The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) recently announced that construction would be delayed one year at Dupont Station due to difficulties with the third-party contractor in charge of the project. Elevators are being installed at the Dupont Street and Spadina Road station, which has led to regular traffic delays at the intersection.

“It is another issue of a city in constant traffic chaos,” said David Harrison, chair of the Annex Residents’ Association. “It doesn’t matter where you try to get to, you can’t get there. It is very disruptive, it creates traffic problems, [and] people get frustrated because it takes so long to get anywhere. I hope the construction is complete soon.”

Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) characterized the delay as “unacceptable” and said that the TTC will monitor work at the site for six weeks, and request a recovery schedule for the lost time.

“Our objective is to get this service there as soon as possible,” said Stuart Green, a senior communications specialist with the TTC. “We have an obligation to our customers and we want to make the station accessible to everybody but we can’t do that without the support of our contractor.”

Green added that it is not yet clear whether the TTC will issue financial penalties to the contractor, because meetings between the TTC and the contractor about completing the project sooner are still ongoing.

However, that is not the only problem with the construction.

“That station is many decades old. It was not built to accommodate an elevator so we have to go in and completely reimagine what the station would look like with the inclusion of an elevator,” said Green. “This station is very compact and very condensed within the neighbourhood. You have the busy roadway above and the little room around to work it which makes it more challenging to work in.”

The Dupont Station construction is part of an ongoing initiative to make the TTC more accessible. Currently 44 stations are fully accessible, and Green says the TTC wants all of its 75 stations to be accessible by 2025.

—Temi Dada/Gleaner News