St. Andrew’s boardwalk hit with further delays

July 15, 2021 · 0 Comments

It was set to welcome pedestrians this month, but a new boardwalk at Yonge and St. John’s Sideroad, running to St. Andrew’s College, has been hit a further delay.

Al Downey, Aurora’s Director of Operations, told Councillors last week that the long-awaited trail would not be ready until at least the fall after issues were identified with guardrails.

“The walkway is not opening [this month] and we don’t see it operating until the fall,” he said. “We were having some issues with our contractor and a specification with regards to the guardrail at the corner of Yonge and St. John’s Sideroad. They started installing the guardrail but it wasn’t to specifications. We partnered with York Region on this, so we had some strict specifications in particular to car safety, so we have had to go away and redo the guardrail and will not have that available for at least two months.”

Councillor Wendy Gaertner, a long-time proponent of the trail link, expressed disappointment with the delay.

“This is disheartening news as we are in the summer season,” she said.

Before the latest update, just a few finishing details were anticipated before a July opening was possible, but even if the opening took place this month it was still later than anticipated.

“We had some issues with regards to the supply of material,” Mr. Downey told Council last month, stating they anticipated the guardrail to be in place “fairly soon.”

Additional work that needed to be done at that time included a gate to control access to the St. Andrew’s College property.

“We want to get the boardwalk open but we can’t do it until we secure the public going into the St. Andrew’s property and, of course, making sure it is safe with the guardrail. It looks great and I appreciate people wanting to walk on it,” he said at the time.

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter