York University is closing

• York Boulevard, the main entrance road into the Keele Campus,

from 7 p.m. tonight, Friday, January 13 until 5 a.m. Wednesday, January 18.

Ontario’s Minister of Labour has permitted City of Toronto and TTC contractors to remove all damaged equipment from a construction site beside the Seymour Schulich Building.

A drilling rig at that location — the site of the future York University subway station in the York Boulevard and John Gillies Street area — tipped over Tuesday, October 11, crushing a construction worker to death and injuring five other workers.

Work crews will dismantle and remove the damaged equipment through weekend and overnight shifts over four days, to reduce the disruption to students, staff and faculty at the Schulich School of Business and throughout the campus.

While York Boulevard is closed, both TTC and GO Transit buses will temporarily divert, gaining access to the Harry W. Arthurs Common from the south, along Ian Macdonald Boulevard.

Toronto Police Service officers on paid duty Monday, January 16 and Tuesday, January 17 will make sure pedestrians cross roadways safely and vehicular traffic flows smoothly along The Pond Road at the intersections with Ian Macdonald Boulevard. and James Gillies Street.

Due to the temporary bus diversion, more traffic will proceed along the detour route, delaying transit service, especially during peak hours.

The University will keep the south leg of York Boulevard closed to allow construction to continue within the site after the contractors have removed all the equipment.

To maintain transit service to and from the Common, starting the morning of Wednesday, January 18, the University will open a new bus-only access road and modify the intersection of York Boulevard with James Gillies Street.

The detour affects TTC buses operating along the 35E Jane express, 41 Keele, 41E Keele express, 60C Steeles West, 106 York University, 107 Keele North and 196 York University rocket routes. It also affects GO Transit buses operating along the 45 Mississauga / York U, 46 Oakville / York U, 47 Hamilton / York U, 51 Pickering / York U, 52 Oshawa / York U and 54 Markham / York U routes.

Brampton Transit buses operating along the 501 / 501 Züm Queen route and York Region Transit buses operating along the 3 Thornhill - York U, 10 York U - Woodbridge and 20 Jane - Concord routes continue to operate along the detour that started Friday, May 27. (See detour details here and here.) (YRT / Viva buses operating along the Viva orange and Viva purple routes are currently not serving the campus due to the ongoing labour dispute.)

The work is part of the project to extend the 1 Yonge - University - Spadina subway from Downsview to York University and Vaughan.