Gardiner reopens, but other roads closed for Toronto Marathon

It’s a glorious weekend in Toronto — and the last thing you want to do is spend it stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

But it was difficult to avoid, as spring maintenance on the Gardiner Expressway coincided with a marathon through the downtown core.

The Gardiner was closed from Carlaw Avenue to Highway 427 from 8 p.m. on Friday and fully reopened shortly before 6 a.m. on Sunday.

Road crews conducted several tasks, including cleaning catch basins, doing pothole repairs, inspecting overhead signs and chipping away loose concrete.

The annual spring closure took place earlier this year to help ease traffic congestion due to Sunday’s Toronto Marathon.

Road closures for the event — which consists of the full marathon, half-marathon, relay marathon, and five-kilometre run and walk — began at 6 a.m. on Sunday.

The full marathon started at the North York Civic Centre and ran along Yonge Street from Finch Avenue to Davenport Road.

Some lane restrictions will also be in effect in the area bounded by Bayview Avenue, South Kingsway, Lake Shore and Finch.

Below are route maps for the full and half marathons. Click here to view the route map for the full marathon on your mobile device. Click here to view the route map for the half-marathon on your mobile device.

There is also a TTC closure to contend with. Subway trains will be bypassing Union Station this weekend as crews continue work on the station’s second platform.

TTC riders will have to walk from King or St. Andrew stations. However, streetcars will continue to service the station with six additional cars added on the 504 route.

Regular subway service will resume on Monday morning.

The Don Valley Parkway was closed last weekend for similar spring maintenance work, and the same closure time as the Gardiner was applied.

Last Friday, Mayor John Tory said there is “no perfect weekend” for road and TTC closures, but “this is work that has to be done in the city.”

Other road closures

Around 10,000 runners laced up for the Mississauga Marathon on Sunday.

Runners started at Square One and ran down Mississauga Road along the Credit River, through Port Credit and finished at Lakefront Promenade Park.

On Sunday afternoon, the second Khalsa Day Parade shut down roads in the west end. The parade started in Mississauga and ends at the Sikh Spiritual Centre on Carrier Drive in Rexdale.

Click here for a full list of road closures.