Popular Toronto trail will stay closed for another year as construction drags on

One of Toronto's busiest multi-use recreation trails is currently undergoing a major revamp, but much of the excitement walkers and cyclists had about its forthcoming reopening has likely now been dashed by multiple construction delays.

The Lower Don Trail, which spans all the way from ET Seton Park down to Corktown Common, will sadly remain partially shuttered to the public for another entire year until July 2025, according to the latest update from the City.

I look forward to this motion popping up again in committee. The Lower Don Trail revamp is starting to look like a never ending project. https://t.co/VP0ib095Vv

— Joshua Hind (@joshuahind) May 23, 2024

While the first phase of remediations of the path were completed in 2017, work has been intermittent, restarting again with gusto in May 2023. The latest hiccup, discovered in the fall but newly announced, is "poor soil conditions."

Residents who have complained about the state of the trail in the past can agree that the improvements — which include erosion and flooding protection, drainage fixes, accessibility upgrades and enhanced connections — are necessary, but many have expressed frustration this season with how long they're taking.

To be fair, the City gave hints that slowdowns were imminent from the get-go, writing one month into this phase of work in June 2023 that site preparation work was "taking longer than anticipated due to the irregular topography of the site and approvals and inspection for the permit conditions."

Lower Don Trail closed “temporarily’ (like a year)
for fixes but what is happening? Anything? pic.twitter.com/gP2GadJMmn

— CathyCrowe (@cathyacrowe) April 12, 2024

Through last summer, asphalt, trees, fencing, foundations and more were removed, leaving a muddy mess that anyone could see would not be cleaned up by the end of the year. Then came the the first major delay in November, pushing the completion date to "late summer 2024."

"The project site is complex, narrow and located between Don River and a rail corridor, resulting in some challenges with getting materials and equipment in and out of the site," the City wrote at the time.

"Additionally, a section of the site experienced erosion from the nearby river (a geotechnical review for a solution is underway), and some of the required permitting and approvals from other infrastructure located nearby took longer than anticipated."

Genuine question, why is this project taking two years, is there any especially challenging work?

Disappointed that the trail will be closed another year but totally get it if there's complex work!

— Jamie (@TransitThinker) June 13, 2024

Now come even further delays as the segment of trail between Pottery Road and the Bala Underpass, which was due to reopen this summer after more than a year of work, is set to remain closed for yet another year.

This May, the project page was updated with an extended timeline to summer 2025, reading "while [foundation] work will continue through winter 2024/2025, other landscape and site restoration work will need to be completed in spring 2025 because it cannot be done during the winter. With construction ongoing until July 2025, the active construction site will stay closed for public safety."

"The City continues to work closely with the contractor to identify opportunities to complete the work sooner and investigate where work can be phased to allow for earlier opening at sections of the trail, if feasible," it continues, adding that the timeline is subject to change in either direction.

Are they hoping we'll eventually forget there ever was a Lower Don River Trail?

— 20:20Hindsight 🚴‍♂️⛵️🇨🇦 (@Cmartoronto) August 2, 2024

The Bayview Avenue Multi-Use Trail, running parallel to the Lower Don, is being suggested as an alternative route for the entire distance of the closure.