WATCH: The TTC now says Leslie Street won’t be open until mid-August after another contractor error has delayed new streetcar tracks from fully being installed. Mark McAllister reports.
TORONTO – It likely won’t be until at least mid-August or perhaps even longer before the streetcar tracks along Leslie Street are finally repaired.
Toronto Transit Commission officials found out in May that the tracks between Eastern Avenue and Queen Street had been installed nine cm too high and needed to be redone.
“It was discovered that the contractor had poured the track bed and the dimensions were incorrect and they needed to fix that and make it right,” said Brad Ross, TTC spokesperson.
“At the time, we said that we were hopeful that they’d be able to at least restore part of Leslie Street by the middle to the end of July. However the contractor that we used for design and engineering wanted to review even further the drawings and the plan for laying of the rail.”
The contractor took the blame for the error and is paying the cost to fix the problem out of their own pockets.
“It was Pomerleau that made the mistake,” Ross said. “And they’re paying for that.”
The completion date was supposed to be mid-July. However, there’s news the review of the reconstruction plan took longer that expected.
“AECOM is doing the design and engineering and if they say that they need some more time just to make sure they’re 100 per cent, then I think we need to give them that time,” said Ross.
But local resident Erin McKell said getting around the neighbourhood has been very difficult since construction started.
“You can’t get from A to B,” McKell said.
“It’s been really tough with a baby because we’ve been going back and forth through back alleys.”
John Makrygiannis, owner of Park Avenue cleaners, said another delay would cost him $3,000.
Ross said he sympathizes with neighbourhood residents and business owners.
“It’s been a very difficult and frustrating time getting there,” he said.
“We absolutely understand that, and after the community and the businesses in the area, no one wants to open this street and get this project finished more than the TTC.”
The delay is yet another snag for the Leslie Barns maintenance and storage facility where the new fleet of streetcars will be housed.
“We’ll start using the barns as a storage facility probably towards the end of September,” Ross said.
“Then as streetcars begin to arrive, they will be going down to the barns. And that’s where at least half the fleet will be dispatched from every day.”
The TTC facility was initially expected to be ready in 2014 with occupancy to take place sometime this summer.
With files from Mark McAllister
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