The effects of age, heavy daily usage, weather and salt have made it necessary to undertake a major multi-year rehabilitation of the Expressway to keep it operational for the future.
Because the Gardiner runs across several areas of the city, including established neighbourhoods, two river mouths and the city’s downtown core, a Strategic Rehabilitation Plan was created by the City to deal with this large, complex and important project.
Find out more about the City’s work to rehabilitate and realign the expressway.
Section 1 from Jarvis Street to Cherry Street was completed in 2021. Accelerated bridge construction was used to replace the steel girders and concrete deck with pre-fabricated sections.
This project will replace the elevated portion of the Expressway from Dufferin Street to Strachan Avenue. Learn more.
This section of the Gardiner from Highway 427 to the Humber River will reconstruct 6.5 km of at-grade expressway, including rehabilitation of 11 overpass bridges (including Mimico Creek) and four underpass bridges (Kipling Avenue, Islington Avenue, Royal York Road and Grand Avenue). Planning for this section of the project is underway to determine scope, phasing, staging and the construction schedule.
This project will replace 2.2 kilometers of the elevated section of the Expressway from Grand Magazine Boulevard to York Street.
This section will reconstruct the elevated Expressway from Cherry Street to the Don Valley Parkway, according to the Hybrid Design as approved in the Gardiner East Environmental Assessment.
The alignment of both the Expressway and Lake Shore Boulevard will shift slightly to the north of the current location. Some initial work as part of this transformation has already been completed, such as removing the Logan Street on/off ramps, in order to allow construction of a longer and wider bridge for Lake Shore Boulevard over the Don River.
The project is being coordinated with several other major projects in the area including: Metrolinx’s Ontario Line, the Port Lands Flood Protection Project (naturalization/flood protection of the Don River estuary), Waterfront East LRT, the East Harbour development and the Waterfront Toronto redevelopment of the area.
Artist’s renderings (2016) of Hybrid Option 3, with Section 5 of the Gardiner Expressway moved to the north. The reconfigured Lake Shore Boulevard, the reconfiguration of the mouth of the Don River and the repositioned Cheery Street Bridge, which are being done as part of the large Port Lands redevelopment.
For more information about the Gardiner section from Cherry Street to the Don Valley Parkway, please see Section 5: East End Reconfiguration.
The scope of work for this section of the Gardiner Expressway is pending an engineering evaluation. The Gardiner is frequently inspected and the City conducts regular maintenance to keep this and other portions in a state of good repair.
The City is rehabilitating the Gardiner Expressway between Dufferin Street to Strachan Avenue. Subscribe to receive details of construction activities that may be disruptive.
Type (don’t copy and paste) your email into the box below, check the box next to the e-update description and then click “Subscribe”. You will receive an email with instructions to confirm your request.