'Needs to be done faster': Calls grow for construction to pick up the pace

In the final report of a three-part series on Gardiner Gridlock, CTV Toronto asks what more can be done to alleviate the impact of the construction that has been a tipping point for Toronto traffic.

In the final report of a three-part series on Gardiner Gridlock, CTV Toronto asks what more can be done to alleviate the impact of the construction that has been a tipping point for Toronto traffic.

Part 2: A blow to business: Lane restrictions undercut productivity in costly commute

It’s just after 6 p.m. on a Thursday and Fezz Barbhuiya is leaving his Canary District job – hoping to make it home by 8.

“It used to take me about an hour, an hour and 15 minutes to get home,” Barbhuiya says as he climbs in the car. “Right now that is up to an hour 45, or two hours is not out-of-the-ordinary at all.”

It all changed in mid-April when the Gardiner underwent major lane restrictions between Dufferin St. and Strachan Ave. and Barbhuiya’s commute went from bad to worse. The bottleneck at each end of the 700-metre stretch affects 200,000 drivers a day, according to the City.

For Barbhuiya, the one thing worse than spending up to four hours in the car each day to-and-from Burlington is seeing roadside construction equipment sit idle while he is crawling along.

“What is frustrating for me, is in the morning when I'm coming in, and the lanes that are shut down, nobody's working there,” he said. “Same thing in the evening … thousands of people, we’re together in this, and I look over and not a soul working on these sections.”