Category: Going Green

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Community Construction Design Going Green Rapidways Safety Stations Transit

behind the scenes >> building a vivastation

Blog post by: Elizabeth Kim

Despite wavering weather from Mother Nature, crews have been busy with a number of work activities across each of our construction projects in Richmond Hill, Newmarket and Vaughan.

If you’ve been out driving or walking along these projects, you may feel that construction can sometimes be messy, chaotic, and never-ending. Although all this work may appear identical, there are actually a number of construction activities underway, many of which require specialized crews. But, before work starts on each of rapid transit projects, there’s careful planning that goes on behind the scenes.

vivastations

There are many steps in building each of the iconic vivastations across our projects, all which are carefully planned to ensure work can get completed efficiently, while ensuring everyone – pedestrians, motorists and construction workers – remain safe. When complete, transit users will be able to enjoy new technology and innovative features that each vivastation offers.

Building a vivastation is sort of like putting together the pieces to a puzzle. Each step carefully lays the foundation for the vivastation, prioritizing consistency, quality, and safety.

As the year progresses and work on our vivastations begins to unfold, keep your eyes out for each of the following steps that go into building a vivastation!

1. Excavation, caisson drilling, and finishing

After the existing asphalt and road base is removed in preparation for construction, circular caissons are drilled 8 to 10 meters (26 to 32 feet) into the ground. Caissons are reinforced concrete columns placed below ground that act as the foundation for platforms. First, a large drill is used to create a deep hole for the column. Next, a steel rebar cage is placed in the drilled hole. Finally the hole is filled in with concrete.

2. Platforms, barrier walls are formed, poured, and cured

Once the caissons are installed, the concrete station platform and barrier walls will start to take shape. A concrete slab reinforced with steel is built on top of caissons to serve as the platform for vivastations. Concrete for the barrier walls are then formed, which provide delineation between the vivastation and live traffic, making them a key safety feature of every vivastation.

Prior to the installation of the barrier walls, electrical conduits are placed within the steel rebar cage.  Plywood forms are used as a mold for the walls and are placed around the rebar. Concrete is poured into the forms to create the barrier walls. Once the concrete is hardened, the forms are removed and the barrier walls are smoothed out to remove any surface imperfections.

3. Steel erection

A steel skeleton – prefabricated offsite and transported by trucks – is then erected on the concrete barrier walls. Prior to delivery to the site, the steel canopy is painted with a resin coating, in a champagne bronze colour.

These structures are raised into place by a large crane with careful maneuvering and precision. Lanes are often reduced around the vivastation during this procedure to ensure pedestrians, motorists and crews remain safe.

4. Glass installation

Each of our vivastations use tempered glass, which contains properties that strengthen the glass, ultimately creating a safe and durable structure that covers the exterior of the vivastation.

The glass is pre-cut and tinted prior to delivery to the site. Construction crews then carefully place the glass onto the canopy, creating our beautiful, signature blue vivastations.

5. Tile work on platform

Tile work is then done on the platforms, including tactile tile work at every vivastation. These tactile tiles are either cast iron or porcelain plates – depending on the construction project – that act as a textured ground surface indicator. These tiles are able to assist pedestrians and passengers who are visually impaired effectively navigate the surrounding environment.

Similar to our bus stops, we install directional tiles at every vivastation platform. Directional tiles are brown, textured tiles that help to assist visually impaired pedestrians and passengers in determining accurate direction of travel.

6. Electrical and IT systems

The installation of electrical and IT (Intelligent Transportation) systems are spread out throughout the whole construction process. However, most of this work happens close to when the vivastations will be completed. Security and PA systems, emergency call boxes (ECB), lights, and motion-activated heaters within the enclosed waiting area are installed, along with PRESTO/VIVA fare vending machines.

7. Fixture installation

Fixtures common to every vivastation are installed. These include, but are not limited to, garbage and recycling bins, handrails, doors, signs, and benches, signaling that the rapidway will soon be open for service.

building transit for the future

It takes time to build transit that will have a lasting impact on generations to come. Our construction projects are about more than just dedicated lanes for bus rapid transit – they’re about connecting people and places, and providing complete streets for the entire community to benefit from. Complete streets provide economic, environmental and social benefits that lead to an overall improvement in quality of life.

