METROPOLITAN TORONTO TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES IN SUPPORT OF HUMBER BRIDGES RECONSTRUCTION

The Gardiner Expressway provides the only direct expressway access to downtown Toronto from the west. The bridges where the Gardiner and Lake Shore Boulevard cross the Humber River are to be completely replaced over the next five years in order to correct problems with structural decay and roadway geometry. This paper describes the traffic management initiatives implemented to help mitigate the construction impacts. The Humber Bridges reconstruction traffic management initiatives were implemented as extension to Metro Torontos RESCU corridor traffic management system, already in place on the Gardiner-Lake Shore corridor. The technical and operating characteristics of each of the components are described. A preliminary qualitative assessment of their effectiveness, under pre-construction conditions, is presented.