No construction on the Gardiner East of Cherry street is scheduled to being until 2026. Moreover, Staff revealed in committee that the current cost estimate provided to Council last month does not include inflation or ongoing maintenance costs. This represents a potential jump in costs of hundreds of millions of dollars over the original 2016 estimate. While this delay and cost escalation is frustrating for residents, there is time for the City to re-evaluate the decision made to rebuild this least-used section of the Gardiner as an elevated expressway. It is incumbent upon Council to explore the feasibility of a plan that could maintain the connection between the DVP and Gardiner with a new road on the ground, or in another configuration, that could save hundreds of millions of dollars. According to a report done by Colliers for the Globe & Mail, a new configuration could also open up over 5 acres of City land with a value of $450M with enough space to build 8,000 homes for 15,000 people.
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