Yorkville traffic snarled for hours after cement spills onto Bay Street from top of Four Seasons tower

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Bay Street closure between Yorkville Avenue and Scollard Street

Looking south on Bay Street, from Scollard Street, shortly past 2 p.m. this afternoon. The entire block was closed to vehicles and pedestrians

 

Television crews filming outside the Four Seasons Toronto construction site

With a television cameraman filming the action, two construction workers sweep debris from Bay Street while another crew inspects hoarding on the Bay Street sidewalk next to the Four Seasons hotel + condo construction site

 

Construction accident: It’s amazing nobody was hurt when a load of construction cement fell 53 storeys from the top of the Four Seasons hotel and condo tower and splattered onto Bay Street shortly after lunchtime today. The construction accident occurred around 1.20 p.m., but police and bystanders said no-one was injured and no vehicles or buildings damaged when cement showered onto the pavement between Yorkville Avenue and Scollard Streets. That section of Bay Street is typically busy with steady daytime traffic, including city buses, and dozens of pedestrians would have been walking along nearby sidewalks at the time. According to a story in the Toronto Star’s online edition, the mishap occurred when concrete was being poured into a mould on the 53rd floor of the tower, which will rise a total of 55 storeys once construction is completed. When the mould buckled, the concrete rained down onto the street. Police closed the entire block between Yorkville and Scollard so crews could clean the cement spill while staff from the provincial Ministry of Labour investigated the cause of the accident. A street cleaning machine was brought in to assist several construction workers using push brooms to sweep up the mess. Traffic throughout Yorkville was snarled as pedestrians and vehicles were forced to detour around the street closure. I arrived at the Bay/Yorkville intersection just as the crews finished sweeping the street, so there was little to see other than yellow “do not cross” tape and police vehicles barring access to the block, along with dozens of curious onlookers gazing upward at the tall glass tower and asking each other what had happened. Below are several photos I snapped at the scene.  Additional photos of the Four Seasons Hotel & Residences can be viewed in my April 1 2011 post about progress on the construction project.

Bay Street between Yorkville Avenue and Scollard Street

A view of Bay Street from the northwest corner of Bay and Yorkville Avenue, outside The Regency condominium building

 

Police and media cameraman conferring on Bay Street

A media photographer chats with police at the northeast corner of Bay & Yorkville

 

Television cameramen filming outside the Four Seasons construction site

Television cameramen filming from the northwest corner of Bay & Yorkville

 

Cameraman filming at corner of Bay and Yorkville across from Four Seasons construction site

A TV cameraman films police standing a block away at Scollard Street

 

Cameraman filming footage of the Four Seasons West Residence Tower

A TV cameraman shoots footage of the Four Seasons while pedestrians look up at the hotel/condo tower and traffic detours past the site

 

Police block traffic from moving south on Bay Street

The police roadblock at Scollard Street, outside the Four Seasons West Residence

 

Four Seasons Toronto towers viewed from Bay at Scollard Street

The Four Seasons’ East and West Residence towers viewed from the northwest

 

Two construction workers atop the East Tower at the Four Seasons Toronto

Two construction workers atop the Four Seasons’ 26-storey East Residence Tower

 

Cranes atop the West Tower of the Four Seasons Toronto construction project April 7 2011 IMG_4781

Cranes atop the West Residence tower, now 53 storeys tall on its way to 55

 

5 thoughts on “Yorkville traffic snarled for hours after cement spills onto Bay Street from top of Four Seasons tower

  1. D B

    “A load of construction cement”?
    “cement” among many other things is an ingredient of concrete. The term “concrete” should be used. If it was cement that fell 53 storeys, it would be nothing more than a dusty situation.

    Reply
    1. TOblogeditor Post author

      Thanks for clarifying. The general news media got that wrong, too! Are the “cement” trucks at construction sites actually carrying loads of concrete, or is it cement that’s added to other ingredients and then poured to create floors and support structures? I’ve been describing them as cement trucks but will change the terminology if that’s incorrect.

      Reply
  2. D B

    I hear many people refer to the trucks as cement trucks..your not alone.The trucks you see on construction sites are loaded with fresh concrete. All ingredients used to make concrete are mixed and loaded in the trucks at their respective plants, then sent to construction sites.

    Reply
  3. mark

    Cement is corrosive, far from innocuous.
    Some trucks do not mix the ingredients for concrete until seconds before it comes out of the trucks chute. Wet cement falling from the sky could hurt too (why anyone would not have added sand and gravel is a great question). Cement is glue.

    Reply

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