As I write, a giant sinkhole has opened up on Moore Avenue, by the entrance to Mount Pleasant Cemetery’s Visitation Centre. To be accurate, I should really say the sinkhole has RE-opened, as this is not the first time that a repair has been required there.
This time, the sinkhole is larger and deeper, so the repair will be a major one. Once again, it’s having a major impact on South Leaside and Bennington Heights, as it has cut off all eastbound and westbound traffic between the Bayview and Moore Avenue intersection and Mount Pleasant Road. There has been massive spillover, and widespread diversion, of through-traffic onto local streets, spreading congestion from south of Davisville Avenue.
There has also been an important disruption to area public transit, exacerbated by a lengthy delay in official warnings or informative signage, at St. Clair station and bus stops. Even into the second week of the construction, TTC’s website failed to provide details of any detour route for the Leaside 88A and 88B buses, adding to confusion, congestion, and passenger frustration. This is definitely not an incentive to use “the better way.”
There HAS to be a better way to inform would-be TTC passengers with up-to-date and timely detour information!
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Leaside
You may not recognize its official name: the “Beth Nealson-Pat Moore Phase 3 Electrical” roadworks project currently underway. It’s the Hydro construction matter I mentioned in last month’s Leaside Life article, part of the relocation of the underground (aka, streets being dug up) electrical system needed to supply the Metrolinx Ontario Line subway. The Leaside Residents Association (LRA) remains in touch with Hydro, and I promise to pass on more details when I have them.
Neither Toronto Hydro nor the LRA has yet received information from the contractor’s design team regarding such details as which streets may be affected and for how long. So far, we only know that the general area involved is bounded by Wicksteed Ave., Millwood Rd., and the intersection by the entrance to Leaside Memorial Gardens. Some work appears to have begun, so we hope soon to have a clear, or at least clearer, sense of what’s coming our way.
The LRA board of directors meets at 7:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month, at the Trace Manes building on Rumsey, just south of Leaside Library. You are welcome to join us there. Our next meeting is on June 5th. For more details and updates between now and then, or to become an LRA member, find us at leasideresidents.ca and press the Contact Us button, or at leasideresidents.ca/contact-us.
