Key roadblock in Ontario's takeover of DVP and Gardiner Expressway could be cleared by end of year

CBC

13-04-2025

The final roadblock to Ontario's takeover of the Gardiner Expressway Parkway could be cleared this year as the province and city finalize a deal Toronto's mayor says will free up the city's finances to better maintain everything from its transit system to its parks.
A due diligence review by the province ahead of the upload, including an assessment of the highways, a financial and legal review, and other technical work is the last remaining hurdle for the province's takeover of the two highways. A spokesperson for Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria says the province is hopeful the study will be completed later this year.
"The results of the (review) will help inform future decisions about all aspects of the upload, including timeframes," Dakota Brasier said in a statement. "The Ministry will need to assess the results once received."
The highways will become the property of provincial taxpayers under the deal reached between Premier Doug Ford and Mayor Olivia Chow almost a year and a half ago. Since then, teams of civil servants have been at work on the complicated arrangement of handing over the 33 kilometres of joined road in and out of Toronto's core.
WATCH | More construction is coming to the Gardiner Expressway:
More construction is coming to the Gardiner Expressway. Here's what you need to know
12 days ago
Duration 2:37
Crews will soon begin repair work on five bridges as part of Toronto's multi-year plan to rehabilitate the Gardiner Expressway. CBC's Britnei Bilhete has more details — and reaction from drivers.
Chow said this week she is optimistic the formal work will wrap in 2025, paving the way for the full upload a short time later.
"The conversation between the province and the city on the Gardiner upload is going very well," she said. "That upload really assists the City of Toronto."
Gardiner and DVP an '800-pound' gorilla, Ford says
In November 2023, when the agreement was announced, Ford called the highways an "800-pound gorilla on your back", recalling their impact on city finances from his time as a Toronto councillor.
"Let's make it very clear: it doesn't matter what the due diligence comes back (with), we're taking care of the DVP and the Gardiner," he said.
Toronto has operated under that assumption ever since, re-allocating $1.9 billion in capital spending to address urgent repair needs elsewhere. During the city's recent budget debate, $500 million was set aside for TTC repairs and maintenance. Parks, Forestry and Recreation will receive $400 million and Transportation Services will receive $350 million.
Chow said the city has been struggling for decades to keep pace with its aging infrastructure. In 2017, the city started a strategic rehabilitation of the Gardiner, estimated to cost $1.7 billion. Toronto taxpayers have already spent $664 million on several parts of the refurbishment plan, which is yet to be completed. Last year, Ontario provided up to $73 million to help accelerate part of the refurbishment.
The vice-chair of the city's infrastructure committee, Deputy Mayor Mike Colle, called the original download of the highways by the Harris government in the 1990s a bad decision that has hurt the city for decades.
"It's been like slow poison every year because these costs have really taken away our ability to take care of our basic sewers and our water system, our hydro system," he said.
Chow described work to address the capital budget each year as a hamster running on a wheel, largely because of the expense of the Gardiner.
"It costs so much money and you just don't have enough. So while you're busy trying to fix the Gardiner, everything else is falling apart," she said.
Toronto's general manager of transportation services, Barbara Gray, said this week that the work to hand over the highways to the province is still underway, but giving up highways like the Gardiner and DVP does come with complications.
"I think anytime you have big infrastructure like that that is so well used, the maintenance and operational costs are always considerable at the same time, there's always some value in having some control over that. And so that's why it's so important that we have these conversations and iron out all of those pieces," she said.
Coun. Anthony Perruzza said he was the lone vote on city council against the upload and worries about losing control of the highways.
"The province is at the table now as the owners, so basically with any permit or any permission, you now have to go to them and say, 'Hey, listen, we want to do this,'" he said.
"I don't think that that was a winning deal for the City of Toronto going forward. Absolutely not."
Few revenue options if tolling is off the table: experts
Matti Siemiatycki, a professor of geography and planning at the University of Toronto, said at this moment it's hard to imagine the city regretting the upload, but the province could have "buyer's remorse" because of the cost to maintain the elevated portion of the Gardiner.
Highways can be an asset when cities can toll them, but bids to do that have been spiked by the province, he said.
"If someone can figure out how to make money off of the Gardiner and the DVP without charging tolls, that will be a real feat, because that's been what's at play," he said. "There is a way that you could generate revenue. It is through tolls."
Murtaza Haider, the director of Toronto Metropolitan University's Urban Analytics Institute, said the upload makes sense for a variety of reasons but it will take time to get it done correctly. The province simply has the highway maintenance experience and much greater borrowing capacity to finance the expensive work, he said.
"I think the province carries more muscle to get a better deal out of contractors and a better deal out of scheduling and getting things done faster than the city," he said.
The highways should have always been seen as arteries of provincial importance, he added. His hope is that the transition will be a seamless one that doesn't inconvenience drivers.
"It shouldn't result in a drastic change," he said.