If the stunning weather of these last few days has you eagerly filling your weekend with plans to get out and about in the city, there are a number of major road and transit closures that you’ll want to keep in mind, as they will certainly be impacting people’s ability to traverse the downtown core.
For starters, a six-stop portion of the TTC’s Line 1 will be shut down for all of Saturday, May 13, with subway service ending at York Mills in the north and Bloor -Yonge in the south, and shuttle buses instead running in both directions between Rosedale, Summerhill, St. Clair, Davisville, Eglinton and Lawrence stations.
On Saturday, May 13, there will be no subway service on Line 1, between Bloor-Yonge and York Mills stations for work on the Automatic Train Control signal system. Shuttle buses will operate. pic.twitter.com/68tryR3QMZ
— TTC Service Alerts (@TTCnotices) May 11, 2023
There are also some ongoing construction projects that are impeding major routes, such as the multi-year-long closure of Queen Street between Victoria and Bay Streets — the most bustling portion of the thoroughfare — for the new Ontario Line Station at Queen and Yonge.
Also crucial to consider is the continued work along the long-hellish Eglinton Avenue, which many know to avoid at all costs at this point, with even more changes slated for later this summer.
Then there is the Sporting Life 10k, during which more than 16,000 participants will take to the streets starting at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 14 for one of the biggest running events of the year.
4 years lol. Name something Fors has delivered on time or budget. I say 8 years
— Gary (@GaryBlake) May 1, 2023
Portions of Yonge Street (from Lawrence to Eglinton, Eglinton to Davisville, and Davisville to Wellington), Bay Street (from Wellington to Lake Shore), Wellington St. W (from Yonge to Bay), Lake Shore Blvd. W (from British Columbia Drive to Bathurst and Bathurst to Bay), Strachan Avenue (from Fleet to Lake Shore) and Fort York Boulevard will be closed either partially or fully for anywhere between four and nine hours.
Organizers are urging people to plan accordingly and have launched an interactive map to help.
The city also has other closures due to roadwork listed online, and in an effort to help with resulting congestion, has implemented a few special priority travel routes to “balance critical transit construction with the needs of people and businesses who use Toronto’s roads.”
For this initiative, construction will not be permitted along key detour routes surrounding work zones, such as the stretch of Dundas Street that many will be using to get around the Yonge-Queen mess. Street parking and curbside patios will also be restricted.