arnold Yuan, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and civil engineering expert.

One area that could present delays is removing and replacing the pavement and concrete structure underneath the Gardiner. Typically, an assessment is done to measure the condition of the existing infrastructure, but they could run into surprises.

“Most of those condition assessments cannot be precise until you really open it and see what the actual condition is,” Yuan said. “It’s just like a doctor examining a patient.”

Other factors include how the city calculated the overall timeline and if it considered severe weather events, for example, and their relationship with contractors, El-Diraby said.

For a years-long project such as this, he added people should try and be patient and recognize that there is “a ton of work that is going on behind the scenes.”

“It is not expected that you will be seeing the machines and the labour working 24 hours, seven days a week,” he said. “However, too much of not working can also indicate bad planning on the side of the contractor or the city.”

News
May 7, 2024

With the Gardiner construction, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Here’s what’s happening ‘behind the scenes’

No items found.

You could almost hear Toronto’s collective groan.

Last month, the city reduced traffic to two lanes in both directions on the Gardiner Expressway for rehabilitation between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue. The work there is scheduled to last for three years, except for a brief reprieve from May to end of July 2026 for the FIFA World Cup.

It doesn’t take much sleuthing on social media to find people criticizing the city’s plan, including from some public officials. One common complaint is that it looks like not much is going on.

“Anyone else concerned - at 9am, there are only 4 workers on the Gardiner Expressway construction site … It’s no wonder this project is going to take 3 years,” said an X account under the @joeliherzog.

“Why are there only 3-5 people working when I drive by?? Why aren’t there crews with spot lights working around the clock?!” said @GWalsh88.

But what people don’t realize is that much of the work is happening underneath the elevated highway and not visible to the public, according to the city.

So we asked for more details on what’s happening and where the project is at.

What is the city doing? And why?

The city says the Gardiner rehabilitation is necessary because the highway has been in service for more than 60 years and is at the end of its original service life. In addition to its age, heavy daily usage, weather and salt have taken a toll on the Gardiner.

The overall Gardiner rehabilitation project is split into six sections, the first part being completed in 2021. The current section involves replacing 700 metres of bridge surface, as well as girders, which are the large beams that support the deck itself.

“If the word used is ‘replacement,’ then this is a serious job,” said Tamer El-Diraby, a professor at the University of Toronto and expert in construction project management.

“That means there is a severe deterioration, that they see, that I guess patching it or fixing it is not going to be economical.”

He described replacing girders as “a very complicated process” which in many cases takes place out of sight.

The city will also rehabilitate the structures underneath the bridge and add a new traffic management system and street lights. Additionally, they’ll rehabilitate 35 concrete bents, the double T-shaped structures that hold up the girders and deck, collectively called the superstructure.

“The double-T configuration of the bents creates a particular engineering challenge. New foundations and supports are being constructed to ensure that the bents remain stable when the deck and girders are removed,” the city said in a statement.

The city will have to demolish the existing superstructure, which includes asphalt, the concrete deck and girders, and then replace it. Certain lanes will remain open during this work.

The city is currently working to remove and replace the south portion of the expressway. Demolition is expected to start by mid-May.

A great deal of work is required before demolition goes ahead, including making repairs to keep the area driveable amidst the construction. The city has already made changes to the drainage system, removed the centre median, poured a concrete road base, placed asphalt and painted new lane markings.

How is this affecting traffic?

The city has staggered the project over three stages to ensure that a minimum of two lanes of traffic can move in each direction for its entirety. Currently, they’re shifting traffic to the north to work on the southern portion of the expressway.

“The elevated expressway in this area carries three lanes of traffic in each direction, but as there are no shoulders, there is no additional width for traffic staging, which results in the need for long-term lane closures,” the city said.

As each stage is completed, the city will switch the configuration of the lane closures.

The city’s traffic management plan includes monitoring traffic on the Gardiner as well as other arterial roads to make signal timing changes to keep traffic flowing, such as extending certain green lights. They said they’ve made dozens of signal timing changes, including along the Queensway, on Lake Shore Boulevard, British Columbia Drive and Queen Street.

Can the city speed things up or minimize impacts?

City officials previously told media doing construction 24/7 had been considered and that they went with the current schedule to strike a balance between speed and disruptiveness.

Construction will primarily take place between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., Monday to Saturday, with occasional work on Sundays. Some work, such as girder removal and replacement, shifting of traffic barriers between stages and material delivery, could take place on evenings and weekends.

Work that doesn’t make much noise, like forming and placing concrete, is permitted overnight, as is work near the Exhibition GO station when it’s not in operation.

They said they’re taking lessons from construction on the completed section, from Cherry to Jarvis Streets, including accounting for noise complaints.

They said they considered closing the expressway entirely during conceptual planning stages, but decided against it due to the sheer traffic volume the highway carries and the fact that local roads don’t have the capacity to absorb that traffic.

Should we expect delays?

It’s difficult to compare the rehabilitation timeline with projects of a similar size and scope because each one presents its own unique challenges, said Arnold Yuan, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and civil engineering expert.

One area that could present delays is removing and replacing the pavement and concrete structure underneath the Gardiner. Typically, an assessment is done to measure the condition of the existing infrastructure, but they could run into surprises.

“Most of those condition assessments cannot be precise until you really open it and see what the actual condition is,” Yuan said. “It’s just like a doctor examining a patient.”

Other factors include how the city calculated the overall timeline and if it considered severe weather events, for example, and their relationship with contractors, El-Diraby said.

For a years-long project such as this, he added people should try and be patient and recognize that there is “a ton of work that is going on behind the scenes.”

“It is not expected that you will be seeing the machines and the labour working 24 hours, seven days a week,” he said. “However, too much of not working can also indicate bad planning on the side of the contractor or the city.”