Sidewalk donuts

May 1, 2006 10:47 AM

On my street (and others, here in Toronto) workers have cut large circular pieces out of the sidewalk about every 10 feet or so. For several days, the big wheels of cement sat nearby, and the holes were covered up with metal lids. Now the pieces are back in the sidewalk, all patched up with cement filling the gaps. So... what the heck was being done there?
posted by Robot Johnny to Grab Bag (8 answers total)

Hey! They did that on Sorauren last summer.

After they did it I saw them drilling at a very shallow angle from one hole to another. I assume they were running some sort of cable under the sidewalk and they didn't want to rip the whole thing up.

But that's just a guess.
posted by GuyZero at 10:57 AM on May 1, 2006

Didja happen to see what kind of workers the were? Were they City of Toronto, Toronto Hydro, Bell or Bell contractors...
posted by chuma at 11:39 AM on May 1, 2006

On my street they were from Tim Hortons };-p
posted by iTristan at 12:22 PM on May 1, 2006

Sewer work
posted by cellphone at 2:41 PM on May 1, 2006

Mudjacking?
posted by JJtheJetPlane at 3:06 PM on May 1, 2006

iTristan writes "On my street they were from Tim Hortons };-p"


Digging up the Secret Doughnut Treasure, no doubt!
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 4:51 PM on May 1, 2006

Sounds like directional boring; usually performed in existing neighborhoods to install fiber lines or replace direct buried cables.
posted by vaportrail at 5:17 PM on May 1, 2006

Leave it to AskMe to make boring interesting.
posted by nomad at 7:21 PM on May 1, 2006