By now, you've probably heard that the Gardiner Expressway is going to be closed for most of the upcoming long weekend.
And you've probably reacted to the news with frustration.
But it turns out, this may be the best weekend to close the lanes.
"Our data shows that on a long weekend, like Thanksgiving, we see a reduction in traffic. So anywhere from 5-9% fewer vehciles travel on the Gardiner for the long weekend." says Brad Ross, from the city of Toronto.
He says this closure will be used for maintenance, but will also be an opportunity for them to set up traffic staging for the expressway deck replacement which starts right after.
That means, while the highway will reopen on Monday, it will be down to two lanes in each direction from Jarvis to the DVP for that long-term project.
The city of Toronto provided NEWSTALK 1010 with the following data to back-up the decision to close for the long weekend:
On an average weekday, the Gardiner carries 215,000 vehicles per day. Saturdays typically have volumes of 210,000 vpd, and 195,000 on Sundays. On thanksgiving weekend in 2017, Saturday saw volumes of 192,000, Sunday 185,000 (and Monday 170,000). Overall, thanksgiving weekend saw traffic volumes of 5-9% lower than the average fall weekend.