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Dufferin Street: Eliminating the jog

Is it just me or does anyone else feel that it has been taking an awkwardly long amount of time for the city to complete a small and kind of simple project like this? I mean almost 4 years just to do this? I don't know but it just feels bizarre to me.
 
W. K. Lis said:
I was hoping that the project would be completed by the time the CNE opens. Looks more like Labour Day (and when the Labour Day parade passes by it), maybe.
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Can't be that weekend as the bridges still have to be lower and TTC have to rewire everything. Then the frame has to be remove along with rebuild the existing sidewalk and road where it was located.
 
I don't believe you understand the scope of the project. This is anything but "kind of simple". It's extremely complex and in my opinion a marvel of engineering to have done this under existing tracks and along a major city street (Queen St.) all with only very minor disruptions to traffic.
 
Urban Dave said:
Is it just me or does anyone else feel that it has been taking an awkwardly long amount of time for the city to complete a small and kind of simple project like this? I mean almost 4 years just to do this? I don't know but it just feels bizarre to me.
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It has not been under construction for 4 years, but only for 1. It took years to get the various approvals, engineering, etc. not to mention funding.
 
Now if only they'd take the extra few weeks to finish the job now, rather than wait to restart later.
 
Toronto1 said:
It probably has very little to do with Metrolinx in the grand scheme of things. More likely, it's a case of David Miller and Adam Giambrone wanting to add to their political legacy. To do that, in their minds, the project has to be complete before both of them leave office. It also doesn't hurt, supposedly, the candidacy of Adam's assistant, who is running in his place.
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More straight forward than that. One had funding and engineering complete when the contract was tendered and the additional bits were still in an EA process being sorted out.

When the EA completed, Metrolinx opted not to make a funded addendum to the contract in progess and have instead opted to tender their own. The writeup created after the fact was for a timely completion but it really boils down to a combination of bad timing and mistrust between Metrolinx and the city.

Streetcars went through a similar misdirection. City had options settled on for Transit City; Metrolinx took an extra year to do their own tendering (delaying delivery by a year) and came out with damn near exactly the same price point but now they could claim it was theirs.
 
So Kevin Beaulieu has a rationalization for agreeing with Adam's desire to cut a ribbon without finishing the project. I guess that really shouldn't be a surprise considering he is Adam's assistant. I find it a little suspect that people in the ward, according to Adam, "can't handle the length of construction" of an underpass where none existed before in a location where there is a lot of industrial buildings and loud trains passing on a regular basis. Did neighbours even hear the construction? The same councillor is putting LRT routes down the middle of streets with a much much greater number of residents impacted on streets which already exist. I fail to see how his constituents shouldn't be forced to deal with an additional two months of construction while getting a new route to get around, while Sheppard residents deal with 3 years of construction and the elimination of traffic lanes.
 
Toronto1 said:
...
In other words, just like "CNN = Politics," transit in Toronto, and transportation in general, is all about politics as well. If this was simply about costs, never mind inconveniencing area residents twice, they would finish it now.
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That does appear to be the reality of it.

I've been wondering where Pantalone was for all of this. He is likely the one who got funding for the project in the first place: I say this since he's been pushing for it for a very long time and funding magically appeared when he became Deputy Mayor.

Anyway, Metrolinx had the plans and could have requested their piece of work be added into the already tendered contract. They did not do this. It really isn't the cities decision as Georgetown is not their project.

Funding for good will effort is rarely compensated for without a signed agreement. I don't see why the city was, in hindsight, expected to make a donation to the Georgetown project.

The railpath bike trail is an entirely different matter, being both a city project and pretty well defined.
 
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The city wasn't expected to make a financial contribution to the additonal span for the Georgetown Project. The design and change order for the additional construction was 100% ISF-funded from the Metrolinx coffers.
 
This whole Giambrone thing is...not surprisingly...beyond reprehensible. Can't wait for the Toronto Life expose.
 
Delay

Project delayed:

Source

Jog construction delayed by four weeks

Construction to straighten the Dufferin Jog at Queen Street won't be complete in time for a planned grand opening during Nuit Blanche.

According to Parkdale-High Park Councillor Gord Perks, the opening of the Dufferin Street underpass has been delayed by four weeks.

City staff confirmed to Perks the delay is related to the lowering of the rail bridges over Queen Street onto the portal frame at the south entrance to the underpass.

The city's contractor, Dufferin Construction, had originally scheduled the lowering of the Queen Street rail bridges in early August, however, due to a revision in the company's procedure for this part of the job, the work has been postponed.

Dufferin Construction will now be lowering the rail bridge on the weekend of Sept. 11.

Following this operation, asphalt paving, lane marking, installation of lighting, traffic signals and architectural cladding will complete the project. The public art installation will be installed in spring 2011.
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What has this got to do with Giambrone? Sounds like it's related to the contractor. I'm not sure how the local councillor would even be involved.

Wow, are they already almost finished? I'm trying to think the last time I went past ... June 2009??? They hadn't even started yet! Must be some kind of record.
 
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