A Toronto committee shelved an attempt to re-open the contentious debate over the future of the eastern Gardiner Expressway Monday, after city staff revealed that nearly half of the project’s billion-dollar budget had already been spent.

“When anyone makes an enormous mistake, you don’t just keep making more mistakes on top of it, that’s stupidity,” Councillor Josh Matlow told CTV News Toronto. “That’s reckless.”

Matlow had pushed for updated cost estimates on the pricey project in hopes of convincing his councillor colleagues to reconsider tearing down the elevated eastern portion of the Gardiner, and build a surface-level boulevard there instead.

An at-grade road could allow for the construction of thousands of new housing units and save the city millions of dollars that could be re-directed toward other capital needs, he argued.

Keep reading on toronto.ctvnews.ca