Dundas Street dig goes to 6 days a week, 24 hours a day

In a bid to get Phase I complete before winter arrives, crews working to rebuild a downtown section of Dundas Street are starting to pick up the pace.

The city says the massive street reconstruction work to transform Dundas Street into a flex street known as Dundas Place will be stepped up to six days a week, 24 hours a day. The $26-million project to replace aging utilities and transform Dundas between Ridout and Wellington streets started in the spring. 

Jim Yanchula is the city's manager of downtown projects. He says the new work schedule is an effort to get Phase I — the section between Richmond and Ridout streets — complete before winter's arrival ends the construction season for the year. 

Yanchula says the project remains on schedule, pointing out the city's timeline has always called for Phase I to be complete by the fall or winter of 2018. 

But he admits there have been delays. Some caused by wet weather, others due to surprises crews found after the pavement was peeled back. But it's also been a very complicated project with crews working to locate and replace water and sewer that in some cases, was many decades old.

"There were coal chute vaults, there were basement encroachments, there were locations of utilities that weren't mapped properly to name a few," said Yanchula. 

Some merchants have complained the construction has left a deep dent in their bottom line. There have also been delays for drivers, and sidewalk closures and detours for pedestrians. 

Yanchula says the work was needed and that the end result will be worth it. 

"We know that there's disruption and it will be great when it's finished because this only happens once every 150 years," he said.

Starting Wednesday and for the remainder of the construction season, the intersection of Dundas Street and Richmond Street will be closed in all directions to allow for underground infrastructure work and surface restoration.

Also starting Wednesday, Talbot Street will reopen to northbound and southbound traffic from Kent Street to Fullarton Street.

Phase II of the two-year Dundas Place project — the stretch from Richmond east to Wellington Street — is slated to start next spring.