Construction in advance of the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE) continues this week in the Harry W. Arthurs Common on York’s Keele campus.
Work is underway to relocate the York University Flagpole to its new home at the west end of the common between the reflecting pond and the fountain. Starting this week, a new foundation will be built and once the foundation is ready, the flagpole will be removed from the subway construction 
area and installed to its new location by the end of August.
Right: The new home of the York University Flagpole. Photograph by Edward Fenner
Activity related to excavating the subway site, diversion of utilities, delivery of materials and large equipment will continue this week. As part of this activity, large equipment will be operating very close to the York Research Tower as work begins on the construction of the perimeter of the subway station box. This large equipment, which will be approximately 20 metres high, could reach the mid floors of the York Research Tower.
Several large pieces of equipment will also be used in the construction of the station box. Faculty and staff located on the tower’s south side may experience some construction-related disturbances due to the proximity of the work to the building. This phase of work is expected to take approximately four months to complete.
There will be a also be one-day lane restriction today or tomorrow on James Gillies Street – east of the Seymour Schulich Building – to position a drill rig on the east side of the building. Traffic control personnel will be on site to help ensure safe movement of pedestrians and vehicular traffic. Once the rig is in place, construction work will begin in earnest on the excavation of a deep shaft in advance of tunnelling operations. This work is expected to take up to five weeks to continue.
For more information, visit York University’s Subway Construction web page. For specific TYSSE construction information, contact the construction information line at 1-800-223-6192 or e-mail the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension at TYSSE@ttc.ca. For hearing impaired service, contact TTY Service 416-481-2523 (daily, 8am to 6pm, closed holidays).