The beginning of a huge construction project in Toronto will close more downtown streets for the next six weekends, leaving Torontonians increasingly frustrated over the ongoing closures and resulting gridlock in the city.
“There is construction everywhere. It is so hard to get around this city and it's hard to get around the city by every mode of transportation,” Matti Siemiatycki, University of Toronto School of Cities Professor, told CP24 on Friday.
As of 7 a.m. on Friday, a portion of Yonge Street was closed to start work on the partial demolition of the Metrolinx bridge.
The city says traffic lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks will be closed on Yonge Street from Lake Shore Boulevard to Front Street until 11 p.m. on Oct. 30 for the bridge demolition. Access to Yonge Street from the westbound Gardiner off-ramp will also be closed.
In addition, northbound and southbound vehicular traffic will be redirected at Lake Shore Boulevard and Front Street, respectively. Local access will be maintained on the west side of Yonge Street, between Lake Shore Boulevard and the south end of the Metrolinx bridge.
The city says the closure will happen every weekend until early December.
“It's hard to get around by car with all the construction. It's hard by public transit. We have major streets like College Street, which you can't even take a streetcar on. It's hard to cycle with many bicycle lanes being taken out by condo construction, and it's hard to walk with many of the sidewalks being blocked off,” Siemiatycki said.
Last week, the city announced the beginning of another major construction project on Adelaide Street until spring next year for work on the Ontario Line subway extension.
One commuter, who identified herself as Loraine, told CP24 that she hopes Mayor John Tory will do something soon to address all the construction chaos in the city.
“I am sick and tired of this city, everything is happening at the same time. Why don’t they do things in progress? But the whole city is like in shutdown now…I’m a senior, it has taken me four buses to get to my destination that used to take one (bus) in 20 minutes,” she said.
Another unidentified commuter said travelling around the city is taking nearly double the amount of time it normally would to get around.
“It seems like no matter where you go, no matter which route you would choose or which app you would choose to navigate that there’s construction no matter where you go. Everything is taking one-and-a-half to three times longer to get from point A to point B.”
Meanwhile, some residents are more understanding about the closures and thankful there are options to travel around the city.
“I feel like that’s the case in any city. At least here we have transit that goes underground and isn’t on the road so you can get around OK,” a commuter who identified herself as Annie told CP24.
Although the closures will be a headache for many commuters, Siemiatycki said most of the city’s construction efforts need to happen sooner than later.
“We've left maintenance for a very long time and we're playing catch up. We did some of the construction during the pandemic but we're now at a point where we have to keep going and all of this construction is what's needed to keep the city in a state of good repair,” he said.
“I would just encourage people to return to the idea that this construction is what's necessary if we want this city to continue functioning. And we know what the city looks like when we don't do this work. The city starts to look ragged, which people also complain a lot about during the election,” he added.
Below is a list of other road closures and restrictions happening in Toronto and beyond this weekend (Oct 28-30).
EVENT ROAD CLOSURES
• Danforth Avenue between Broadview Avenue and Donlands Avenue will be closed to vehicular traffic from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 30 for the Oxi Day Parade.
• Church Street between the north side of Carlton Street to the south side of Gloucester Street will be closed to vehicular traffic from 6 p.m. on Oct. 31 to 2 a.m. on Nov. 1 for the Halloween on Church event.
CONSTRUCTION CLOSURES
• Access to Lake Shore Boulevard East via northbound Parliament Street will be closed until 9 p.m. on Oct. 30 for continuing gas main work. One westbound lane will be maintained across the intersection. Northbound and southbound traffic will be redirected at Lake Shore Boulevard East and Front Street East, respectively.
• The Esplanade between Market Street and Church Street will be closed from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 30 for crane hoist operations.
• Yonge Street between Maitland Street and Alexander Street will be fully closed from 7 p.m. on Oct. 28 to 5 a.m. on Oct. 31 to facilitate the assembly and dismantling of a mobile crane and the removal of the tower crane at 480 Yonge Street.
• Rees Street from Bremner Boulevard to Lake Shore Boulevard West is closed to vehicular traffic until 6 p.m. on Oct. 28 for the hoisting of auxiliary equipment by Toronto Hydro.
• Adelaide Street from west of Simcoe Street to Bay Street is reduced to one shared lane and the intersection of University Avenue and Adelaide Street is reduced to one lane in each direction for major construction. There will also be a partial intersection closure on Adelaide Street at Simcoe Street with no through traffic south of Adelaide.
• Beginning the week of October 31, Adelaide Street from Widmer Street to Simcoe Street will be reduced to one shared lane and there will be partial intersection closures at Widmer Street, John Street, and Duncan Street.
QEW RESTRICTIONS & HURONTARIO ST. CLOSURE
There will be traffic restrictions and closures this weekend along the QEW at Hurontario Street for work on the future Hazel McCallion Line.
Starting Oct. 28 at 10 p.m., traffic will be reduced to two lanes in each direction and diverted off the highway to the Hurontario Street off and on ramps before returning to the QEW.
There will be no access to the QEW on ramps from Hurontario Street and access to the QEW will be detoured to Cawthra Road.
All roadways will reopen on Oct. 31 at 5 a.m.
TTC STREETCAR TRACK WORK CLOSURES
The following road closures are currently in effect until mid-November to accommodate TTC streetcar track replacement.
• College Street, between Borden Street and Spadina Avenue, is reduced to one eastbound lane.
• College Street from St. George Street to University Avenue is reduced to one westbound lane.
• Southbound University Avenue at College Street will be reduced to one lane on Nov. 1.
• The intersection of King Street West and Shaw Street is fully closed.
• Traffic lanes on Queens Park, between Bloor Street West and Queen’s Park Crescent, are reduced to accommodate elevator installation work at Museum Station.
• The Queensway has a reduced number of lanes in both directions, between Parkside Drive and the King-Queen-Queensway-Roncesvalles intersection. Eastbound left turns are not permitted from The Queensway to Glendale Avenue.
• Roncesvalles Avenue is closed from Queen Street West to Harvard Avenue.
• Wellington Street, from Church Street to Yonge Street, is reduced to one westbound lane. Scott Street, north of Wellington Street, is closed to all vehicular traffic.
METROLINX CLOSURES
This weekend, construction-related service changes will impact service on the Lakeshore West, Lakeshore East and Barrie GO Train lines.
• Lakeshore West trains will run hourly between Union Station and West Harbour GO Station. Connection times between Lakeshore East and West trains will be longer.
• Trains will operate under slightly different schedules on the Lakeshore East line to accommodate the work on the Lakeshore West line.
• Niagara Falls trains and bus routes 12, 15 and 18 will operate under slightly different schedules.
• There will be hourly GO Train service on the Barrie Line between Union and Aurora GO Stations with no trains running between Aurora GO and Allandale Waterfront GO. Buses will replace some of the cancelled train services.
Riders are encouraged to check GO Transit schedules and plan their trips by visiting the GO Transit website.
There are no TTC service disruptions scheduled this weekend.
