The F. G. Gardiner Expressway is an elevated highway built along the waterfront of the City of Toronto almost 40 years ago. This Expressway was planned to extend as the Scarborough Expressway, however in the early 1970s planning philosophy was changed by citizen activism and the ambitious expressway was abandoned. In the 1990s the City conducted a life cycle cost analysis and environmental assessment on the most easterly 1.4 km of the elevated expressway and concluded that the best solution was to dismantle this section. The scope of the work consisted of the demolition of 1.4 km of the expressway and replacing it with new ramp access to and from the remaining section of the expressway and a reconstructed section of Lake Shore Boulevard East. The proposed paper will document how the project team managed the engineering challenges of the project, including keeping to the schedule, rehabilitation of columns, construction of the new ramp, construction methodologies used and recycling of material. The paper will also describe how the project team managed public consultation, social and environmental impacts and various challenges including maintaining access to the Gardiner Expressway, noise and dust concerns and dealing with contaminated soils in the boulevard.
Abstract