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The city will spend $280,000 in order to speed up construction along Wellington Street and fully reopen the roadway more than two months ahead of schedule.
Wellington Street was supposed to be reduced to one lane in each direction between Church Street and York Street from April until late October but Mayor John Tory announced on Thursday that work on the road is now scheduled to be completed by mid-August.
Tory said that the city was able to speed up the work, in part, by requesting that the contractor complete all underground watermain work during the overnight hours. That work was previously only being done between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
“I think if you asked the citizens of Toronto where they would invest $280,000 there would be lots of things they would name but they would certainly include on that list an ability for us to speed up this construction project here on Wellington Street,” Tory told reporters. “Not only is this project causing people frustration when they sit in traffic but it is causing a loss of productivity in the economy and it is causing people a loss of time with their families. It is just not good for the city.”
A range of work is being completed along Wellington Street, including watermain maintenance, streetcar track work and road resurfacing.
Though Tory conceded that the work has been disruptive, he said that by moving up the scheduled completion date the city will be able to “substantially minimize” that disruption.
In the interim, Tory also said that four paid duty officers paid for by the local Business Improvement Area have been brought in to help direct and speed up the flow of traffic.
“This really has been a lot of coordinated effort on behalf of the BIA, the city and the contractor,” he said.
Tory said the Wellington Street project is just one of 32 that the city has expedited in 2017 by introducing extended and in some cases round-the-clock work hours.
