City planning to speed up Gardiner construction

City hall is planning to speed up repair work on the western Gardiner Expressway, but when that work will start and how much it will cost is still unclear.

The city released a new report Tuesday confirming it's been in talks with its current contractor about what can be done. It also held a workshop with industry experts last month. 

The goal, according to the report: finding a plan that "includes tangible, implementable measures to advance construction acceleration and enhanced congestion management measures."

Exactly what that means will be laid out in a supplementary report, staff are telling Mayor Olivia Chow's executive committee.

There's also no price tag for the work.

WATCH: Chow speaks with the CBC's Shawn Jeffords about the push to speed up repair work: 

Olivia Chow marks 1st full year as Toronto mayor

5 months ago

Duration 4:29

In the 12 months since Olivia Chow was elected mayor of Toronto, she’s grappled with strained city finances, frustrating levels of congestion and a housing crisis. Chow sat down with CBC’s Shawn Jeffords for a wide-ranging interview about her first year in office.

The western Gardiner rehabilitation work was expected to cost some $300 million. The city's currently at work replacing the highway's bridge structure, repairing the structures underneath the expressway and adding a new traffic system between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue.

The work is part of the second phase of the city's six-part plan to save the aging highway.

City staff said in March about 200,000 vehicles move through this section of highway, and currently about a third of the highway's capacity has been cut due to construction work.

That's prompted sharp criticism from commuters and city councillors alike, and a promise from Chow to look at ways the work can be sped up.