‘Metal stake’ left jutting out of sidewalk a real hazard
Some of the most dangerous obstacles are also the most innocuous, like a pipe sticking out of a sidewalk.
One of the mysteries of urban construction is an apparent inability on the part of people who build roads and sidewalks to see the inherent dangers in their handiwork.
For instance, it is not unusual to find raised utility covers on a road that still needs a top coat of asphalt. Hit one while driving the speed limit, and it’s like a bomb went off under your car. Some contractors mark the edges of covers with fluorescent paint to warn drivers. But others seem indifferent to the danger. How could they not know? It’s a question that also arises at the northeast corner of Queen and Leslie Sts., where a serious tripping hazard was waiting to ambush pedestrians hiking along a recently reconstructed sidewalk. Marian McEwen sent us a photo of an object protruding from the new sidewalk, along with a note saying: “I almost tripped over a metal stake sticking out of the sidewalk, about three inches high.”
She knew that other pedestrians who didn’t spot it soon enough might not be as lucky, so she covered it with one of the pylons that still littered the corner from the construction.
We went there and found a piece of pipe protruding from the new sidewalk, covered by a traffic barrel that was quite likely the same one that McEwen used to cover it.
But as we’ve often stated in our column, pylons never stay where they’re supposed to for long. The bigger issue is why the pipe is there in the first place. And why didn’t the contractor at least fasten a pylon to it, to make sure it stayed in place? Status: Rob Burlie, who’s in charge of road operations in that area, said the sidewalk work is part of a TTC project, but he didn’t know why a pipe was left in the sidewalk. We got an email Friday saying the pipe had just been sawed off at grade. 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.