Queensway Street will be closed at Patricia Boulevard for a matter of weeksstarting Wednesday to allow the city to install a new sewer line.
The city hopes to have the stretch reopened by the beginning of December, said engineering director Adam Homes.
"We're going to be working six days a week and 12-hour days to get this opened as quickly as possible," he said.
He said the pipe will be placed seven metres underground. And because it's in the city's floodplain, now is the best time of year to do the work - when the groundwater is at its lowest, Homes said.
The work is needed because the existing system, which serves the downtown and the industrial area to the east of Queensway, is at capacity.
The upgrade is also part of the larger project to improve aging infrastructure in the vicinity of city hall that is at capacity, in poor condition, or at high risk of failure. The work will allow for more housing and commercial development downtown, the city said.
The new system is about one kilometre long and will extend from the intersection at 7th and Dominion, past city Hall, to Patricia Boulevard, across Queensway, and along the base of the Patricia Boulevard escarpment to a lift station at 4th Avenue and London Street. From there, the new sewer line will join the existing system that connects to the wastewater treatment plant on Lansdowne Road more than five kilometres away.
Alternate routes to the downtown from the south are available along Victoria and Winnipeg Streets.
“We’re extremely grateful for residents’ understanding during this project and we would also like to remind motorists to follow traffic signs and to drive cautiously in the area of road closures and detours,” Homes said.
The upgrade is also part of the larger project to improve aging infrastructure in the vicinity of city hall.
It includes replacing 60-year-old watermain made of cast iron and rated as “very high risk” for failure. Crews also removed remnants of an old wooden pipe used to distribute water many years ago.
The intersections at Sixth and George and at Seventh and Dominion will reopen in about a month, according to city hall.
