April 29, 2015
The City of Toronto is taking action to coordinate road closures to keep Toronto moving while it makes significant repairs to the city’s roads and infrastructure. This work includes road resurfacing and rehabilitation, sewer and watermain work and TTC track replacement projects, to improve city services for all users.
In 2015, the City will be investing more than $550 million to maintain and improve its core infrastructure, including: $270 million on roads, expressways and bridges, $230 million on sewers and watermains and $62 million on basement flooding protection.
To minimize traffic and congestion during the construction season, the City is coordinating road closures by bundling multiple construction projects at a single location. For example, when the Allen Road was closed for the movement of the Metrolinx tunnel boring machines, the City took advantage of the closure to do spring maintenance. The City will continue to use this approach throughout this construction season.
"We’re taking action to keep Toronto moving by ensuring the closure of roads during important construction work is better coordinated across the city," said Mayor John Tory. "This work is critical to maintain and improve the quality of our roads, especially after a long winter."
"Our infrastructure is aging and we need to perform this work so that we can continue to maintain and upgrade critical services for our residents," said Councilor Jaye Robinson (Ward 25, Don Valley West), chair of the City's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.
Some of the major projects planned for 2015 include:
• Phase two of the west deck replacement of the Gardiner Expressway (resuming in September) • Bayview Avenue from Lawrence Avenue to York Mills Road • Birchmount Road from Lawrence Avenue to Ellesmere Road • Sherbourne Street and Lower Sherbourne Street (north of Lake Shore Boulevard) • Lawrence Avenue West, from Weston Road to Royal York Road • Highway 27, from Finch Avenue to Steeles Avenue West • Dufferin Street, from Eglinton Avenue to Highway 401 • Lawrence Avenue, from Markham Road to Kingston Road
In all, it is expected that the City will complete over 120 kilometres of road resurfacing work and 146 kilometres of sewer and watermain work in 2015.
The City has also continued its efforts to fill potholes, repairing more than 360,000 in 2014. Residents are asked to use the city's on-line service at www.toronto.ca/311 to report potholes so that crews can be assigned to fix them. On this page, simply click on "roads" to create a pothole service request or click on "open 311API and mobile apps" to download a mobile app to your smart-phone.
As a resource to make it easier for motorists to find their way around Toronto's streets, the City web page at
http://www.toronto.ca/torontostreets identifies ongoing and emergency road construction, travel conditions on City roads and special events. In addition, the City recently introduced T.O. INview, a map that shows information about planned capital construction work taking place across the city. The new site can be accessed at www.toronto.ca/inview
Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit
http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.
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Media contact: Steve Johnston, Strategic Communications, 416-392-4391, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
