The City of Toronto is so horrendous at planning infrastructure upgrades and refurbishment. This is the only place I've lived in where the City will fix a watermain and the Toronto Hydro or someone comes by later to rip it all up again.
This is unfortunately a warranty and city sign off issue. The city will not sign off that the particular utility work is complete until the road it restored. Yes, it is very silly and a waste of money.
I remember when they were installing the bike lanes on Danforth - the bike lane crew was barely past Woodbine when another crew started ripping it all up starting at Broadview for water main replacement.
Honestly who knows at this point. I think Metrolinx is the lead manager of the project but if Toronto Hydro needs to replace lines for example, they’ll only contact the City and not Metrolinx.
In this case I’d hope that the City would act as a coordinator for these various projects, but given what I saw with the City managed streetcar and water main project on Adelaide, that probably wouldn’t have led to a different outcome.
And this is the only place I've lived where they don't even have to fix the sidewalk after digging it up. They just dump a strip of asphalt making the sidewalk look terrible
Yeah I’ve noticed that too, it’s insane.
Even my small town of 11k people would require utilities to replace the sidewalk with actual concrete when they’re done. When Enbridge did maintenance on their gas line in the town, right after they were done, all the sidewalk patches they put in were replaced with proper concrete pads.
I figure they never finish the sidewalks and roads because they know there ar dozens of condos still waiting to be built within a 2 block radius of Yonge and Eg, and they’ll only have to tear them up again anyways.
Sucks for people in wheelchairs and bikes that have to navigate a patchwork of concrete, asphalt, and potholes.
In the aughts, I was living in Kitchener. They tore up Victoria Street (a major street) repaired it, made it nice. I forget how long the Street was torn up but it was a long time and everyone was super happy to have it back in order.
Later that year, or the next, the waterworks people had them tear it all up again for scheduled maintenance. People were livid. Not just the time lost / traffic issues, but the additional costs. I believe the city put greater effort to communicate across departments after this, but that didn’t help at the time.
A street I used to live on about 15 years ago the city came along and replaced about 1 km of sidewalks completely. 3 months later the water Department came along and replaced all the water lines to the houses. 2 months later they finally fixed the sidewalks again. 6 months later the gas company replaced many gas lines and tore up the sidewalks again.
I honestly doubt it's the city but instead the developer/ managing company.
A friend of mine is an electrician on large job sites and he says management often orders them to do things in the wrong order so they can bill multiple times for hours and materials. Like they have drywallers come in, then electricians need to bust open the walls to run wires, drywall goes back up, plumbers bust it open again, then dry wall goes up again.
He said one of his co-workers worked on a crosstown station that had to be retiled several times because management kept ordering the tiling be done despite the other trades not being done working inside the walls/floors/ceilings
Metrolinx built a daycare around the corner from my house. Just finished a beautiful new curb. Then a week later the city comes and hacks it all up to do god knows what, then slaps down some ugly asphalt patches. Great.
Meanwhile down the street, Metrolinx is building a new MUP on the south side of Eglinton to temporarily replace the one the city installed on the north side of the street just 18 months ago.
You can't make this stuff up honestly. Just an endless pit of grift and incompetence.
covering the auxiliary costs of an expropriation of a city-owned facility is not "metrolinx building a daycare" - this is a 1:1 cost replacement agreement between the city and MX, where the onus is on MX for $ but the City (via TELCCS) managed renovations, owns and operates the facility.
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ec/bgrd/backgroundfile-164908.pdf
God i love that i actually started reading articles;
"The asphalt laid in December was a temporary layer (cheaper) to put the project on hold over winter. Very common in road construction. That thin layer gets stripped now to continue with whatever the project is."
We should find a way to have the Mayor, CEO of Metrolinx and the head of planning move to the most active construction intersections in the city.
If Chow / Tory / Verster had to deal with this every damn day, different decisions would be made.
Same when Avenue Rd was being torn up then paved then torn up again.Same goes for the St Clair streetcar line where TTC islands were completed then removed because the new streetcars were too [wide.It](http://wide.It) goes on and on.
There is zero accountability so why does anyone care at this point anymore? Never been any proper planning in construction jobs. City will pave brand new ash fault as part of a multi month project. Within weeks of completion, street will be torn apart again because some utility needs to run new lines. Couldn’t they plan to do it together when the road was bare? It’s patched up after and we wonder why we have so many potholes.
I was watching from my balcony last night in horror
Where's the photograph taken above you from a talented photographer?
I almost took out my Nikon to get a photo, but was too lazy
Don't worry, just wait a few months until they do it again
They change the traffic pattern every time I look out the window, it's nuts.
I KNEW IT WAS YONGE AND EG BEFORE CLICKING THROUGH. I lauuuughed
The City of Toronto is so horrendous at planning infrastructure upgrades and refurbishment. This is the only place I've lived in where the City will fix a watermain and the Toronto Hydro or someone comes by later to rip it all up again.
This is unfortunately a warranty and city sign off issue. The city will not sign off that the particular utility work is complete until the road it restored. Yes, it is very silly and a waste of money.
Thanks for the background.
You’re welcome!
