When a utility contractor barricades a sidewalk and forces pedestrians to dance with traffic in muddy shoes, somebody needs their knuckles rapped.

Contractors get away with a lot in this city, from substandard patches on utility cuts to taking a traffic lane away from drivers for years at a time, to make room for construction of condo buildings.

It’s a symptom of the city’s hands-off approach to development and the relentless construction that drives things around here; nothing shall stand in the way of progress.

But the price of progress is often paid by people who don’t have a stake in the game and just want to get where they’re going without hitting a traffic bottleneck or a dead end on a sidewalk.

That’s what pedestrians were up against at the southeast corner of Senlac Road and Hounslow Avenue, where fencing surrounding a large hole dug in a sidewalk brought them to a full stop.

Rick Ross emailed a week before Christmas to say that Rogers has been digging holes in his neighbourhood to install fibre optic cable, including one that closed the sidewalk several weeks ago at Senlac and Hounslow.

He included photos of fencing surrounding the hole in the sidewalk, saying, “There has been no work going on at this site for at least the past two weeks.

“The blockage of the sidewalk requires people to step out onto Senlac Road. This is a busy arterial street. The danger is compounded by icy conditions and darkness. They need to finish the work or rehabilitate the sidewalk to make it safe.”

I went there last Saturday and found that the fencing around the sidewalk hole was still in place. A well-worn path across the boulevard and onto the street had turned to mud, due to so many people crossing it in mild weather to shuffle onto Senlac and dance with traffic.

STATUS: I sent a note and photos to transportation services, asking how a contractor can get away with barricading a sidewalk without setting up a safe way for pedestrians to get around it, as required. The following reply came on Tuesday: “Before any utility cut can be made, a cut permit must be applied for and issued by the city. The permit requires the applicant to contact city staff 10 business days before they start work and submit a traffic control plan including any proposed sidewalk occupations or closures. A sidewalk cannot be closed without providing a safe alternate route for pedestrians. All traffic control plans, including proposed safe alternate routes for pedestrians, must be reviewed and approved by city staff. The work in the area is being conducted on behalf of Rogers. In this case a cut permit was issued but a traffic control plan was not submitted before work began.” The reply went on to say that after the city got my note, “an inspector directed the contractor to backfill all excavations and make the area safe. That has now been completed and all sidewalks are open and clear. City staff will be following up with Rogers and their contractor to ensure a complete and approved traffic plan, including safe alternate routes for pedestrians, is in place before work restarts.”

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