Boring machine trapped under Toronto streets freed at a cost of $25M

For the past year and a half, residents near Old Mill Drive and Bloor Street West have had to contend with a rather disruptive addition to their neighbourhood.

In March 2022, the city commenced a storm sewer project to put an end to local basement flooding. According to the City of Toronto, a micro-tunneling boring machine was about 95 per cent done its job when it became ensnared in steel rods.

The initial cost to retrieve it was pegged at $9 million, but that has since nearly tripled to $25 million.

“We have a road closed sign right in front of our place and it’s been there for as long as I can remember,” said longtime resident Wayne Abbott.

Abbott has lived in the neighbourhood for close to three decades, and says the roads have been obstructed for so long, it’s sometimes hard to remember why the construction began in the first place.

“If that’s the last piece and they can get on with the work, I think the community here — we’re very happy,” he said.

Abbott was out walking his dog when he witnessed the final portion of the boring machine being removed from the ground. He says it’s been immensely challenging for him and his neighbours to live inside a construction zone for so long.

Early Wednesday morning, crews completed the removal of the machine. According to the city, it was trapped around 20 metres underground.

When asked about cost of the project, Mayor Olivia Chow would only say the price tag was in the millions, but couldn’t elaborate on how much the tab will be for taxpayers.

“I can assure you when I was asking the city manager about the capital operating budget, that machine was stuck in my mind, not just the mud,” she told journalists.

Area councillor Gord Perks says he’s heard from a vast number of tired and frustrated residents in his ward. Still, he is urging them to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“If we could have left it there, we would have,” he told Global News. “But we needed it out of the way so we could complete the work to prevent peoples’ basements from flooding.”

In the meantime, Perks says an investigation will delve into what happened along Old Mill Drive. The basement flooding protection plan is expected to be completed by the end of the year.