Why would the city rip up brand-new sidewalks ?

People who live along Dawes Road, north of Danforth Avenue, are starting to wonder if construction that has plagued their neighbourhood for nearly a year will ever wrap up.

Road construction season in Toronto used to be a summertime thing, but in recent years it seems to be almost yearround.

But when the job stretches on and on and on, people affected by it start to lose patience and consider the city’s advisories on when the work will end as a cruel joke.

Rick Goodwin, who lives in the area, emailed to say he’s running out of patience with a water main replacement project on Dawes that has continued for almost a year past the date the city said it would be completed.

To make matters worse, the city no sooner built new sidewalks along Dawes before somebody started digging them up, he said.

An sign posted about the project said it “was estimated to be completed by November,” said Goodwin. “That was changed to December. Then winter came along, followed by a pandemic.

“Work then resumed this summer. An electronic sign shows a completion date of July 2020. Needless to say, they are still working.

“Can someone please explain to me why they keep digging up brand new asphalt and sidewalk? The sidewalk is barely a month old. Is the workmanship that shoddy that the contractors can’t get it right the first time?”

I went there and found barricades and signs narrowing the roadway on Dawes, which extended for several blocks north of Danforth. With buses stopping at TTC stops on the street, traffic on the narrowed lanes backs up behind them.

A large section of recently installed sidewalk on the west side had been excavated and had pylons and caution tape around it when I was there. No wonder the locals are impatient. Status: Susan Pape, a spokesperson for engineering and construction services, sent me a note explaining the delays, but it did not address the excavation of the new sidewalk.

“Unfortunately this contract has been delayed. This is due to some challenges faced in obtaining the (utility line) locates, and COVID-19 also slowed progress of the work. The work is now substantially completed and all that remains is top asphalt paving, which is scheduled for (this) week.”

I went back Tuesday and saw that work was still ongoing, but a new top coat of asphalt had indeed been applied. Let’s hope they don’t have to dig it up for a few months.