Residents fuzzy on roadwork

[attach]4979[/attach]Soon things should be going smoothly for drivers on Victoria Park Avenue.

An on-going road resurfacing project, taking place on Victoria Park Avenue from Terraview Boulevard to Finch Avenue East, is scheduled to be completed in mid-November, according to Transportation Services spokesperson Steve Johnston.

“It’s part of our capital works program to improve the condition of the roadway,” Johnston said. “The roadway is deteriorated and there needs to be work done on it.”

The project began on Aug. 23 and will involve asphalt replacement and repairs to the curb and sidewalk. In April, media sources had reported that the project would involve more extensive road reconstruction, but Johnston, said resurfacing has always been the plan for that particular stretch of Victoria Park Avenue.

“In reconstruction you would have a complete replacement of the entire road structure,” Johnston said. “What’s going on right now is just resurfacing.”

In April, Ward 34 councillor and chair of the city’s public works and infrastructure committee Denzil Minnan-Wong mentioned the current construction project during a press conference. It was held on the corner of Victoria Park Avenue and Ellesmere Road where major road reconstruction had been completed the previous summer. He was there along with Myles Currie, director of Transportation Services, to let people know about upcoming roadwork projects and the launch of toronto.ca/torontostreets, a site designed to let the public know about road construction and closures.

Despite the press conference and website some residents say they feel uninformed about the project.

Mary Young, who lives at the same intersection where the press conference was held, says she knew the construction on Victoria Park Avenue would continue north from Terraview Boulevard but was never told when the work would be taking place. Tyrone Chanchal, who lives near that street, said he has now had to put up with roadwork two years in a row.

“They just finished construction last summer,” he said. “Why couldn’t they do this then?”

Johnson said last summer’s road reconstruction on Victoria Park Avenue from Lawrence Avenue East to Terraview Boulevard was part of a separate, $9 million contract. The on-going project is estimated to cost $3.5 million.

Although the City of Toronto often coordinates roadwork with utility companies no such work is involved in the current project.