Toronto roads are already struggling to absorb traffic from shuttered lanes of the Gardiner Expressway, and the City announced on Thursday afternoon that the situation is about to get much worse.
Work will begin next week, starting on Monday, April 22, for the next phase of ongoing King Street watermain and TTC streetcar track replacement.
For almost one week, until Sunday, April 28, westbound lanes on King Street West between Dufferin Street and Joe Shuster Way will be closed, while one eastbound lane will remain open.
Rolling road closures will continue along King West from Dufferin Street to Shaw for roughly five months and won’t conclude until September.
Then from September through November, intermittent road closures will be required for road restoration and overhead streetcar work.
The long-term project will ultimately replace aging streetcar tracks and a 146-year-old watermain running below King Street.
In addition to the Gardiner Expressway and King Street West, another primary east-west thoroughfare will resume construction on Monday, with road reconstruction to shut down Bloor Street West from Avenue Road to Madison Avenue.
Bloor Street West reconstruction will resume on April 22, and is anticipated to be complete by August 2024. Starting April 22, Bloor Street West will be closed to westbound traffic between Avenue Road and Madison Avenue. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/N6PjpGG0QG
— Toronto Cycling and Pedestrian Projects (@TO_Cycling_Ped) April 18, 2026
And there are even more short-term headaches that commuters were not planning for.
The City announced on Thursday that, starting overnight and lasting into Friday morning, the Don Valley Parkway will be closed to southbound traffic to allow for the safe removal of a damaged electronic messaging sign installed over the highway’s southbound lanes.
This unplanned closure is expected to begin at approximately 10 p.m. on Thursday, April 18 and run until approximately 5:30 a.m. on Friday, April 19, (hopefully) clearing up just in time for the morning rush.
During the closure, all southbound lanes will be blocked on the Don Valley Parkway between Don Mills and the Bayview/Bloor ramp. Southbound traffic on the route will be redirected at the southbound off-ramp to southbound Don Mills Road, while northbound traffic will be cut to one lane from Pottery Road to Beechwood Drive.
The City warns that “northbound motorists should expect significant delays.”