Transit riders, residents and businesses are best served when transit works as an integrated system. It’s crucial for transit services to work together as a well-planned network, connecting different modes of transportation and destinations. And we’re proud that our vivastations play an integral role in connecting the community in a faster, more efficient way.

STAYING INFORMED

Make sure to connect with us on social media to receive regular construction updates and stay in touch! The best way to stay informed about our construction projects is to sign-up for email notifications at vivanext.com/subscribe, and to follow us on our social media platforms.

Categories
Construction economic & financial economic benefits Going Green Live-work-play Rapidways suburban to urban transformation Transit Uncategorized Urban Planning

at Bathurst & Centre, the goal is more than just a rapidway

With the summer months now behind us, the rapidway project in the Bathurst & Centre community continues to make great progress, with all five vivastations under construction, utility upgrades complete, sidewalks and boulevards well underway, and base and final paving making great headway.

With the rapidway scheduled to open for service by the end of 2019, it’s a good time to remember what the goal of the project is: to design and deliver rapid transit projects that attract, move and connect people to York Region’s urban centres.

This goal translates into what’s called a “triple-bottom-line” contribution to our community – specifically social, environmental and economic benefits. They include:

  • Urban transformation. Emerging along the length of our rapid transit network, traditional suburban development is transforming into more compact urban neighbourhoods that include retail, entertainment, dining, places of worship, residential and offices. As the population of York Region grows and increases in density, we are building transit to service this population.
  • Connections. The new sections of rapidway will consist of 5 new vivastations along Bathurst and Centre, connecting people from Thornhill to Concord, Woodbridge and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and the subway to Toronto. It will also connect people to the rest of York Region via the Richmond Hill Centre Terminal at Yonge Street and Highway 7, and the future Yonge Subway Extension.
  • New businesses. As new developments provide new housing choices, the area attracts new employers – businesses that want to be located near transit in order to draw on a well-educated workforce.
  • Less driving, more moving. As York Region welcomes this new transit and cycling infrastructure and an increasing population, the result is more transit riders and reduced dependency on cars. Less time spent behind the wheel of a car can have great benefits to long-term health because people walk, run or cycle more – for exercise and to get from place to place.
  • Cleaner air. Every busload has the potential to replace 70 cars, and fewer cars on the road means reduced carbon emissions.
  • Building transit where the people are. The most popular transit routes go where people want to get on and off. People want to get to where the action is, so routes are planned where shopping, services, jobs, and higher-density housing is already along the way. The Bathurst and Centre neighbourhood is a perfect example of this as the community has a multitude of shops and amenities, multi-story condo buildings and residential streets – and busy Viva routes already service the community.

In York Region, a number of urban centres like Bathurst & Centre are evolving into mixed-use communities. At vivaNext, we’re supporting that change by building a fast, convenient rapid transit system. As part of the Centres and Corridors initiative, York Region has a vision and best practices for new mixed-use development to make sure that it gets built in areas which are supported by higher levels of transit.

For information about ongoing vivaNext projects, be sure to subscribe to email updates, and follow us on Twitter. You can also follow us on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Questions or comments? Comment below or email us at contactus@vivanext.com.

Categories
Going Green Innovation Uncategorized

visions of the future

Blogpost by: Sara Grilli

Cellphones, television and public transit all have something in common – innovation.  At the time of their initial release, they each took a simple task [i.e., communication, entertainment and travel] and turned it into something easier and more accessible.  As time marched forward, each has continued to innovate.  Cellphones are now smartphones, televisions became “smart” and our favourite shows can be streamed.  Transit has also changed, from basic buses to GPS-tracked high-capacity vehicles with payment by smartphone and WIFI at terminals.

