Midtown Toronto neighbourhood in construction 'hell' as city says roadwork needs a do-over

Just when residents of a midtown Toronto streetthought monthsof construction "hell" were over,the city has ordered much of the work redonemeaning they'll have to put up with torn-up asphalt,blocked driveways and traffic jamsuntil at least early September.

Arthur Eklove has lived on Glen Cedar Road, just south of Eglinton Avenue West near Allen Road, for 40years.For the past two months, he's looked forward to anend tothe disruption, but crews are now back to resurface part of the street, he told CBC Toronto.

"It was a little sickening to watch them rip up the asphalt that they just poured two weeks ago," he said.

"It's frustrating."

Glen Cedar Road, between Eglinton Avenue Westand Ava Road, has been torn up since June. The city had scheduledroad, sidewalk and water pipe replacements. The work wassupposed tobe wrapped up by Aug. 15. In fact, it was nearly complete when "soft spots" were detected in the asphalt. Now, construction has resumed and residents like Eklove said they haven't been told when this next round will end.

In the meantime, most of the street has been closed off asworkers digup the southbound lane.

Service vehicles have been allowed access but residents were told to move their vehicles to other nearby streets. Some can't even get into theirown driveways.

Work 'needed to be corrected,' city says

Brad Ross, spokesperson for the city, told CBC Torontoworkers detected defects in the roadwork, meaning construction had toresume Monday.

"A geotechnical expert said that, for the long-term life of the road, that needed to be corrected," he said.

Eklove, however, said he was told by the construction company that the city was aware of this potential problem even before the work started.

D. Martino Constructiontold CBC Toronto by email its workers did the job the way thecityinstructed and that the soft spots became evidentduring construction, which meantthe scope of the project hadto be modified.

In an email to CBC News, the city clarified that its geotechnical consultant did conductsoft spot repairs identified by the contractor, but due to heavy rainfall during the construction, the repairs need to be redone.

The entire project shouldbe completed, weather permitting, by the end of the first week ofSeptember, Ross said.

He also wanted to reassure residents that no additional money has been spent to continue the roadwork.

"Work on deficiencies and the like are built into the budget," Ross said, noting that the budget for this project is $5.39 million.

But peopleliving in the neighbourhood, like Mia Brown, are not impressed.

Brown, who liveson a nearby street, spoke to CBC Toronto as she wasvisiting her mother, who lives on Glen Cedar Road.

"It's been hell, to be honest," Brown said.

"It's been quite difficult for the past two months."

Drivers often use the streetto get to Eglinton Avenue West, and that can create a traffic jamin the area, shesaid.

'It's gridlock'

"You can't get to Eglinton on a good day, but when the northbound streets are closed, it's gridlock from about 2:30 until 7 p.m.," she added.

Coun. Josh Matlow, who represents thearea as part of Ward 12, St. Paul's, said the city only made the problem worse by scheduling theproject so close to the ongoingEglinton Crosstown LRT construction.

"The city did not communicate with Metrolinx and their contractor Crosslinx well enough to determine whether or not both projects should be happening all at the same time," he told CBC Toronto.

It's understandable that the residents of this street would be frustrated given they've already endured 10years of construction on Eglinton, Matlow said.

Inter-governmental agencies need to communicate better with each other, he said. He wants all agencies to work togetherto ensure that communities can still function duringconstruction projects.

Matlowpresented a motion tocouncil last month aimed at mitigating the impact ofconstruction on midtown neighbourhoods.

"When they're doing public works projects they need to keep the public's quality of life in mind during the construction process itself," Matlow said.

Meanwhile,Eklov saysthe whole situation has been a waste due to the city's bad planning.

"It needs to be done. There's too much traffic on this particular street," he said.

"It's doing it and then doing it again ... It just doesn't make sense."