A giant hole in a Toronto neighbourhood hasn't been fixed 2 months on. Residents want answers

Residents of an East York neighbourhood say they've waited more than two months for the city to take action on a gaping sinkhole in the middle of their street, amid a multi-billion dollar backlog of city repair jobs.

At two metres long and a metre deep, the sinkhole is large enough to do serious damage to a cyclist or driver, says resident Murray Clark, who measured it.

Clark said the hole on Glen Albert Drive near Woodbine Gardens, opened up on April 13 directly in front of his house and he immediately called 311 to have it repaired.

But so far, there's been no action, he says. 

"If someone hit that at night it could easily flip a car and cause a major accident," Clark told CBC Toronto. "To me, the city should send someone almost immediately."

The Glen Albert hole is among hundreds of road holes citywide. They're part of a $9.5 billion backlog of what the city calls state-of-good-repair jobs, which span garbage collection, recreational programs as well as repairing potholes and sinkholes. 

Over 600 potholes yet to be fixed, city says

In a statement to CBC Toronto, city staff say the pothole backlog is "relatively small, with just over 600 pending." 

In the case of the Glen Albert pit, "the sinkhole was caused by breaks in the sanitary and storm sewer service laterals below the street," the city said.

After CBC Toronto inquired about the hole, the city said it has investigated the issue and that crews are scheduled to work to repair the damage on Friday.

Residents also said they contacted area councillor Brad Bradford's office about the problem.

In a statement to CBC Toronto, Bradford's office said after learning about the sinkhole, he and his team worked with residents, Toronto Water and the city's transportation services to have it fixed "as soon as possible."

"It's really frustrating," Clark said. "Years ago, the city would have had a crew out that day to fix it. Service is not what it used to be."

'Like our little street doesn't matter'

Despite calling 311 two months ago, Clark and neighbour Laurel Brown say it was days before the city even put pylons around the hazard.

"I've seen kids playing in it; I've had to chase kids away, I've had to be that guy, saying, 'Hey kids, get out of that hole," said Clark. "This is dangerous " 

And he said the earth inside the hole is continuing to give way, meaning it could grow larger unless it's fixed soon.

"You can see it's starting to cave in all around," he said. "This could quickly become a bigger problem...I'd like to see it fixed ASAP."

Brown wonders why it's taken the city so long to get around to fixing the problem.

"It's frustrating," she said. "It's like our little street doesn't matter.

"Come and fix it. Like now. It's been long enough. We've been dodging around this...people can't get in and out of driveways... What else is going to cave in? What's under there and why did it do it? And could it happen somewhere else?"

• Years of 'austerity budgets' keeping Toronto in state of disrepair, critics say