DVP reopens following spring maintenance
Posted April 23, 2015 6:48 am.
Last Updated April 26, 2015 6:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Don Valley Parkway — between highways 401 and 404 and the Gardiner Expressway — reopened Sunday morning following scheduled spring maintenance.
The major artery closed at 8 p.m. on Friday and reopened just before 6 a.m. on Sunday.
Mayor John Tory hoped the closure would only be half as frustrating as usual with the start time being shifted. Normally, closures like this one start later and end on Monday mornings.
Road crews conducted various work, including cleaning catch basins, inspecting and repairing overhead signs, guardrail repairs, and bridge inspections.
The closure took place a little earlier to help traffic that will be slowed because of Sunday’s Khalsa Day Parade.
At a news conference on Friday, Tory said a change in the hours of the DVP closure should help ease some of the agony for drivers.
“It will leave one day when the traffic is adversely affected out of the weekend,” Tory said.
“That’s my job – to make people’s lives just a little bit easier.”
Next weekend, the Gardiner will be closed for similar spring maintenance work, but the same closure time will be applied, and it will reopen in time for the Toronto Marathon.
There is also a transit closure to keep in mind this weekend. The SRT will be off-limits with buses running between Kennedy and McCowan stations.
Tory said there is “no perfect weekend” for road and TTC closures, but “this is work that has to be done in the city.”
He also said speeding up the Gardiner project “has sent a shockwave through the contracting industry across southern Ontario.” The next construction phase will begin after the Pan Am Games.
Weekend road closures for events
On Sunday, road closures will be in place for the Khalsa Day Parade, which is being held from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The westbound lanes of Lake Shore Boulevard will be closed, as well as northbound York Street and University Avenue.
Also on Sunday, Queen’s Park Crescent, between College Street and Bloor Street West, will be closed from 7 a.m. until 10 a.m. for the Balanse Bum Run event.
