City staff has released detailing idea for collecting tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway. Staff was assigned in June to set out toll possibilities as a revenue source after council approved the “hybrid” proposal for the east Gardiner. The report looks at a flat-fee toll $1.25 and $3.25 for a single trip with trucks paying double those amounts. It also examined a per kilometre toll like that on the 407. Staff suggested between 10 cents and 35 cents for each kilometre travelled, with trucks paying double. Staff estimate the 30-year cost of the Gardiner, including rebuilding the elevated link to the DVP, at $3.8 billion. Costs for the at-grade DVP are $200 million. The 30-year cost of the toll system is estimated at $1.7 billion, for a grand total of $5.7 billion. On balance, the report is optimistic about genrating enough cash to pay for the toll system plus the highways and possibly have money left for other purposes. The report will go to Mayor John Tory’s executive committee, which next meets on September 21, 2015
