Emergency repairs happening on the Gardiner to address risk of ‘falling concrete’

The city says no major traffic disruptions are expected as crews undertake ‘emergency’ repairs on several sections of the Gardiner Expressway.

Emergency work is underway along sections of the Gardiner after annual inspections last year revealed “severe soffit concrete deterioration” at various overhead bridges along the 18-kilometre roadway.

In a report being considered by Toronto’s General Government Committee on Mar. 9, the city’s Chief Engineer and Executive Director said the discovered deteriorated areas “compromise the deck’s load-carrying capacity and pose a risk of punch-through failures from vehicular traffic above, presenting a serious safety hazard to motorists and travellers below.”

The work to repair portions of the expressway between Grand Magazine and York streets, and between Cherry Street and the Don Valley Parkway, began in November of last year, and is scheduled to be completed ahead of the FIFA World Cup in June.

“The Gardiner Expressway has always been and remains safe to travel on and under,” Jennifer Graham Harkness, chief engineer and executive director of engineering and construction services, told CTV News Toronto in an emailed statement. “No major road closures or disruptions are anticipated as part of this emergency work.”

“The emergency repairs involve installing temporary shoring to support compromised areas. Work has been progressing, approximately 80 per cent of the emergency repair work has been completed.”

At an unrelated news conference on Monday, Mayor Olivia Chow said the Gardiner has been “uploaded” to the provincial government, allowing the city to get additional financial support to repair the road.

“The Gardiner is old. We are rebuilding it, we’re fixing it,” Chow said. “We will examine all that needs to be done to fix it... There’s one portion where we’re redoing five bridges and there are more to be done. We also need to time the construction so that it doesn’t impede on the FIFA World Cup.”

Chow acknowledged that it’s hard to keep all the Gardiner’s lanes open while the city fixes things, but “major work” is needed both above and below. She said the city has put aside “substantial capital dollars” to do the repairs that need to be done.

The report said the emergency repairs were needed ahead of the World Cup due to the “expected increased vehicular and pedestrian traffic” the international soccer tournament will bring to the city.

“While the City mitigates the risk of falling concrete through proactive removals of deteriorated materials, such removals expose increasing amounts of the underlying reinforcement and sound concrete to further decay,” the report explained.

“Continued removals will eventually compromise the structural integrity of the affected concrete deck, and repairs are needed.”