

Chris Fox, CP24.com





Work is progressing on the demolition of the Dowling Avenue bridge and officials say they are confident that the Gardiner Expressway will be “cleaned up and ready for traffic by Monday morning.”

The removal of the crumbling bridge, which is approaching the end of its lifespan, has been timed to coincide with the annual weekend closure of the Gardiner Expressway for maintenance.

Work on the demolition began at around 11 p.m. on Friday and continued through the night.

Discussing the demolition with CP24 on Saturday afternoon, Executive Director of Engineering and Construction Services Michael D'Andrea said removing the bridge is a complicated job that requires an “awful lot of equipment.”

“We have 7 pieces of heavy equipment here from jackhammers, to shears to one of the biggest concrete saws in the province,” he said.

Once the bridge is fully removed, D'Andrea said crews will begin to clean up the considerable mess that it will leave behind.

Down the road, a temporary replacement bridge will then be erected to accommodate pedestrian and cyclist traffic at Dowling Avenue but it will not open until July. The temporary bridge will remain in place while the city completes an environmental assessment on the design for a new permanent bridge that will eventually be built.

In previous years, the closure of the Gardiner Expressway for maintenance only lasted until Sunday morning but this year the highway won’t reopen until 5 a.m. Monday due to the time needed to remove the bridge.

“I think people understand it is a very complicated to do and we have given people lots to notice,” Mayor John Tory told reporters on Saturday. “There is just no perfect time to do this but it is work that has to be done.”

This past fall, the city demolished the nearby Dunn Avenue bridge, which was also approaching the end of its lifespan.