Fixer

Massive bike-eating pothole on Dundas St.

I have noticed this series of potholes on Dundas St., eastbound just west of Prince Edward Dr. (map) growing bigger over the last few weeks. The potholes are long and somewhat narrow, parallel to the roadway and probably about 1.5m from the curb.

Riding eastbound on Dundas St. towards the Humber River, there is usually a fairly high amount of traffic, plus the downhill grade of the road really allows cyclists, and motorists, to pick up speed. A momentary loss of attention or movement to avoid another hazard could cause a cyclist's front wheel to drop into this chasm leading to a terrible over-the-handlebars kind of crash, or just a mangled wheel and fork if you're lucky.

The Star's "Fixer" column earlier this week got very quick results with the bike-crash causing pothole on Dupont St. I want to see how quickly the City responds to a request from a regular schmoe like me who doesn't have media credentials.

Jack Lakey, writer of the Toronto Star's "Fixer" column reported today on a dangerous pair of sewer grates on Dupont St., north side between Edwin Ave. and Osler Ave. (map).

"Pietro Taleporos emailed us photos of a sunken storm-sewer grate on the north side of Dupont, just west of Edwin Ave., with a utility cover next to it that caught the wheel of his 14-year-old son's bicycle and sent him sprawling."

Also, according to the article, "a small cone and a much larger, orange-and-black traffic pylon were placed over the rough patch", although this was definitely not the case when I rode by at about 8:40 this morning.

You can view the original article on The Star's website here.

This is definitely a dangerous situation for any cyclist who does not see this chewed up section of road in time to ride around it. Let's hope the City fixes this soon.