Weekend events with road closures in Toronto

City of Toronto Media Relations has issued the following:

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News Release:  August 21, 2014

Weekend events with road closures in Toronto

Three special events this weekend – Buskerfest, Taste of Manila and Festival of South Asia – will involve road closures. Residents and visitors are encouraged to come out and enjoy these events. Businesses in the areas affected are open to pedestrian traffic but some roads will be closed to vehicles.

Festivals and other special events are important to the city, injecting hundreds of millions of dollars annually into Toronto’s economy, and they are enjoyed each year by local residents.

In addition to road closures related to special events, a significant amount of road work is taking place in the city. People are encouraged to take public transit as a greener, faster and more affordable way of getting to their destinations.

Those who need to drive in the general vicinity of special events should allow extra time to get to and from their destination. A more complete list of road work is available at http://www.toronto.ca/torontostreets/.

In addition, the City's T.O. INview map shows information about planned capital construction work taking place across the city. The site can be accessed at http://www.toronto.ca/inview.

BuskerFest – Thursday to Sunday closures A series of closures for Buskerfest will take place between Thursday, August 21 and Sunday, August 24.

• Yonge Street from Richmond Street to Gerrard Street will be closed from today (August 21) at 9:30 a.m. to Sunday, August 24 at 11:59 p.m.

• Yonge Street will also be closed from Gerrard Street to College Street from Friday, August 22 at 6 p.m. to Sunday, August 24 at 11:59 p.m.

• Other road closures on local streets including Dundas Square Street, Walton Street, Gould Street, Edward Street and Elm Street will take place from today (August 21) to Sunday, August 24 to accommodate this event.

Taste of Manila – Saturday and Sunday closures A partial closure of Bathurst Street will be required for this event. The two southbound lanes of Bathurst Street from Wilson Avenue to Allingham Gardens will be closed on Saturday, August 23 from 4 a.m. to Sunday, August 24 at midnight, while the two northbound lanes will be changed to one lane northbound and one lane southbound to accommodate traffic in the area.

Festival of South Asia – Saturday and Sunday closure Gerrard Street from Glenside Avenue to Coxwell Avenue will be closed from Saturday, August 23 at 10 a.m. to Monday, August 25 at 2 a.m. for the Festival of South Asia.

This news release is also available on the City's website: http://bitly.com/VHNuH1

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.

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Media contact: Rosalynd Rupert, Strategic Communications, 416-338-3379, rrupert@toronto.ca