Arthur Eklove has lived on Glen Cedar Road, just south of Eglinton Avenue West near Allen Road, for 40 years. For the past two months, he’s been waiting for the disruption to end, but crews are now back to resurface part of the road, he told CBC Toronto. “It was a bit disgusting to see them tearing up the asphalt that they just poured two weeks ago,” he said. “It’s disappointing.” Glen Cedar Road, between Eglinton Avenue West and Ava Road, has been torn up since June. The city had planned road, sidewalk and water main replacements. The project was supposed to be completed by August 15. In fact, it was almost complete when “soft spots” were detected in the tarmac. Now, construction has resumed, and residents like Eklove said they haven’t been told when this next round will be finished. Arthur Eklove, who has lived on Glen Cedar Road for 40 years, says he’s disappointed that construction on the road had to start again. (Tyler Cheese/CBC) In the meantime, most of the road is closed as workers dig up the southbound lane. Service vehicles have been allowed access, but residents have been asked to move their vehicles to other nearby roads. Some can’t even get into their own driveways.

The work “needs to be fixed,” the city says

Brad Ross, a city spokesman, told CBC Toronto that workers found defects in the pavement, meaning construction had to resume on Monday. “A geotechnical expert said that, for the long life of the road, this needed to be fixed,” he said. Eklove, however, said he was told by the construction company that the city was aware of this potential problem even before work began. D. Martino Construction told CBC Toronto via email its workers did the work the way the city instructed and that soft spots became apparent during construction, which meant the scope of the project had to be modified. In an email to CBC News, the city clarified that its geotechnical consultant made repairs to soft spots identified by the contractor, but due to heavy rainfall during construction, the repairs must be redone. The entire project should be completed, weather permitting, by the end of the first week of September, Ross said. He also wanted to reassure residents that no additional money has been spent on continuing the roadway. “Work on the deficiencies and such is built into the budget,” Ross said, noting that the budget for this project is $5.39 million. But people who live in the neighborhood, like Mia Brown, aren’t impressed.
The construction of the road had to be redone after defects were found in the road surface. (Paul Smith/CBC) Brown, who lives a nearby street, spoke to CBC Toronto while visiting her mother, who lives on Glen Cedar Road. “It was hell, to be honest,” Brown said. “It’s been pretty tough the last couple of months.” Drivers often use the road to get to Eglinton Avenue West, and that can create traffic congestion in the area, he said.

“It’s a dead end”

“You can’t get to Eglinton on a good day, but when … the northbound lanes are closed, it’s gridlock from 2:30 to 7 p.m. about,” he added. Coun. Josh Matlow, who represents the area as part of Ward 12, St. Paul’s, said the city compounded the problem by scheduling the project so close to the ongoing Eglinton Crosstown LRT construction. “The city didn’t communicate with Metrolinx and its contractor Crosslinx well enough to determine if both projects should be happening at the same time,” he told CBC Toronto. Roadworks have resumed on Glen Cedar Road after “soft spots” were identified in the tarmac. (Paul Smith/CBC) It’s understandable that residents of that street would be disappointed given that they’ve already endured 10 years of construction in Eglinton, Matlow said. Intergovernmental agencies need to communicate better with each other, he said. He wants all agencies to work together to ensure communities can still function during construction projects. Matlow presented a proposal to the city council last month aimed at mitigating the impact of construction on downtown neighborhoods. “When they’re doing public works projects … they have to keep the quality of life of the public in mind during the construction process itself,” Matlow said.
Meanwhile, Eklov says the whole situation was wasted because of the city’s poor planning. “It has to be done. There’s too much traffic on that particular road,” he said. “He does it and then he does it again… It just doesn’t make sense.”