[URBAN NOTE] "Gardiner Expressway concrete falls on Mercedes at Yonge St. and Lake Shore Blvd."

[rfmcdonald]

The gradual decay of Toronto's transportation infrastructure, as signalled by the fall of concrete chunks off of the Gardiner Expressway--Toronto's main expressway, girding the waterfront from west to east--is worrisome. This isn't the first time there's been concrete fall this year, actually, but it is the first time a vehicle has been hit.

A section of Lake Shore Blvd. is closed at Yonge St. after a piece of concrete fell onto a car this morning from the Gardiner Expressway.

“It was like a bullet, an explosion. I felt scared.” said John Pandell, the car’s driver. “It really startled me, so I just pulled over.”

Pandell had just driven down the ramp from the Gardiner to Lake Shore at Yonge St. when the concrete hit the top of his black two-door Mercedes around 10:30 a.m.

He was not injured.

The Mercedes sustained a small dent to the windshield on the driver’s side and another near the trunk.

Pandell, a lawyer, said he is concerned for drivers in convertibles and people crossing Lake Shore.

Three lanes of the roadway are closed to traffic as workers drill and chip away at other parts of the Gardiner from which more concrete could fall.

“The area has been blocked off and now it’s up to the city,” said Toronto police Const. Tony Vella.