The Big Hole getting dug up

So here is what it looks like near the end of the work day on Monday. It's a big rectangle, but it looks like the deep part is in the middle of the intersection. The big wooden fence is on the southside. You can see the cables that they are leaving intact here. I'm guessing those are power and data? I'll ask when I get a chance.



This is looking up my block, roughly to the north.


This is the other side of the fence, looking west towards the mountain (Mont Royal). I've never seen a view-blocking wall like this before when they are opening up the streets. Usually, they leave their giant holes open for everyone to see.



And this is looking at it as if you were driving from the south up Clark street. Road blocked sucker! They should really put some sweet graffiti murals on that plywood.


I'm really impressed by the size of the scoop, so I'll just show another picture with it next to the guys on the ground. It could literally scoop one of them up easily.


Lots of people love watching construction.



These are just some bonus pictures of a bunch of old pipes pulled out from farther up. I don't know what their original use was, but I suspect they were the old connectors between the main aqueduct and various people's houses.


Here's a close-up of one of the old valve caps. It's about 8" wide.


I looked up the name of that company on the web and could find very little information, but I did stumble upon this cool website: The Canadian Fire Hydrant and Waterworks Museum. It appears to be only in virtual form, but I guess the guy keeps all this stuff on his property in Southern Ontario. I contacted him and asked if he was interested in the valve cover, which he was, so maybe it will find a good home. He wanted to know if they had gotten rid of any fire hydrants, but no such luck. I would definitely have been on top of that! I'm sure those things weight a ton, but that's what the hand truck is for!