Collapsing concrete raises safety fears
Slabs at base of bridge on busy Kingston Road have been breaking up
The big bridge on Kingston Road that runs above Highland Creek looks solid as a rock. Or maybe not.
If the collapse of concrete slabs that cover the steep embankment descending from the east side of the bridge down to the creek and path that runs through Colonel Danforth Park are any indication, it might not be as sound as it looks.
Kingston Road, a key artery in and out of the city from points east, slices through southern
Scarborough and becomes Highway 2A just east of the bridge, not long before it merges with Highway 401. It’s an understatement to say that the six lanes of Kingston Road handle a lot of traffic, especially when we still had a morning and afternoon rush hour.
Dick Winters, who sometimes hikes on the trail that runs next to the creek through Colonel Danforth Park, emailed me to raise concerns about the bridge.
“I know the city has other priorities and I don’t think this is endangering the bridge yet,” said Winters, whose note included photos of gaping holes in the patchwork of slabs covering the hillside, surrounding the beams that support the bridge.
I went there Friday to check it out and was astounded by the sheer size of the collapse of concrete panels, which look like they were put there to prevent erosion of the steep hillside running down to the creek.
After a lot of scrambling and slipping, I managed to clamber most of the way to the collapse and saw large hollow areas between the slabs and the ground below. It looks like homeless people may have occupied the caverns between the ground and the slabs. Imagine if a slab collapsed on top of people huddling beneath them?
Even if that doesn’t happen, the concrete sections appear to be part of the bridge’s larger support infrastructure. I’m no engineer, but it appears the soil beneath the slabs has eroded from washouts, possibly destabilizing the structure.
Status: City spokesperson Susan Pape emailed to say the bridge is slated for repair this year and the work is about to go to tender, with construction expected to begin in July and be completed in December. Until construction begins, the city has retained a design consultant to monitor the condition of the bridge. The last visit was in April and there were no structural concerns raised.