Gardiner Shutdown this weekend = HELL?

[neilson]

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/254314

Gardiner shutdown to hit thousands downtown
Sep 07, 2007 04:35 PM
thestar.com staff

Tens of thousands of people will be heading downtown for an unusually high number of public events this weekend and the Gardiner Expressway — which most would normally use — will be closed for what is being described as routine maintenance.

The only major east-west artery available for people heading downtown in their cars will be Lake Shore Blvd.

Here's what's going on downtown Saturday and Sunday:

— It's the first big weekend for the Toronto International Film Festival. Thousands will flock downtown to see movies and to watch for the Hollywood stars who've come to town.

— Thousands of other people will be heading for Toronto Islands Park to attend the Virgin Festival, a pop music extravaganza being headlined by groups like the Smashing Pumpkins, Metric M.I.A. and the Tokyo Police Club.

— At least 10,000 people will attend the annual Great White North Dragon Boat Festival on the lakeshore near Exhibition Park.

— Between 25,000 and 35,000 people will be cheering their lungs out when the Argonauts and Ticats play a CFL game Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre.

— Entertainer Hilary Duff will entertain 18,000-20,000 people Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre.

More than a few people are asking why the city would choose this particular weekend to close the Gardiner but calls to City Hall management for comment went unreturned.

One City Hall veteran, Councillor Rob Ford, was not happy with the turn of events.

When asked who makes these decisions, Ford said that he attended a meeting in recent days with the people in charge of special events, transportation, police and city manager Shirley Hoi and everyone was "passing the buck."

He said doesn't know who made the call to close the highway. "You'll probably never find out," he said.

"I always thought that council makes final decisions, but I guess not."

"I think it's (the Gardiner shutdown) completely asinine. Council decides everything else - why not the road closures?"

Eastbound lanes between the Humber River and Carlaw Avenue will be closed at 2 a.m. Sunday until 5 a.m. Monday. Westbound lanes will be closed as of 2 a.m. Saturday until 5 a.m. Monday.

The closing will give crews time to work on a number of things, including road resurfacing on the westbound Gardiner between York St. and Spadina Ave.; lighting work; catch basin cleaning; traffic camera maintenance; sign maintenance and repairs to guard rails.

[UrbanPoet]

stop being such a wannabe! you live no where near toronto, or even Canada for that matter!!!

[coriolis]

I have a sinking feeling that the TTC may be delayed multiple times during rush hour for unknown reasons....

[neilson]

stop being such a wannabe! you live no where near toronto, or even Canada for that matter!!!

Never said I did. I wanted to be productive and bring up a topic that relates to the majority on here and has not been discussed yet.

It's the right thing to do.

[kt11]

Meanwhile in Mississauga, things are moving well in SquareOne, Heartland, Dixie Mall and Erin Mills.

[KorruptioN]

It's the right thing to do.

That said, it'll be closed for good reason. They need to do the maintenance, and closing down the expressway during the week is simply not an option.

[Talamasca]

It's a bit of an inconvenience but it's not that big of a deal. Just take the GO Train or TTC. I hate driving downtown and was planning on taking the subway downtown on Sunday anyway.

[Gamester2K]

stop being such a wannabe! you live no where near toronto, or even Canada for that matter!!!

lol i cant believe so many people fall for neilson's troll.

he isnt a yankee

[neilson]

lol i cant believe so many people fall for neilson's troll.

he isnt a yankee

I wanted to be productive and bring up a topic that relates to the majority on here and has not been discussed yet.

It's the right thing for me to do. Nobody on here brought it up so I took it upon myself to do so.

[sterdeus]

Thank you for the news because I'm going downtown today and I might need to remap!

[neilson]

Thank you for the news because I'm going downtown today and I might need to remap!

You're very welcome.

[curtis]

I believe this scheduled closedown weekend is usually decided a year or so in advance.

It's the festivals that picked the wrong weekend. Blame them.

[T-DOT]

Wasnt it shutdown for maintenance already a few months ago? Man I had a good ol time getting stuck on King Street/Queensway.

Thankfully, I have no intentions going into the City this weekend.

[akito925]

Wasnt it shutdown for maintenance already a few months ago? Man I had a good ol time getting stuck on King Street/Queensway.

Thankfully, I have no intentions going into the City this weekend.

thats okay you can get out of the car pick up a hotdog and still have time to spare to eat because you won't be moving forward for a while.

[KorruptioN]

You're very welcome.

Good attempt at trying to recover from past failed threads...

That said, the TTC is advisable over driving downtown on any given summer weekend.