Some of the best songs start with just a few notes – maybe the base in a band or the baritones in a choir. Then more and more parts are added, and by the middle of the song everyone is singing or playing different parts, all in harmony. For York Region’s rapid transit system, 2016 was the “middle of the song.”
The prototype station opened in 2011 in Markham, followed by a 10-kilometre rapidway opening in 2013 and 2014 on Highway 7 East. In Richmond Hill, a LEED Silver-certified transit service facility opened in 2015. The Davis Drive rapidway in Newmarket opened for service in 2015, with some final work completed last summer.
Along with finishing Davis Drive, 2016 projects included important utility and prep work along Yonge Street in Newmarket and in Richmond Hill – temporary traffic signals, median work and retaining walls, new hydro poles, water main and gas main replacements. Similar work is being done for the rapidway on Bathurst and Centre Streets in Vaughan, and along Highway 7 west of Highway 400 to Helen Street/Wigwoss Drive.
Highway 7 in Vaughan was a symphony of activity in 2016, with construction wrapping up east of Jane Street to Bowes Road, and work moving ahead quickly on the large rapidway station west of Jane Street that will connect directly to the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension.
Bus terminals are planned in Vaughan and in Markham, and in 2016 those projects worked through the “backstage” steps of design and procurement.
A high note in 2016 was the announcement from the Province of Ontario of $55 million in funding to advance the design and engineering for the Yonge Subway Extension [YSE]. The YSE is York Region’s top transit priority, and we’re committed to working with Metrolinx, TTC and the City of Toronto to move this project forward.
In our plans, 2016 was the year we knew most of our projects would be happening, all at the same time, and it was busy! 2017 will be full of accomplishments too, and there are even more rapid transit projects planned for the future. So we plan to keep working on every detail or “note” to make sure our song – a connected transit system – makes it to the finale!