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Months later, however, the opening date was pushed back to August or September 2024, with city officials citing factors including the difficulty of working in a narrow corridor that also includes rail tracks and the river, the need to address soil erosion and approvals for changes to nearby infrastructure taking more time than expected.

In August 2024, with upgrades visibly nowhere near completion, city officials conceded that the trail would remain closed until July 2025, citing more soil issues that required work below the elevated sloped path, and delays in getting steel required to fabricate the new stairway and “switchback” zigzag ramp.

The trail will not reopen this month. While repaving is complete from Corktown Common to Queen Street, neither the stairway nor ramp have been installed. Viewed to the north and south from the Riverdale bridge, the trail appeared to be mostly flat dirt.

Will the city meet its latest target of reopening the trail’s southern portion in September and the remainder in November?

“That’s the plan,” said Prapan Dave, who last fall was put in charge of overseeing parks department construction projects, in an interview Friday.

“We need to learn from this and continuously improve. I totally understand frustrations” of people waiting to once again enjoy nature on the trail away from traffic, or to use it as a quick, stoplight-free commuter route north and south from downtown.

“We are not blaming anybody here, we are trying to get it done in a very safe way,” Dave added.

“We found some problems and challenges. Having said that, a few things could have been done better; we are learning from this.”

The biggest delay, he said, relates to a belated discovery that the weight of the two new steel structures cannot be anchored by traditional screws drilled into the ground. Instead, a subcontractor is putting dozens of “micropiles” — small-diameter, high-capacity foundation elements — into the ground to properly secure the ramp and the staircase.

Dave conceded this special requirement could have been recognized earlier in the project. Crews also found unmapped underground utilities, including a 113-year-old sewer pipe, adding time to the project.

Another delay source relates to Metrolinx, the provincial transportation agency whose projects include the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, which was originally forecast to open in 2020 but is now expected to possibly start carrying passengers this fall.

Metrolinx controls the busy railway corridor directly west of the Don trail, and requires notice and approval of anything that could impact train operations, Dave said, including the city’s replacement of fencing between the trail and the tracks.

“We are working with (Metrolinx officials) all the time, but they have a huge demand right now with various projects, and it takes roughly eight to 10 weeks to plan and schedule two flag persons, which are always needed when work is going on with an open fence,” Dave said.

Despite barriers at the Queen and Riverdale bridges blocking access to the trail below, cyclists throwing their bikes over and illicitly riding the trail in the construction zone have been a common sight since the closure. In June, a cyclist who posts videos on YouTube without encountering a barrier.

Coun. Paula Fletcher, whose ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½-Danforth ward includes the trail, said she often hears from people wanting to know when they can walk or bike the trail again and she understands frustrations that the upgrade is taking “an awfully long time.”

The Lower Don Trail will eventually connect to walking and biking trails through Biidaasige Park and a reconstructed river valley that Waterfront ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ opened to the public last weekend.

Dave asked ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½nians to be patient, saying that the repeated delays will end with a much improved trail and two new structures expected to last 100 years.