Unwin Ave - Undriveable

[mburrrrr]

Called 311 yesterday to report that all of Unwin Ave from Cherry east to the Hearn is basically undriveable.

Huge, enormous potholes so big they would swallow your entire wheel right up to the axle all over the place. You have to constantly swerved back and for forth across the entire road to avoid them.

I suppose a dump truck or cement truck could hit them and survive, but anything smaller would rip their wheel right off.

And if the pot holes don't catch you then the tracks at the end (in red dashes) are not longer in the road, they now sit a full 5 or 6 inches above what used to be the road making it like as if you just drove straight at a set of railway tracks.

It's totally and completely nuts.

The nice lady on 311 couldn't help with anything and just kept saying, "I'm just trying to find which intersection you're talking about..." And i was like, "No ALLLLLLL of Unwin is f*cked!"

View attachment 711001

This road is terrible. I used to bike clockwise laps around Cherry, Commissioners, Leslie, Unwin. It has been years since that was a viable option.
Biking with limited/non-stop above 30 kph is not welcome on the Spit, High Park, Exhibition Place, bike lanes, roads (cars get pissed off if you’re in their lane especially on Lakeshore near a bike lane). A german Sheppard pulled my wife off her bike in the country years ago. Now it’s Gym and Peloton and Sunday morning rides
Oh wrong thread.

Driving above 30 kph or through puddles on this road is risky.

Constantly being patched in need of a major makeover.
Oct 8, 2024

Jan 11, 2026

Avoiding puddles/pot holes at Cherry Beach Sports-field

 

[DSCToronto]

The BRIDGE REPLACEMENT is moving onwards - MAYBE after it's done the City will repave?
It's Councillor Fletcher's Ward so people may want to email her?? Councillor Fletcher <councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca>

 

[mburrrrr]

The BRIDGE REPLACEMENT is moving onwards - MAYBE after it's done the City will repave?
It's Councillor Fletcher's Ward so people may want to email her?? Councillor Fletcher <councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca>



View attachment 711803

Thanks. I emailed Councillor Fletcher.

 

[Toffy]

I think the suggestion that the City does not know how bad Unwin Ave is in is quite laughable., there's a City yard on Unwin as well as provincially legislated road patrol requirements.

Unwin Ave is in need of a full-depth (700MM+) reconstruction. The road base is clearly failing and unable to deal with the heavy axle loading from loaded tri-axle dump trucks traveling to GFL's soil processing facility on the north side of the road two lots west of Hearn as well as from other industrial sites. I would say in the case of Unwin higher quality patch work is the best interim solution. Given that the road will likely also be upgraded to curbs and storm sewers that further pushes the budget requirements up in already severely backlogged capital program. I should note that Inview shows no work planned for Unwin in 2026 and 2027.

In most cases the City's critical interim repair program is just a fancy name for what the City used to call mill and pave. They basically shave 50MM off the surface course asphalt and lay a fresh layer of SP 12.5/HL1, however the road is so far beyond that in its state of degradation that such work would essentially be an incredibly expensive band aid that will peel off in the near future. They did critical interim repairs to Eglinton Ave W between East Mall and Renforth at the end of 2024 and the cracks and bumps started reflecting to the surface within 6 months and its getting worse.

One of the reasons why some roads seem to be left to rot is intentional because of how approaches to pavement management work. If there was adequate funding it would not be an issue, but pavement management takes a look at the pot of money available and assigns work with the aim of making the dollars go as far as possible in keeping the pavement network in as good shape as possible. What that means is directing a lot of the investments to roads that are still in a fair to good condition as it is cheaper to keep those roads in good condition. Every year more ground (good pavement condition) is being lost however as we have a sustained capital funding backlog.

TLDR: Road rehabilitation is underfunded.

 

[DSCToronto]

I think the suggestion that the City does not know how bad Unwin Ave is in is quite laughable., there's a City yard on Unwin as well as provincially legislated road patrol requirements.

Unwin Ave is in need of a full-depth (700MM+) reconstruction. The road base is clearly failing and unable to deal with the heavy axle loading from loaded tri-axle dump trucks traveling to GFL's soil processing facility on the north side of the road two lots west of Hearn as well as from other industrial sites. I would say in the case of Unwin higher quality patch work is the best interim solution. Given that the road will likely also be upgraded to curbs and storm sewers that further pushes the budget requirements up in already severely backlogged capital program. I should note that Inview shows no work planned for Unwin in 2026 and 2027.

In most cases the City's critical interim repair program is just a fancy name for what the City used to call mill and pave. They basically shave 50MM off the surface course asphalt and lay a fresh layer of SP 12.5/HL1, however the road is so far beyond that in its state of degradation that such work would essentially be an incredibly expensive band aid that will peel off in the near future. They did critical interim repairs to Eglinton Ave W between East Mall and Renforth at the end of 2024 and the cracks and bumps started reflecting to the surface within 6 months and its getting worse.

One of the reasons why some roads seem to be left to rot is intentional because of how approaches to pavement management work. If there was adequate funding it would not be an issue, but pavement management takes a look at the pot of money available and assigns work with the aim of making the dollars go as far as possible in keeping the pavement network in as good shape as possible. What that means is directing a lot of the investments to roads that are still in a fair to good condition as it is cheaper to keep those roads in good condition. Every year more ground (good pavement condition) is being lost however as we have a sustained capital funding backlog.

TLDR: Road rehabilitation is underfunded.

Of course the City knows the condition of Unwin, I think the reason why it has not been 'touched up" with a Grind & Pave is that they know it needs proper storm drainage plus the watermain is either old and small or there actually isn't one at all. It really makes no sense to do more than the smallest amount of 'repair' before the bridge is replaced and the water/drainage dealt with. They also need to get the rail spur rails removed. Of course, the section of the street east of the bridge is NOT a City Road - it is a 'private road' and belongs to the Toronto Portlands Co (which is part of CreateTO). (That is why that section, between the bridge and the driveway to the Portlands Energy Centre has no streetlights.)