Vaughan resident has been waiting years for city to fix ‘dangerous’ road

2 cars have crashed into culvert on Canada Company Avenue, says Charlie Spano

Yorkregion.com
April 23, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

For almost six years, Charlie Spano, a father of two children, has called on the City of Vaughan to fix a narrow and eroding avenue on top of a culvert near his home.

His lobbying to do something about Canada Company Avenue, near the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) Restoration Services Centre , was nearing fruition.

However, the city decided not to include the much-anticipated revamping of the road in its budget this year, leaving it “dangerous.”

Spano says the road poses a risk for anyone behind the wheel to fall into one of the two ditches on each side. This is especially true in winter or at night, and Spano says it has already happened. Twice. 

“My wife many times is afraid to drive on this road at night time. So I have to go out of the house and  guide her,” Spano, who is also an executive at the Carrying Place Ratepayers Association, told York Region Media.

He also added that in addition to the road not being asphalted and made of “chip and tar,” the watershed coming onto the road, make any attempts to plough the ice not quite possible.

“I think last year (2018) with the ice, we had a lot of cold weather and rain. On the road, we measured 14 inches of ice. We had two people who went inside the ditch, one of the people is one of the workers from the conservation authority.”

“We went through winter like that.”

He also says the road is “busy” and not for these five residents including joggers parking their cars to enjoy the Kortright Centre, a conservation area  in Woodbridge.

“So every morning, about 50 to 60 cars that come in, and there is about 60 trucks coming out from TRCA.”

Despite paying "triple the amount of taxes to the city" because his house is a custom built home, Spano said that he and alongside four other neighbours, who have “complained,” are not seeing any major improvement in the last five years.

The city’s amendments include some pylons it placed last year at the centre, the area when it gets narrower, to give some illumination to drivers at night.

It also made some marks to widen the street.

However, the city said it has “addressed an erosion concern around the culvert area last summer and continues to perform inspections and maintenance on Canada Company Avenue.”

It added: “The location is scheduled to receive further improvements in the near future. Residents are encouraged to contact the City about any additional questions or comments they have.”

The city is working on design for the road, with road reconstruction "tentatively scheduled for 2020,” a letter from the city read.

Spano said in the meantime, the road poses a “huge liability” for the city itself.