TORONTO – It is the most active city in North America when it comes to public works. And you can see it, unfortunately: road traffic is often haywire (replace “often” with “always” if you go downtown) and the use of public transport doesn’t help, given that almost every week there are closures of metro stations ” for works” (but why don’t they do them during the night?!?) and given that the buses themselves find themselves stuck in traffic. 

New Year New Life? Nope. 2024 will be another year of public works, from those related to the development of public transport lines (underway since time immemorial) to the replacement of centuries-old water mains. And if last year Toronto planned $1.14 billion in infrastructure work for roads, bridges, TTC tracks, sewers and water mains, 2024 will be no different, with construction sites practically everywhere that will do nothing but confirm another officially certified fact: Toronto is classified as one of the worst cities in the world for traffic congestion. Not only that: a study revealed that Torontonians spend approximately 199 hours a year in traffic. In practice it is as if they spent more than eight days a year locked in a car, in a queue, somewhere. A record that we risk breaking, judging from the following list (which we took, in summary, from a CP24 report).

Among the many projects underway and/or imminent in the city this year, those relating to new public transport lines certainly stand out, starting from the almost sixteen kilometer underground line which will run from the Ontario Science Center to the city center and will end at Exhibition Place: it will have 15 stations and connections with 40 other transit lines. Queen Street, between Bay and Yonge Streets (near the south end of the Toronto Eaton Centre) and between Yonge and Victoria Streets (just west of St. Michael’s Hospital) will be closed for nearly five years. Additionally, James Street, which runs north-south between Old City Hall and the Eaton Centre, will also be closed between Queen and Albert Streets. In addition to this line, work is underway on several other transportation projects across the city, including the Scarborough Subway Extension, Eglinton Crosstown West Subway Extension, and Yonge North Subway Extension. Work is also expected to begin this year on GO’s new “SmartTrack” stations: the stations are St. Clair West GO, Bloor-Lansdowne GO, King-Liberty GO, East Harbor Transit Hub and Finch-Kennedy GO.

Other work is also planned: to replace the old streetcar tracks and the 146-year-old water main along King Street West from Dufferin and Shaw streets (work will begin in February and be completed by the end of the year); to install tram tracks on Adelaide Street West between York and Victoria Streets (work ongoing until spring); to upgrade University Avenue infrastructure (starting at the end of February the southbound lanes of the road between College Street and Queen Street West will be reduced to one lane and work is expected to be completed by the summer); to reconstruct streets and bike lanes on Bloor Street West between Avenue Road and Spadina Avenue (to begin in the spring); to rehabilitate sewer lines on Broadview Avenue from Danforth Avenue to Gerrard Street East (work ongoing through mid-February); to finish the new sewer system in the Fairbank-Silverthorn area (work began in October 2021 and will finish in spring 2025).

And then, again, other closures: until March, Harvie Avenue closed from Kitchener Avenue for fifty meters to the south; through May, Silverthorn Avenue closed south of Dunraven Drive; works also on Gerrard Street East between Sherbourne and Parliament streets; on Huntingwood Drive from Pharmacy Avenue to Kennedy Road; on Port Union Road between Island Road and Lawrence Avenue East; on Scarborough Golf Club Road between Ellesmere Road and Kingston Road; on the Queensway between Mimico Creek and Burma Drive, near the Humber River; on Champagne Drive and Alness Street between Chesswood Drive and Steeles Avenue West. And of course these are only the planned works. In fact, the unknown remains of those who might become necessary… along the way.