This Major Toronto Intersection Is Closed For 2 Weeks & Here's How To Navigate The Mess

It's all thanks to a broken watermain.

The intersection of King Street West and Simcoe Street, in downtown Toronto, Ontario.

The intersection of King Street West and Simcoe Street, in downtown Toronto, Ontario.

Editor

An unexpected road closure in the heart of downtown Toronto over the weekend is going to last much longer than most people would've anticipated.

Following a watermain break at King Street and University Avenue on Sunday afternoon, the City of Toronto has said construction work to fix it up will last about two weeks.

"To support repair work on a broken watermain, the intersection of King Street West & University Ave is closed," the city said in a Tweet. "Repairs are expected to be complete in approx. 2 weeks. The intersection will remain closed while work is carried out."

To add insult to injury, anyone who lives nearby will also have to deal with around-the-clock construction, as the city said its crews would be working 24/7 to complete the repairs as quickly as possible.

The full closure has King Street West closed between York Street and Simcoe Street, and University Avenue closed between Adelaide Street and Wellington Street.

Anyone walking through this area over the next two weeks will be able to access sidewalks, "on the west side, going north and south, and both sidewalks going east and west," the city said.

Subway service had initially been impacted by the broken watermain Sunday, with one transit user posting a video to Twitter of water pouring down from the ceiling of a subway station as a subway came through to stop.

Regular subway service has since resumed, but the road closure will impact streetcar service over the next two weeks as well.

The city said the 504A King Streetcar will have no service between Sumach Street and the Springhurt Loop and the 504B streetcar will have no service between Church Street & Dundas West Subway Station.

Shuttle buses will be running to supplement both of these service adjustments.

  • Editor

    Stuart McGinn (he/him) was an Editor at Narcity Media. He spent nearly a decade working in radio broadcast journalism before joining the team, covering everything from breaking news to financial markets and sports. Since starting his career in his hometown of Ottawa after attending Algonquin College, Stuart has spent time working in our nation's capital, in Kitchener-Waterloo and in Toronto. If he's not out walking his dog Walter, there's a good chance he's running to train for his next marathon.

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