‘Everything is on the table’: Province considering uploading costs for Gardiner, DVP

Hundreds of thousands of vehicles travel to and from – and through – the downtown core using the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway daily and it costs a lot of money to maintain those roadways.

The discussion surrounding who should handle those costs has taken an interesting turn with reports that the Ford government may be entertaining the idea of uploading responsibility for the roadways as part of the provincial-municipal new-deal working group aimed at helping to deal with Toronto’s ballooning budget shortfall.

“This signals that there’s a shift towards looking to make the city whole,” said Matti Siemiatycki, the Director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto.

The city has budgeted nearly $2 billion in capital work for the Gardiner over the next decade alone and it’s expected to cost at least $1.2 billion to rebuild the eastern elevated segment.

“This will not solve the entire physical challenges that the city faces, they are massive. They are extensive, they have been long-standing and they will require huge fixes. But this is a start and a signal that there might be movement in terms of finding a solution for the City of Toronto.”

The mayor’s office tells CityNews that uploading the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway to the province is one of many options being considered by the working group. “Everything is on the table for discussion.”

Ford has flatly rejected calls for the province to assume financial ownership of the roadways. When former city councillor and mayoral candidate Ana Bailao raised the idea again during the spring campaign, he once again said ‘no’.

“When you’re talking about solutions to help the city that do not increase taxes, and are fair and do not cause a huge precedent for the premier with other municipalities, this is a no-brainer,” Bailao tells CityNews.

The move would also spell the end to Mayor Olivia Chow’s idea of stopping the 1.7-kilometre Gardiner East from being rebuilt while allowing Ford to gain some political points as the two fight over the future of Ontario Place.

“I think in this case the province will put money into it, because the maintenance is so significant, and the challenges are acute,” said Siemiatycki. “If there’s issues with, especially the Gardiner being above ground, those are real challenges, and we’ve seen with those look like.”

An interim report is expected to come from the joint working group by the end of this month with full recommendations due at some point in November.