There’s an old joke that there are two seasons in Canada – winter and construction. Like the weather, road construction in York Region can’t be avoided; it must be endured. But we all know that once the projects are done, we can enjoy our refreshed streets and the opening of the improved viva service in its own rapidway.
There’s no doubt that road construction would be completed a lot faster if we could just block off the necessary sections and do the full width and length all at once. Understanding people still need to get around; we do our best to work around traffic. This means work progresses more slowly; in addition to needing Mother Nature on our side, we have to use smaller equipment and work in smaller sections. This may result in every stage taking longer. For example, paving requires only a few hours, but new pavement can’t be travelled on right away. We schedule our paving work carefully to try to avoid paving during the most congested times of the day.
And sometimes you may wonder why we’ve returned to an area even though it seemed like we were finished. In fact, what you’re seeing is that we are coming back to complete work which has to be done in a certain order or in layers. Everything has a sequence and a process to finish the job.
To minimize overall duration and immediate impacts to motorists, residents and businesses, crews sometimes work 24/7 – weather permitting. This enables work to be completed in an area or on a piece of the construction that has a higher impact so that crews can then move on to the next section.
The good news to remember is once the final paving is finished, the biggest disruption of construction will soon be coming to an end. Once construction of the vivaNext rapidway project is complete in that area, we can all enjoy our new streets and boulevards and the anticipated opening of the new viva rapidway service.
We appreciate your patience throughout construction. We’ll make sure you know exactly where and when any lane closures are going to take place, to help you minimize any inconvenience. Look for our emails giving you the latest updates on where we’ll be working, and how long our work will take. Click here to sign up for construction notices, and to get the latest on the paving on Highway 7.
Sometimes, making it through traffic is only a matter of being prepared for the congestion. Here are some wise words and a few recommended tips to help keep your cool and pass the time. And as always, we thank you for your patience.