Hydrant replacement wrecks busy sidewalk

Afunctional fire hydrant is definitely a good thing, but no more than solid footing for people who walk past it.

Alot of fire hydrants are close to the sidewalk, which is appreciated by dog walkers in charge of a pooch looking for a place to lift a leg. They know that hydrants aren’t just for putting out fires.

The trade-off is that when the hy- drant or the water line connected to it needs to be repaired or replaced, the sidewalk in front of it must be dug up to do the work.

But when the hole is not properly filled, people who have to trudge through it to get where they’re going are unnecessarily subjected to a tripping hazard that is an inevitable result of careless construction.

That describes the west side of Donlands Ave., just north of Strath- more Blvd. and Danforth Ave., where the sidewalk remains a dusty hole after a new hydrant was installed.

Martyn Anstice emailed to say the sidewalk was originally excavated in early August, during the Taste of the Danforth festival, noting that it was surrounded by “lots of cones, and the whole sidewalk was blocked.

“Then they came back and installed a new hydrant. They sort of half filled the hole and left one cone. A half- assed job, really. The gravel is starting to sink as everyone tries to navigate their way through this hazard.

“This is dangerous, especially for people with strollers, seniors (there’s also a large church close by with lots of seniors in attendance), and it is impossible for anyone in a scooter.”

We went to take a look and found the gravel used to fill the hole has settled below the surface of the surrounding sidewalk, making it easy for pedestrians to trip over the edges.

It is no more than 50 metres or so from the entrance to the Donlands TTC station and right in front of a busy child-care centre, which only adds to the local foot traffic. Status: Ellen Leesti, a spokeswoman for Toronto Water, emailed Friday to say a city crew “will attend the site today to make it safe and arrange for the required repairs.” What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer, call us at 416-869-4823 or email jlakey@thestar.ca. To read our blog, go to thestar.com/news/the_fixer. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.