It's almost over at long last

[attach]5836[/attach]For those who have had to deal with construction on Avenue Road, there is now light at the end of the tunnel — well, three quarters of the way down at least.

Major repairs on the thoroughfare are nearing completion. However, a couple of smaller projects are just getting started.

For the last two years crews have been tearing up the street to replace a nearly 100-year-old watermain. According to Henry Polvi, senior engineer at Toronto Water, nearly all of the new watermain has been installed and is being brought into operation.

“It’s full of water, it’s been boosted up to pressure, checked for leaks so that’s done,” he said. “We’re still finishing off filling the water and to do a pressure test on the final quarter of it and that’s the area from Eglinton down to Kilbarry.”

The long trenches and reduced lanes that have been a common sight along Avenue Road for the past several months are now gone.

“There is no real construction anymore,” Polvi said. “It’s pretty well all free and clear at the moment.”

Polvi said that some trucks could still be seen on the street at times as crews are still working to conduct pressure tests and disinfect the line so that it can be used to transport drinking water.

While Polvi admitted the construction has been an inconvenience for people, he said it would be well worth it in the end.

“We’ve replaced a close-to-100-year-old watermain with a brand new one,” he said. “It will last probably 150 years, three, four, five generations down the road.”

Most connections to the new watermain are scheduled to be made by the end of May but some further watermain work will take place during the summer.

Polvi said a 400 mm watermain south of St. Clair Avenue, running between Poplar Plains Road and Macpherson Avenue, would be completed this summer. He also said another old watermain nearby would be taken out of use.

“Some decommissioning work along Duplex Avenue will also be going on in the summer,” he said. “That is where part of the old watermain goes up Duplex from Imperial to Lawrence and that old cast iron main has to been dismantled and filled with concrete.”

Work on all projects is scheduled to be finished in September.