DVP is closed this weekend, here’s why
TORONTO, ON., August 11, 2020 — Today the City of Toronto announced on Twitter that they will be shutting down the Don Valley Parkway for important summer maintenance and improvement including paving, debris removal, graffiti removal, guardrail repairs and a great deal more.
The closure will begin on Friday August 14, 2020 at 11 pm and the DVP will reopen at 5 am on Monday August 17.
Due to the nature of the maintenance required the entire expressway will be closed for safety purposes. The last time the entire DVP was shut down was in the Spring of 2019.
This year’s annual closure, typically planned for the spring or fall, has been moved to August to take advantage of warmer summer weather as well as lower than normal traffic volumes the city continues to experience. City staff estimate that it would take approximately 30 separate days with lane closures to complete the same amount of highly coordinated work performed in just 54 hours over a single weekend.
Traffic-signal timing changes will be made to enhance traffic flow on nearby routes to help manage traffic congestion associated with the closure.
ActiveTO closure
As well, there will be one ActiveTO major weekend road closure this weekend, along Lake Shore Boulevard West from Stadium Road to Windemere Avenue. ActiveTO weekend closures that would typically be in place on Lake Shore Boulevard East and Bayview Avenue will not be available this weekend in order to provide alternative routes for drivers. All three weekend closures are expected to return the weekend following the DVP maintenance closure. Learn more about ActiveTO.
A full closure of the Don Valley Parkway for one weekend is an important and safe way that City road crews, engineers and other stakeholders, such as Toronto Hydro and the TTC, can make improvements and keep the expressway in the best state of good-repair.
Here are some specific activities that are expected to be undertaken during the closure:
- 10 lane kilometres of roadway milling and paving
- 3,600 tonnes of asphalt will be used
- Inspection and controlled chipping on bridges
- Construction and repair of roadside ditches
- Cleaning of bridge joints and catch basins
- Debris removal and sweeping
- Graffiti removal
- Guiderail repairs and replacement
- Inspection and repair of ‘crash’ barriers
- Roadside and overhead sign maintenance
- Inspection of maintenance of RESCU cameras and equipment cabinets
- Repair of traffic detection equipment
- Pothole repairs
- Other work related to expressway lights and utilities may be done by Toronto Hydro.
Motorists can use Kingston Road, Victoria Park Avenue, Leslie Street, Bayview Avenue and Avenue Road as alternative routes into the city during the weekend closure.
This weekend’s DVP maintenance closure has been coordinated with important overnight work related to the renewal of the Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis and Cherry Streets. To facilitate this work and minimize disruption to the travelling public, the westbound lanes of the Gardiner Expressway, from the DVP to the Yonge-Bay-York ramp and the on-ramp to westbound Gardiner Expressway from Lake Shore Boulevard East at Logan Avenue will be fully closed. The first opportunity for motorists to enter westbound Gardiner Expressway is the on-ramp at Jarvis Street. These closures will take place on:
- Saturday, August 15 at 10 p.m. to Saturday, August 16 at 8 a.m., and;
- Sunday, August 16 at 10 p.m. until Monday, August 17 at 5 a.m.
A map with the City’s road restrictions is available to residents and visitors to help make their travel plans.
In addition, the City’s T.O. INview map shows planned capital construction work taking place across the city.
Details about this closure are available at toronto.ca/dvp
