Gardiner Expressway undergoing emergency repairs due to falling concrete risk
· Toronto Sun
The city is rushing to make emergency repairs on two sections of the elevated Gardiner Expressway after discovering that “deteriorated areas” pose a risk of concrete potentially falling on drivers and pedestrians below, according to a new City of Toronto report .
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The elevated areas of the Gardiner under repair are between Grand Magazine St. to York St. and Cherry St. to the Don Valley Parkway.
During routine inspections, city staff discovered “severe soffit concrete deterioration (spalls) at various areas along the Gardiner,” said a new report by the city’s chief engineer, the executive director of Engineering and Construction Services and the chief procurement officer.
“These 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 both motorists and travellers below,” the report said.
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Work expected to be completed before the World Cup
The emergency repairs began in November and are scheduled to be completed by April.
The report noted that with the city set to host the FIFA World Cup in June, the problem should be addressed now in anticipation of the increased traffic to the area when the tournament kicks off on June 11.
Thousands of people are expected to attend the FIFA Fan Festival at Fort York and the Bentway underneath the Gardiner before the tournament wraps up on July 19.
As the problem was deemed an emergency by city staff, the city issued a $4.4-million, sole-sourced contract to Grascan Construction Ltd. to carry out the repairs, according to the report. The company was chosen because it had done similar repairs on the Gardiner.