A major reconstruction project is set to shut down a busy stretch of Bloor Street West starting next week and stretching to the end of December.

The City of Toronto has bumped up the timeline for work on a portion of its Bloor Street West Reconstruction project, which will close a portion of the artery spanning from Avenue Road to Spadina Avenue.

Initially scheduled to begin next spring, the work is now planned to commence on Wednesday, November 8, and will come with lengthy traffic disruptions expected to last for several weeks and make for interesting commuting conditions through the holiday season.

For approximately seven weeks, westbound travel will be halted on Bloor Street West between Avenue Road and Spadina Avenue, while eastbound traffic will be restricted to a single lane for motorists and eastbound cycle tracks.

Pedestrian access will be maintained during the closure, with sidewalks remaining open on both sides of Bloor, a silver lining for businesses relying on foot traffic through the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Throughout the closure, westbound cycle traffic will be able to detour around the closure via Bay Street, Wellesley Street, Hoskin Avenue/Harbord Street and Brunswick Avenue.

Motorists can navigate the madness by taking parallel (but likely congested with spillover) routes like Dupont, Harbord or College Streets.

Westbound road and cycle travel is expected to be restored by the close of December, though more serious interruptions are on the way for this thoroughfare in 2024.

After a brief pause in construction activity planned over the winter, crews will jump back into action to complete the final stages of the project, adding new safety improvements to the intersections of Bloor and St. George Streets and Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue.

This final phase of work — which the City will provide an update on in the spring — will prove the most disruptive, requiring full intersection closures that will affect traffic in multiple directions.

Now in its fifth month, the Bloor Street West Reconstruction project has already resulted in repairs to sidewalks and reconstruction of road surfaces.

The entire project is expected to wrap up by July 2024.