4/10/2013 10:01:11 PM

April 9, 2013
Significant road work will take place in Toronto this year as the City works to improve road conditions for all users.

"The City of Toronto is continuing its efforts to keep our roads and bridges in a state of good repair through an expansive and thorough road repair program," said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34 Don Valley West), Chair of the City's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, at a media event held beside Kingston Road today.

The City will spend more than $155 million to improve the quality of Toronto's roads and bridges. Major road work planned for 2013 includes Kingston Road from Queen Street to Birchmount Road, Albion Road from Steeles Avenue to Highway 27, Keele Street from Falstaff Avenue to Arrowsmith Avenue, Leslie Street from York Mills Road to Lawrence Avenue and from Steeles Avenue to Finch Avenue, and Wilson Avenue from Allard Avenue to Avenue Road.

For 2013, City Council approved an additional $15 million over last year's funding for the resurfacing of major roads. Council has also approved a 10-year rehabilitation plan that will see an additional $30 million a year in extra funding, beginning in 2014, for the resurfacing of major roadways across the city. The additional streets that will be rehabilitated this year have already been co-ordinated with other divisions' programs to minimize the impact on the travelling public.

In all, it is expected that the City will complete 100 kilometres of road resurfacing work in 2013.

In addition, the City is spending more than $17 million on structural repairs and safety improvements to the Gardiner Expressway in 2013.

"Keeping Toronto moving is important - that's why more than $500 million has been approved by Toronto Council for maintenance work on the Gardiner Expressway through 2022," said Councillor Minnan-Wong. "The Gardiner Expressway is a critical piece of transportation infrastructure and, with its connection with the Don Valley Parkway, is a significant component of our highway system."

He said an additional $60 million will be spent on other work, including road work in conjunction with watermain and sewer replacement, and public realm initiatives such as boulevard greening and the installation of new planters and trees.

"In order to maximize efficiency, it is important to co-ordinate the work very carefully in order to keep disruptions to a minimum," said Councillor Minnan-Wong. "We will continue our efforts to make sure that roadwork, sidewalk repairs and routine maintenance as well as work performed by utility and communications companies continue to be co-ordinated by the City to avoid having road work done repeatedly across Toronto."

Speaking at the media event held in his ward today, Councillor Gary Crawford (Ward 36 Scarborough Southwest) talked about Kingston Road: "The City's work on Kingston Road is a long-term project that, when complete, will make Kingston Road more accessible for everyone and will add to the beautification and revitalization efforts along the street."

The City has continued its efforts to fill potholes, repairing an average of 200,000 potholes each of the past three years. Residents are asked to use the city's on-line service at www.toronto.ca/311 to report potholes so crews can be assigned to fix them. On that web 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 smartphone.

Special events taking place in Toronto will also contribute to roads being busy this spring and summer. Major annual events such as the Beaches Jazz Festival, the Pride Parade and the Honda Indy will take place, along with smaller festivals, street celebrations, road races and other community events.

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 has introduced T.O. INview, a map that shows information about planned capital construction work taking place across the city. The site can be accessed at http://www.toronto.ca/inview .