The city said it fixed a sinkhole in this on-ramp. In fact, it’s gotten bigger

Drivers need to steer clear of the hole, not just to avoid damaging their vehicles but to keep the surrounding pavement from sinking even further.

Thestar.com
Aug. 23, 2023
Jack Lakey

When an unexplained hole suddenly appears in the road, you can bet there’s a much larger hole under the pavement.

If you’ve ever seen a hole develop in the road where there was smooth pavement not long before, it’s worth the trouble to take a peek into the chasm, if it can be done without being mowed down by traffic.

You will almost certainly see an even larger cavern beneath the pavement. The weight of traffic passing over the cavern causes it to collapse, with a hole soon forming in the road surface that steadily grows larger.

The question is, why did the road bed beneath the road itself disappear, leaving a large open area underneath?

The answer almost always is the same: A washout caused by a leaky storm sewer line, or possibly a water main.

I’ve written before about holes in the pavement created by road bed washouts, so I know what I’m looking at when I see one.

That was the conclusion I made when I was asked by a reader to check out a hole in the pavement on an on-ramp to the northbound Don Valley Parkway from eastbound Eastern Avenue.

Andrew Cheung emailed to say he reported it to Toronto 311 last month and was given a tracking number.

“On checking the number, I see it was considered fixed and closed,” which he considered, “odd, as the hole has gotten larger.”

When I went there, not only was the hole not fixed, there wasn’t even a pylon -- the city’s magical temporary fix for just about any road issue -- on top of it to warn drivers away.

Why the city would close the complaint without doing anything about it is no less of an issue than the hole. But it is far from the first time it has closed a ticket for a problem reported by a citizen without fixing it.

STATUS: I sent a note about it to Toronto’s communications department -- it has a staff of about 75 people -- and got the following reply: “Thank you for flagging this resident’s concern with us. While city crews routinely monitor road conditions and identify areas that need repair, we thank the resident for bringing this pothole to the city’s attention.

“City crews will investigate and repair the pothole on the on-ramp. Road users are encouraged to report potholes online via Toronto.ca/potholes and submit a request through the pothole reporting portal or by calling 311 and requesting a service.”

Cheung did exactly that. It didn’t work. That’s why there’s no shortage of business for the Fixer.

Residents dig in where the city wouldn’t
My July 5 column was about weed-filled, bedraggled concrete planter boxes on Yonge Street, between Highway 401 and Sheppard Avenue. The city denied responsibility for any of the boxes, saying that ridding them of weeds, planting flowers and replacing dead trees was a problem for adjacent property owners, even when some clearly belonged to the city.

Tina Goinarov, who first told me about them, sent me another note last week, saying “I just wanted to let you know that a few weeks ago myself and a friend weeded the 10 concrete planter boxes on Yonge Street and added some plants to some of them from a neighbour. I am working on finishing the rest of the boxes as soon as I can get a few more plants.”