Intersection sinkhole gets overdue filling
Drivers are no longer zigzagging around unfinished business at a Scarborough intersection, after the city fixed it.
Our Jan. 4 column was about a sinkhole at Dearham Wood and Poplar Rd., which developed last fall in temporary asphalt used to patch a trench dug for water main replacement.
As usual, the quick fix was to plunk down a couple pylons to alert drivers, and hope they stayed, which they didn’t. A neighbour had to put back the pylons almost every day, after passing vehicles knocked them over.
A second hole in the intersection, with plumbing sticking out of it, was also surrounded by wayward pylons, amounting to double trouble for drivers.
Within three days of our column, the sinkhole was patched and the plumbing protruding from the second hole had been covered over.
Last Wednesday, we reported on advertising in the end panel of a transit shelter at West Hill Dr. and Lawrence Ave., which prevented southbound drivers on West Hill from seeing westbound traffic on Lawrence.
If they tried to adjust by moving further ahead, a commuter newspaper box got in the way. And if they hung back to see around the ad, a trash bin and several pedestal boxes lined up to obscure on- coming traffic. The column prompted other complaints about similar problems caused by poorly positioned ads in transit shelters; more on that this week.
Ryan Lanyon, who’s in charge of the city’s street furniture division, emailed to say the ad will be removed within the next couple of weeks, and that the paper box should be gone by now.
On Dec. 21, our column was about one of those big stones that keep cars in parking lots in their place, which got out of line and ended up blocking a sidewalk on the north side of Eglinton Ave., just west of Bathurst St.
How it got there is a mystery. The stones weigh several hundred pounds and are too unwieldy to pick up. Snow plows sometimes push them out of place, but it ended up on the sidewalk before there was any snow this winter.
Hector Moreno, who’s in charge of road operations in that area, said he’d make sure it was moved ASAP. We checked back a couple weeks later and confirmed that it’s gone. What’s broken in your neighbourhood?
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