The City of Toronto is preparing to spend $125 million to keep the Gardiner Expressway drivable while investigating whether to keep it up at all.

On Tuesday, the city’s budget committee voted to resurrect a comprehensive study of the crumbling highway that was mysteriously shelved after Rob Ford became mayor.

The committee also agreed to push forward with $505 million in emergency capital funding repairs over the next decade.

The rebooted Gardiner study, likely to be finished in two to three years, will examine whether it makes more sense to demolish or repair the eastern portion of the elevated highway.

Based on that timeline and the current repair schedule, the city will have spent $123.88 million in repairs on roadway that might be demolished.

Councillor Adam Vaughan said the public works chair is to blame for those wasted millions.

For months, it’s been unclear why the $7.7 million environmental assessment of the Gardiner that council asked Waterfront Toronto to complete back in 2008 was quietly paused after Ford’s election. At Tuesday’s budget meeting, city staff released a briefing note suggesting public works chair Denzil Minnan-Wong sent the message to stop the study.

Minnan-Wong said it was a joint decision between himself, former deputy city manager Richard Butts and the mayor’s office. He added that at the time, none of the left-wing councillors raised concerns.

“Everyone knew what was going on and they said nothing,” said Minnan-Wong.

Vaughan said that without the study’s findings, the city has no choice but to throw money at a highway that could turn out to be a money pit.

“We’re going to have to do the emergency maintenance in the short term, either way. When the report comes back … at that point we can just shuffle the money around. Whether it’s take it down, the money is there. Keep it up, the money is there,” said Vaughan, who represents Trinity-Spadina.

An ongoing Star investigation has revealed that the 7-kilometre stretch of the elevated Gardiner Expressway has become a “significant hazard to public safety.”

City engineers believe portions of Toronto’s main commuter artery could be unsafe to drive on in as little as six years without half a billion dollars in emergency repairs.

The revelations have reignited a longstanding debate about demolishing the elevated highway, especially on the portion east of Jarvis St., which is less heavily travelled and in worse condition than the rest.

On Tuesday, budget chief and staunch Ford ally Mike Del Grande said it would be “prudent” to relaunch the Gardiner study.

Technically, the environmental assessment was never officially killed, so Waterfront Toronto — in partnership with the city — could resume it at any time. However, those involved will probably wait for a symbolic reapproval at council later this month.

At the budget committee meeting, Councillor Doug Ford went on the attack against left-wing councillors who hammered the administration for delaying the environmental assessment.

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“My question is: Where have you been?” Ford asked Parkdale Councillor Gord Perks. “No one has asked (about the Gardiner study), with the exception of the last month.”

Outside committee, Perks said Minnan-Wong “on his own decided not to pursue this” and bring it to council, where it could have been debated. Perks added that back in 2011, when the study was being shelved, left-wing councillors were consumed with the effects of the KPMG core service review. It also wasn’t as clear then that the Gardiner was in such a dire state.

It’s still not exactly clear what happened to the 2008 study.

City staff released a report on Tuesday that provided a partial explanation. A briefing note tabled at the budget committee explained that a decision was made in September 2010 — a month before the election — to proceed with only “minimal work” until the new administration “could be properly briefed.”

By mid-November, the Gardiner study’s steering committee decided to delay the next phase of the process until it had further direction from the new council.

On March 2, Minnan-Wong asked staff to prepare a letter that he would bring to the mayor’s executive committee, requesting a report on the ramifications of “cancelling or modifying” the study.

Minnan-Wong said that, after he spoke with staff, the decision was made to not bother bringing the issue up at committee or council.

He explains: “There was a general agreement by the former deputy city manager Richard Butts and the mayor’s office and myself that we didn’t need to bring it forward at that time, because in effect it wasn’t moving forward. Waterfront Toronto already wasn’t proceeding with the next phase.”

The remaining funds from the study, $4.41 million, were reallocated to another project.

A spokesperson with Waterfront Toronto said they are “pleased” with the budget committee’s decision and are eager for council to weigh in: “The future of the eastern section of the Gardiner is a major issue for the city and the waterfront and completing the EA will give council and the people of Toronto the information needed to make an informed decision.”



Correction: This article was edited from a previous version that included an incomplete title for former deputy city manager Richard Butts.

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