Here the photographer stays stationary as the traffic flows through the frame leaving only trails of light on the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto.Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
Two ramps on the Gardiner Expressway will close for about six weeks starting Sept. 10.
On Monday, the city will close the Bay Street ramp to the eastbound Gardiner and the expressway's ramp to Jarvis Street to complete necessary repair work.
Director of design and construction Gord MacMillan said portions of the support structure beneath the decks of the ramps need to be repaired and replaced.
Mr. MacMillan said the repairs have been planned for about two years, and that the timing was chosen carefully.
"There's typically a lot of increased car volume in the area due to all the summer activities," Mr. MacMillan said. "Now that Labour Day has come and gone, we're taking advantage of this period to actually get this work done."
Through road construction can snarl traffic and frustrate drivers, Mr. MacMillan recently told The Globe and Mail that 32 major roads are under construction this year, a slight decrease from 2011.
Mr. MacMillan said the work on the Gardiner should be completed in six weeks, but included a note of caution.
"With construction sometimes you run into unforeseen circumstances that may extend or shorten the construction duration," Mr. MacMillan said.
To mitigate effects on traffic, the city can co-ordinate major projects, rather than tearing up a road on several separate occasions.
Mr. MacMillan said the work will be focused on the structure of the bridge, with "a little bit of paving."
Raphaël Fischler , director of the school of urban planning at McGill University, recently said cities are learning to complete road work faster, thanks in part to improved equipment, but that road repairs are inevitable.
"If you've got to close a highway at some point, you've got to close a highway," Mr. Fischler said.