Frustrations build over two-year construction delays

Construction noise and traffic tie-ups on 23rd Avenuewere only supposed to go on for two weeks, but they have causedconstant headaches for the last year and a half, according to nearby residents.

The city reduced the road to one westbound lane at 85th Street to make drainage upgrades in 2013. Residents said they were told the closure would only last two weeks.

Now, the city claims the road will reopen this fall at the earliest, nearly two years later than expected.

"It's been constant and ongoing," said Gordon Daniher, a 20-year resident of the Satoo neighbourhood in Mill Woods.

He said the noise, smell, and traffic has been frustrating for many people in the community.

"And of course they keep blocking off the street. Yeah, frequent difficulties," he said.

The timeline for the project has been delayedseveral times, but residents say they haven't been told why.

Commuters who use the busy roadhave also questioned the extended construction timeline.

"Whenever I come home, I have to drive all the way down to Mill Woods Road," said Gene Kennet, who has contacted the city several times over the last year and a half.

He said each time he was given a later date.

"It was September, and then after it was December again, and then they're like, 'OK, now it's October of this year,' " he said.

Construction intended to stop flooding

The work on 23rd Avenue is part of a larger project, which will form the backbone of flood mitigation efforts in Mill Woods.

Project director Clement Yong said the drainage upgrades involve tunneling 60 feet underground for 3.4 kilometres between Gateway Boulevard to Knotwood Road.

Yong said the project hit a major snag when crews ran into dangerously soft soil.

"We're encountering very wet, sandy conditions, and due to the safety to our workers we've stopped work on that one portion," he said.

The work has already been halted for six months, according to Yong.

Usuallysoil is tested before crews begin work, but Yong said that section of the project was not tested.

He couldn't confirm what residents were told about traffic snarls in the early days of the project, but said if all had gone well the entire project would have wrapped up by now.

Instead, the overall project hasbeen delayed until 2016 while the city works on a new plan to tunnel through the soft soil.

Daniher said the work is badlyneeded in his area, as many of his neighbours' basements have flooded overthe last several years.

He said the neighbourhood will simply have to cope with the construction until the work is done.

"It's not like I can phone the city and say why don't they stop that. Because for the sake of our neighbours they can't, they have to do it," Daniher said.