Gardiner Rehabilitation in 2026: Where Each Section Stands

Not finished — and not one project. The City is rebuilding the Gardiner in six sections; in 2026 the active construction runs between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue. Every closure is announced individually, and the Gardiner Expressway road page tracks what is currently announced.

Where each section stands

As listed by the City’s Strategic Rehabilitation Plan (checked August 2, 2026):

• Section 1 — Jarvis Street to Cherry Street: complete in 2021. Accelerated bridge construction replaced the steel girders and concrete deck with pre-fabricated sections.
• Section 2 — Dufferin Street to Strachan Avenue: in progress. This project replaces the elevated portion of the expressway, and it is the work most likely to shape a 2026 trip through the west end.
• Section 3 — Highway 427 to the Humber River: 6.5 km of at-grade expressway and 15 bridges. Work begins with early repairs of the bridges at Park Lawn Road and Mimico Creek, plus the Kipling Avenue and Islington Avenue bridges over the Gardiner.
• Section 4 — Grand Magazine Street to York Street: will replace two kilometres of the elevated section; timing follows the current work.
• Section 5 — Cherry Street to the Don Valley Parkway: a reconfiguration under the approved Hybrid Design, coordinated with the Ontario Line, Port Lands flood protection, and waterfront projects. The Logan Avenue on/off ramps were already removed as part of this work.
• Section 6 — Humber River to Dufferin Street: scope pending an engineering evaluation.

What this means for planning a trip

A project timeline is not a closure calendar. Sections in construction can carry long-running lane arrangements, and the City sometimes bundles maintenance into a full-weekend closure — but each of those is announced as its own dated record with a direction, segment, and facility scope. Mainline, lane, and ramp restrictions mean different things for a trip; the methodology page explains how this site keeps those distinctions.

So the useful habit is: check the announced list for your trip date, then recheck the official notice before leaving, because construction staging can shift.

Official references

• Gardiner Expressway Strategic Rehabilitation Plan for section scopes and status.
• Gardiner Expressway Maintenance Program for the recurring maintenance and weekend-closure approach.
• City of Toronto planned road restrictions for dated restriction records.