Don Valley Parkway closed part of this weekend for annual fall maintenance

The City of Toronto’s Transportation Services division will be performing maintenance activities on the Don Valley Parkway this weekend starting early Sunday morning. For the safety of the public and the workers, a full closure of the Don Valley Parkway will be required. The work cannot be completed safely through partial or overnight closures.

As a result, the Don Valley Parkway will be closed in both directions between Highway 401/404 and the Gardiner Expressway from 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, September 27 to 5 a.m. on Monday, September 28 for the routine fall maintenance.

Specific activities that will be undertaken during this closure include:
• resurfacing and patching of asphalt surfaces including crack sealing
• road surface repair in the GO Transit bus lane near Lawrence Avenue
• replacement of a watermain protective cover at Eastern Avenue
• cleaning and repair of 500 catch basins, flushing and inspection of culverts, required to ensure proper drainage and prevent flooding
• shoulder re-grading to restore proper drainage
• bridge inspections and maintenance
• engineering inspections and testing of five slopes beside the roadway
• sign maintenance for entire length of roadway
• maintenance of 15 closed-circuit television/CCTV cameras
• inspection and repair of 80 overhead signs
• repair of RESCU vehicle detectors
• expressway sweeping operations and debris removal
• replacement of about 200 metres of damaged guardrails
• inspection, repair and re-lamping of more than 200 street lights, and
• pre-engineering surveys for future capital work.

Motorists can use Don Mills Road, Bayview Avenue, Victoria Park Avenue and Kingston Road as alternative routes during the closure.

In order to mitigate traffic congestion associated with the closure, the City will be taking the following measures:
• implementing timing changes to traffic signals to enhance traffic flow on nearby routes
• providing real-time traffic information on the City’s overhead signs, and
• co-ordinating other construction projects to avoid major work taking place along parallel routes where possible.

Motorists should allow extra time to get to and from their destinations during this closure. Whenever possible, people are encouraged to consider using public transit and other modes of travel as a convenient alternative.

The City has a web-based map to help residents and visitors make their travel plans, available at http://www.toronto.ca/roadrestrictions. Information about the City’s planned capital construction work, which also affects roads, is available at http://www.toronto.ca/inview

This work is part of the City’s comprehensive, co-ordinated strategy to rehabilitate and upgrade Toronto’s roads, transit and underground infrastructure for current and future needs.

This news release is also available on the City’s website: http://bit.ly/1G2UhfL

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. 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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