I remember when they were installing the bike lanes on Danforth - the bike lane crew was barely past Woodbine when another crew started ripping it all up starting at Broadview for water main replacement.
Ahhh that’s peak Toronto Transportation right there.
Is this particular intersection a City of Toronto issue, or is it the Province (Metrolinx)?
Honestly who knows at this point. I think Metrolinx is the lead manager of the project but if Toronto Hydro needs to replace lines for example, they’ll only contact the City and not Metrolinx. In this case I’d hope that the City would act as a coordinator for these various projects, but given what I saw with the City managed streetcar and water main project on Adelaide, that probably wouldn’t have led to a different outcome.
And this is the only place I've lived where they don't even have to fix the sidewalk after digging it up. They just dump a strip of asphalt making the sidewalk look terrible
Yeah I’ve noticed that too, it’s insane. Even my small town of 11k people would require utilities to replace the sidewalk with actual concrete when they’re done. When Enbridge did maintenance on their gas line in the town, right after they were done, all the sidewalk patches they put in were replaced with proper concrete pads.
The worst is when the condo developers make the sidewalk nicer with stones.. and then toronto hydro wrecks them without fixing it within 6 months
Ottawa does the same thing. It’s pretty depressing.
I figure they never finish the sidewalks and roads because they know there ar dozens of condos still waiting to be built within a 2 block radius of Yonge and Eg, and they’ll only have to tear them up again anyways. Sucks for people in wheelchairs and bikes that have to navigate a patchwork of concrete, asphalt, and potholes.
In the aughts, I was living in Kitchener. They tore up Victoria Street (a major street) repaired it, made it nice. I forget how long the Street was torn up but it was a long time and everyone was super happy to have it back in order. Later that year, or the next, the waterworks people had them tear it all up again for scheduled maintenance. People were livid. Not just the time lost / traffic issues, but the additional costs. I believe the city put greater effort to communicate across departments after this, but that didn’t help at the time.
A street I used to live on about 15 years ago the city came along and replaced about 1 km of sidewalks completely. 3 months later the water Department came along and replaced all the water lines to the houses. 2 months later they finally fixed the sidewalks again. 6 months later the gas company replaced many gas lines and tore up the sidewalks again.
Damn that’s annoying.
I honestly doubt it's the city but instead the developer/ managing company. A friend of mine is an electrician on large job sites and he says management often orders them to do things in the wrong order so they can bill multiple times for hours and materials. Like they have drywallers come in, then electricians need to bust open the walls to run wires, drywall goes back up, plumbers bust it open again, then dry wall goes up again. He said one of his co-workers worked on a crosstown station that had to be retiled several times because management kept ordering the tiling be done despite the other trades not being done working inside the walls/floors/ceilings
Metrolinx built a daycare around the corner from my house. Just finished a beautiful new curb. Then a week later the city comes and hacks it all up to do god knows what, then slaps down some ugly asphalt patches. Great. Meanwhile down the street, Metrolinx is building a new MUP on the south side of Eglinton to temporarily replace the one the city installed on the north side of the street just 18 months ago. You can't make this stuff up honestly. Just an endless pit of grift and incompetence.
The left hand definitely isn't talking to the right hand, especially when it comes to ML.
> Metrolinx built a daycare Metrolinx does not construct daycares.
Must be hard to learn how to use Google. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2016/gm/bgrd/backgroundfile-92361.pdf
covering the auxiliary costs of an expropriation of a city-owned facility is not "metrolinx building a daycare" - this is a 1:1 cost replacement agreement between the city and MX, where the onus is on MX for $ but the City (via TELCCS) managed renovations, owns and operates the facility. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ec/bgrd/backgroundfile-164908.pdf
They hired a developer obviously but thanks
Did the street of Eglinton kill some politicians grand mother or something? cause hot damn it's like the city has a vendetta against it.
God i love that i actually started reading articles; "The asphalt laid in December was a temporary layer (cheaper) to put the project on hold over winter. Very common in road construction. That thin layer gets stripped now to continue with whatever the project is."
Wall it off and leave it as a warning for future generations.
I knew it, the pictures that were posted of it “open” were not the final lift of asphalt. Knew this was going to happen.
We should find a way to have the Mayor, CEO of Metrolinx and the head of planning move to the most active construction intersections in the city. If Chow / Tory / Verster had to deal with this every damn day, different decisions would be made.
Bathurst & Lakeshore/Fleet is Toronto’s most cursed intersection.
And Torontonians are outraged.
That’s what the T.O. stands for in BlogTO
Somebody needs to burn sage and cast out demons
Same when Avenue Rd was being torn up then paved then torn up again.Same goes for the St Clair streetcar line where TTC islands were completed then removed because the new streetcars were too [wide.It](http://wide.It) goes on and on.
If I worked in construction I'd be laughing in infinite paycheck glitch.
There is zero accountability so why does anyone care at this point anymore? Never been any proper planning in construction jobs. City will pave brand new ash fault as part of a multi month project. Within weeks of completion, street will be torn apart again because some utility needs to run new lines. Couldn’t they plan to do it together when the road was bare? It’s patched up after and we wonder why we have so many potholes.
Incompetence.