Lower Simcoe Street Off Ramp

WSP reconfigures and upgrades Downtown Toronto’s Lower Simcoe Street (York-Bay-Yonge) Off Ramp.

Location

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Client

City of Toronto

Project Value

$25M

Project Status

Completed 2018

Awards

Ontario Consulting Engineering Award of Merit 2019 – Transportation Structural

Needing to reconfigure Downtown’s aging F.G. Gardiner Expressway York-Bay-Yonge eastbound off ramp, the City of Toronto commissioned WSP to complete the detailed design of a new ramp that would accommodate space below for another lane of traffic, wider sidewalks, treed boulevards and a 3 m wide paved multi-use trail.

Number of Embedded Anti-icing Spray Nozzles

22 22

Number of Helical Piles

585 585

Overall length

215 m 215 m

Modernizing One of Toronto’s Busiest Off Ramps

The new Lower Simcoe Street (York-Bay-Yonge) Off Ramp is a concrete slab on steel plate girder bridge that conveys traffic from Eastbound Gardiner Expressway into downtown Toronto. It is curved in plan, superelevated, and tapers from two lanes plus shoulder to three lanes plus shoulder. The bridge carries new street lighting, new advanced traffic management system hardware, and a fixed automated anti-icing spray technology system that includes a weather station. A pumphouse for the anti-icing system is contained entirely within the abutment and contains two 10,000 L tanks of anti-icing agent.

Reconnecting Toronto with Lake Ontario

Completion of the project means that existing parkland within the York Street ramp site can be improved and made visually more accessible to further enrich the waterfront.