Money wasted? Drivers speak out on newly rebuilt Gardiner on-ramp nobody can use

Our Speakers Corner report takes us to the intersection of Lake Shore Boulevard and Lower Jarvis Street, where there are daily traffic jams in nearly all directions.

“It’s a mess morning, noon and sometimes late at night,” said Toronto driver Omid Ghiei.

The issues can be traced back to 2021 when the city tore down the Gardiner Expressway’s on and off ramps at Logan Avenue. That forced traffic heading east off the Gardiner to exit at Lower Jarvis onto Lake Shore Boulevard.

Drivers heading west to access the Gardiner had to use the expressway west on-ramp at Lower Jarvis. Mix in some road repairs being made to Lake Shore Boulevard, and drivers say it’s the perfect recipe to create daily headaches.

“You sometimes have to wait 20 minutes on Lakeshore just to go a couple of blocks,” Ghiei said.

Another ongoing problem has drivers scratching their heads. It’s for vehicles accessing the Gardiner Expressway East at Lower Jarvis. In 2021, that eastbound on-ramp was rebuilt and re-opened, only to be shut down within a few months.

“I want to know why? How does that make sense?” asked driver Shaun Pottle. “It looks good. Too bad we can’t use it.”

According to the city, the removal of the Gardiner/Logan ramp and rebuilding of Lake Shore Boulevard East was approved by City Council as part of the Gardiner East project in 2016. As part of that ongoing project, the eastbound on-ramp was rebuilt.

“Replacement of the ramp was part of the overall Gardiner Section 1 work (from Jarvis Street to Cherry Street), along with several other on/off ramps along this section of the expressway. The overall cost for this section is $340 million,” a city spokesperson said.

The real question: Why was the eastbound Gardiner ramp rebuilt, re-opened and closed?

You can thank a traffic study done after the rebuild.

“Prior to the road alterations, the eastbound off-ramp operated on a separate phase from the eastbound traffic on Lake Shore Boulevard, also known as ‘split phasing.’

“Split phasing allowed vehicle traffic from Lake Shore Boulevard to safely weave across the through lanes to access the on-ramp, free of conflict from the off-ramp movements,” a city spokesperson added.

The traffic study determined it was no longer safe to do that and concluded that the eastbound ramp led to more backups on Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway.

“With the access ramps at Logan Avenue permanently closed, the traffic queues on the off-ramp at Lower Jarvis Street would have extended onto the Gardiner Expressway. Therefore, the split phasing was removed to increase the amount of time for the green light for the eastbound off-ramp movements and mitigate potential queuing on to the Gardiner,” the city said.

So the ramp was shut down.

“Couldn’t they have figured that out before spending all of the time and money to repair and rebuild it?” asked Stephen Clarke, who lives nearby.

CityNews requested an interview with city staff but were told nobody was available.

“We don’t mind mistakes, but what’s the solution?” Clarke asked.

According to a city spokesperson, “The eastbound on-ramp on Lakeshore Boulevard from Lower Jarvis Street will re-open in 2030 after the construction of the new access ramps east of Cherry Street.”

“That’s a long time —  seven years — wow, that’s a big ask. People depend on that on-ramp,” Clarke said.

2030 is when the city hopes to replace the old Logan Avenue ramps with new ones, slated to go just east of Cherry Street. The city says that will help alleviate much of the traffic issues seen in this area.

“The eastbound on-ramp on Lakeshore Boulevard from Lower Jarvis Street will re-open in 2030 after the construction of those new access ramps east of Cherry Street.”

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