TORONTO -- A downtown neighbourhood association says residents have endured “sleepless nights” for more than a year due to ongoing construction work on the Gardiner Expressway.

The city is currently undertaking work to rehabilitate the aging highway between Cherry and Jarvis streets, a project that is expected to wrap up by early 2021.

The city has warned that some work would likely occur overnight but residents say that they were told that the most disruptive work would take place before 11 p.m.

In a news release issued Thursday, the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association said residents living in the downtown community are frustrated by the constant noise.

“Neighbourhood residents along the corridor have had to endure jack hammering, drilling, saw cutting and other activities causing them sleepless nights and a decline in their quality of life,” the news release read.

According to some residents quoted in the news release, the nightly construction work has had a negative impact on job performance and has made it difficult for their children to concentrate at school.

“My kids find it difficult to pay attention at school because of the lack of sleep. We have noise machines, eye masks and ear plugs scattered around the house,” resident Ben Bull said in a written statement.

Earlier this week, one area resident posted a video on social media of loud construction work reportedly occurring on the Gardiner at around 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

“This is madness!” the user wrote on Twitter.

A notice published on the City of Toronto’s website has addressed the disruptive construction activities, stating that around-the-clock work is necessary in order to complete the project on schedule.

The notice also states that anyone with concerns about noise should contact the city with details about the disruption.

The neighbourhood association says it took three months for city staff to set up a meeting, which will take place on Friday.

“We are looking forward to the meeting Friday night to hear how staff are going to respond to the problems the construction has caused,” resident Suzanne Kavanagh said in the new release. “We do not want to hear any more words. The time for action is now.”

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mayor John Tory said in addition to meeting with residents in the area, city staff will also meet with contractors in the next few days to determine how much noise is “too much.”

“On the one hand, there are a lot of people, including people in that neighbourhood, who say, ‘Get this work done as quickly as you can.’ And on the other hand, (there are) people who are obviously saying, ‘We can only put up with noise …. to a point.’ And I understand that completely,” Tory said.

“In the end, really our job is to find the balance… We are going to revisit that balance and revisit what the actual experience has been.”

Tory said he expects some changes will likely be made within the next week.

“I would think before the end of the week we are likely to have some comment on that and perhaps some alteration to how and what work is being done at what particular time of day because I think it is a reasonable thing to re-examine that,” the mayor noted.