Motorists already frustrated with traffic and roadwork may have to face even more construction and costs if they want an end to constant flooding on the Don Valley Parkway.

Raising the DVP, some say, would help prevent flooding from the Don River that has sometimes left abandoned cars and infuriated commuters in its wake.

But it would also generate new headaches for drivers fed up by road closures near the lakeshore and two years of promised construction gridlock on the Gardiner Expressway.

Still, city transit manager Stephen Buckley says the city and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority are studying solutions such as raising the road level to combat problems along an often soggy stretch of the DVP.

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Also under consideration are measures such as installing check valves, creating reservoirs, widening or deepening channels and building flood walls.

Of those options, TRCA senior manager of flood and risk management infrastructure Laurian Farrell says “the best solution would be to raise the road.”

“Raising the road would be most effective, because to build a floodwall along the river would require space and create problems with drainage,” she says.

If the city and TRCA decide on that solution, traffic will need to be rerouted and wildlife protected during construction.

The cost “could likely be tens, potentially hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on how far of a length we have to modify.”

Councillor Mary Fragedakis, whose ward includes the area, isn’t supporting any specific flood relief plan yet, but says raising the DVP is a possible solution.

She’s been hearing concerns from local residents about “severe” floods that reroute drivers and wash out nearby trails for a long time. “We are having extreme weather, and the issue is not going away,” she says.

Earlier this year, she asked the city to consider an environmental assessment to study the area around DVP and Bayview Ave. that tends to become swamped when the Don starts to spill over.

She hopes a solution can be implemented “as soon as possible.”

Fragedakis isn’t the only one.

GO Transit began searching for solutions after last July’s massive rainstorm caused flooding and power outages across the city, stranding a train next to the DVP for hours, while passengers watched the cars slowly fill with water.

GO has been working with TRCA to stabilize embankments near the tracks.

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It has also developed an early warning system involving visual inspections of tracks to ensure that heavy rains don’t cause a repeat of last year’s turmoil.

In some cases, trains on the Richmond Hill GO line can be diverted to another track near Old Cummer. But it’s not ideal because that track is already in use by other trains, say transit officials.

GO has also hired an engineering firm to look at a longer-term solution that transit chief Greg Percy calls “the big fix” — basically raising the stretch of track that runs beside the river.

Transit officials still need to make the business case for what will be an expensive project, Percy said.

“Extreme weather conditions are on the increase globally, and what was a very rare occurrence is an increasing occurrence —so we have to change our decision process.”