Goodbye road cones!
Construction is coming to an end on Kingston Road in the heart of Birch Cliff a little more than five months after the City of Toronto started tearing up the street to replace the watermain and rebuild the road and sidewalks.
Construction crews were hard at work yesterday paving the road surface and motorists returning from work today will discover a freshly painted solid yellow line as well as white dotted lines delineating the lanes.
I spoke with a supervisor yesterday who said Kingston Road through Birch Cliff should be back to normal by Saturday.
Ahead of schedule
The local portion of the Kingston Road reconstruction project was finished ahead of schedule.
When the revitalization project began in April, the City of Toronto said the above ground work between Birchmount Road and Warden would not be complete until November 2013.
Ward 36 Councillor Gary Crawford
“I’m very excited that the revitalization and construction of Kingston road is finished early and I want to commend the community for their patience and thank the construction workers, city staff and contractors for getting the project done well in advance,” said Ward 36 Councillor Gary Crawford.
Traffic woes to continue
This doesn’t mean, however, that commuter chaos is coming to a complete end.
Phase Two of the project between east of Victoria Park is just getting underway and the City says that won’t be finished until November 2014.
Birch Cliff’s new streetscaping features, including seating and gateway signage that reads “Birchcliff Village”, are also scheduled to be built next year.
Between Victoria Park and Woodbine, traffic on Kingston Road is still restricted to one eastbound lane due to reconstruction of the streetcar tracks in the Upper Beach.
Unexpected surprise
While taking photographs on Kingston Road last night I was delighted to see improvements to the horrendous laneway behind Beckers as well as the St. Nicholas Church parking lot.
All of the potholes have been filled and the laneway and the parking lot have been graded.
I jokingly asked a construction supervisor if this was a parting “gift” from the City of Toronto and, much to my surprise, he said yes.
It was a quick conversation through his vehicle window (surprise, surprise, he was stuck in traffic) but Councillor Crawford’s office is seeking confirmation.