A stretch of Bloor Street West passing through Toronto's The Annex neighbourhood is looking a little worse for wear this week due to a road construction project.
If the noise, dust, and general inconvenience of the closure weren't enough for nearby residents and businesses, locals are now incensed over a large portion of the roadway being used as a parking lot for contractors. The block of Bloor West between Spadina Road and Madison Avenue is undergoing a replacement of the entire road pavement structure, including the asphalt and underlying support materials, as well as the rebuilding of sidewalks and curbs, in a project scheduled to last until no later than the end of September.
Work crews recently shut down the entire northern half of the street to accommodate this project, including an abrupt blockage of a full lane of traffic and a bike lane, all to make way for the parked cars of City-employed contractors. The local Bloor Annex BIA shared photos of the closure on its X account, slamming the City for ignoring the BIA and local councillor's requests to remove the inexplicable on-street contractor parking and reopen the shuttered block of the bike lane.