City council moves ahead with a new plan to fix aging Gardiner
Posted December 15, 2016 10:07 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
City council is moving ahead with a revised plan to fix the aging Gardiner Expressway, despite the cost estimate now jumping up by another billion dollars.
Under the new plan, council scrapped a proposed public-private partnership, putting the mew cost to rebuild and repair an 18-kilometre stretch between Dufferin and Logan at $2.3-billion dollars.
The initial price tag of the so-called hybrid option was $2.6-billion, but a staff report at the end of November stated costs would balloon more than a billion bucks. Even with the savings there’s still debate over the need to revisit other alternatives.
A fiery Mayor John Tory said the city can no longer afford to stall on getting the repairs done.
“This is a chunk of the Gardiner Expressway from east of Jarvis street,” said the mayor as he held up a piece of concrete the size of a football. “And it didn’t fall down but it could have. And I think that is symptomatic of the old way.”
“You’ve done no work to actually move ahead to decide what you’re going to do about Scarborough transit and somehow that’s okay. That’s building the city, doing nothing. I don’t agree with that.”
Councillor Michael Layton is wondering how high the cost needs to go before re-evaluating the decision.
“We shouldn’t be afraid of re-opening debates when we have new information. How big a blank cheque are we going to write for these infrastructure projects.”
But deputy mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong says, not only was the hybrid the right choice, but the numbers being thrown around aren’t as bad as it seems.
“The costs aren’t escalating to the degree that some of the councillors on the floor will suggest to you.”
Tory has repeatedly said he will not bring back the boulevard option, on that would see an eastern section of the Gardiner torn down and replaced.
City staff said the $2.3-billion now needed can already be found in the 10-year capital budget.
