Toronto needs $18 billion over next 10 years just to keep city running

Toronto needs $18 billion to address its state-of-good-repair infrastructure gap over the next 10 years, which is primarily being driven by transit and City facilities, according to a new report. 

Toronto's 2025 Corporate Asset Management Plan (AMP), which was released on Monday, outlines how recent actions to invest in infrastructure renewal are expected to reduce the city's extensive infrastructure backlog and improve service reliability for residents using transit, roads, bridges, water assets, shelters, libraries, community centres and emergency facilities. 

The plan, which is headed to the city's Executive Committee next week, reveals that Toronto has managed to reduce the gap from the $26 billion identified in last year's report to $18 billion, representing an $8 billion reduction. 

According to the city, the $18 billion infrastructure gap is being driven by transit ($11 billion), Toronto Community Housing ($4 billion), the road network ($2 billion) and City facilities ($1 billion). 

Roughly 80 per cent of the City's assets are reported to be in fair to very good condition, which means they are either "performing acceptably but below standard," "generally performing acceptably" in the mid-stage of service life, or recently rehabilitated.

Still, roughly 20 per cent of the assets in the report are rated as in "poor" or "very poor" condition, meaning they are "at or beyond service life" and showing signs of "advanced deterioration," or "well beyond service life" and showing signs of "advanced deterioration." 

The City notes that the decline is thanks to several actions, including the Ontario-Toronto New Deal's upload of the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway to the province, which eliminated the city's single largest state of good repair liability. 

Toronto also invested a historic $59.6 billion in its 10-year Capital Budget and Plan (2025-2034), which reflects a $9.8 billion increase from the previous plan, and partnered with the provincial and federal governments to fund the purchase of new subway cars for Line 2, with a $758 million contribution from each. 

"Our plan is working. We have taken action to fix more things faster, keeping the City's vital assets working for residents including roads, bridges, water lines, community centres, libraries and more," Mayor Olivia Chow said. 

"Toronto will continue to build, maintain and repair the infrastructure needed for our growing, world-class city. We are stronger together, working in partnership with the federal and provincial government to address the City's infrastructure needs, especially for transit and housing." 

The plan will be reviewed by the executive committee on May 13, and if approved, will proceed to Toronto City Council for final consideration later this month.