Much to the chagrin of East York residents, Pottery Road from Broadview Avenue to the Bayview Extension will remain closed until further notice.
Gord MacMillan, director of Design and Construction Technical Services for the City of Toronto, said that he and local Coun. Mary Fragedakis had received numerous complaints about the delay in the project. MacMillan explained that Pottery Road is an essential roadway across the Don Valley and that the city is working to ensure it will reopen as quickly as possible.
Pottery Road has been closed since May 24 to complete $4.7 million in upgrades, including watermain improvements, repaving, new lights and the addition of a sidewalk. The project was supposed to be completed by Sept. 5, but has been delayed.
MacMillan said that the project ran in to unexpected problems.
“The issue is down the hill from Broadview Avenue, a fairly small section approximately 100 metres in length,” he said. “The wall didn’t completely match the field conditions and we observed that the wall might not be completely sufficient and sought a different solution.”
Maurizio Barbon, manager of Technical Service for Toronto and East York, agrees that the problem is relatively minor.
“The slope is not in imminent danger of failing; rather, the city wants to ensure that there is a sufficient factor of safety from a future potential slope failure at the location of the retaining wall,” he said. “The city is sympathetic to the public for the inconvenience.”
MacMillan agreed and explained that the City’s engineering consultant is looking at various alternatives.
“We are looking at reinforcing the slope and are in the process of talking to the contractor to finalize a solution,” MacMillan said. “We are still determining the exact cost and timeline, but we are pushing to have an answer by the end of the week.”