Metrolinx contractors have started building the Scarborough Subway Extension, extending the TTC’s Line 2 Bloor - Danforth northeastward through Scarborough to the intersection of McCowan Road and Sheppard Avenue East.

From 11 p.m. Friday, March 7 until 5 a.m. Monday, March 10, the contractors are making two openings on the west end of the TTC tunnel roof near Kennedy Station to accommodate air intake for the subway extension’s West Ventilation Fan Plant (WVFP) building. They are cutting through the concrete of the tunnel roof, which is about six metres below ground level. Metrolinx expects that the surrounding earth and structure will absorb most noise from concrete-cutting activity.

The WVFP is critical to ventilating the new subway and making sure that air quality remains high. It would also provide extra ventilation during a fire.

Crews will gather concrete pieces in a designated debris site in the work zone and then remove them by dump truck during daytime hours. They’ll minimize the need for vehicles to reverse, limiting noise from back-up alarms beeping.

Residents and business people near the work site can expect to hear noise from trucks and other construction equipment. The crews will install a new noise barrier on the south fencing of the construction site to help decrease this impact.

They’ll also use water to reduce the dust, which they’ll gather as slurry in buckets and remove it with a hydrovac truck at the end of each work period.

(A hydrovac is a truck-mounted piece of equipment that uses high-pressure water and a vacuum to dig, excavate and remove soil.)

The crews will also use a crane on-site each weekend to hoist the detached concrete pieces. They’ll focus crane lights away from nearby residences.

The crews return to the site (and the TTC will again cancel subway service near Kennedy Station) from 11 p.m. Friday, March 28 until 5 a.m. Monday, March 31.