For several years, York Region Rapid Transit Corporation has hired summer students in various fields of work such as engineering, communications, finance, etc.  As part of their summer experience and learning, we assigned a group project to the students.  This year, the guidelines were purposely vague.  We asked our 16 students to imagine what the future would look like.  This task was not to focus only on transit, but big picture ideas as well – such as environmental, social/health benefits and community engagement.  They were to brainstorm, research, and then present their ideas to their colleagues and managers.  Here are a few amazing ideas they brought forward:

  • Customized transit services, available at the right time and place for each individual
  • Environmentally conscious travel, with solar panels and a commitment to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions
  • A change to the economy, where businesses and agencies can not only rent ad space on public transit, but also rent space to provide services
  • Social benefits, helping people to foster happiness and wellbeing by increasing their daily social interactions
  • More community engagement, where people can easily connect to what’s around them

No matter what your vision of the future looks like, it’s about making changes for the better.  If our young people are seeing these types of changes, you can bet that at least some aspects of them will come true.  We hope so, and we hope to see our students use their innovative thinking to flourish in their chosen careers!

Say innovation! 13 of our summer students from 2018

Categories
General Going Green Innovation Studies Uncategorized

keeping it green, one ride at a time

Blogpost by: Sara Grilli

As a society, most of us agree we need to do our part to take care of our environment, ensuring future generations can enjoy it.  Helping out the environment can start with small steps such as using a reusable water bottle, switching to paper straws and making a conscious effort to properly recycle materials that we use.

Another step we can take in the right direction is the way we travel.  Different transportation methods have different impacts on the environment.  Active modes of transportation such as walking and biking are the most ideal but are not always practical for long distance travel. Transit is the next best option that benefits the environment.

A bigger step in making environmentally-friendly choices is building infrastructure that makes it easy to choose transit. Transit and communities built close to transit provide a multitude of benefits to the environment including:

  • Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions: One bus can replace up to 70 cars on the road.
  • Alternative Fuels: The number of buses using alternative fuels increased significantly in the past 10 years, according to the U.S Federal Transit Administration. In April, the Government of Ontario committed to investing in a new pilot program that will allow York Region to purchase six, forty-foot electric battery-powered buses.
  • Air quality: The more people use transit, the fewer cars there are on the road which will significantly improve the air quality.
  • Protecting land: The Oak Ridges Moraine Act [2001] and the Greenbelt Act [2005] together protect 69% of York Region’s land. By building compact, transit-oriented development where growth should be, in our city centres, we help conserve the remaining 31% from suburban sprawl.

We have more projects to come, both bus rapid transit and subway, and they all contribute to making the environment better. We only have one earth; let’s do our part to take care of it.

Categories
Commissioning Construction Going Green Innovation Safety Stations Technical Urban Planning

rain, rain, go away

Our new rapidway station at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre is ready for the rain, innately designed to handle a downpour and keep those pesky puddles off the road.

Large structures like the new bus rapid transit station shed a lot of rain during storms. With the size of the station’s roof, the volume of water collecting from even light rain storms would be enough to create some pretty major puddles.

Water management has been a key design consideration for the station since day 1. Letting runoff drain freely onto the roads isn’t an option since the station is right in the middle of Highway 7. Here’s the rundown on how we’re managing runoff.

Water management strategy includes features built into the station’s design, and the design of the road and storm water management systems around the station.

Gutters run along the curved station roof between the skylight and the roof panels, designed to collect and funnel water to the ends of the station. At that point, brow gutters – shaped like eye-brows – will drain the water into downspouts on the sides of the station, which then drain safely into underground catchbasins connected to the storm water management system.

But that’s not all! Water from the middle portion of the roof, below the roof gutters, will drain off the roof onto the road. Generally at our vivastations, the road design ensures water doesn’t become puddles.  A very gradual slope away from the station to the curb lane directs the water into a series of curbside storm sewers and catch basins.

However, the VMC station is so much larger than the other stations, there’s simply too much water to direct across the road. Instead, we drain the water closer to the station.

We’ve built up the road surface so that its highest point is 1.2 metres away from the station.  Water draining off the station will be naturally directed back towards the station, running along the curb into a series of catchbasins and into the storm sewers.

We know that rain gutters and catchbasins aren’t the most glamourous features of the new station, but on a rainy day, we’ll all be glad they’re there.

Categories
Construction Facilities and terminals Going Green Rapidways Urban Planning

our plants are born survivors

City living in York Region provides lots of advantages, from all the great places to shop, eat and live, to entertainment options, and of course the increasing number of employers choosing to locate here. But one advantage country living usually has over city life is the abundance of green, natural spaces.

Fortunately, we’ve all come to understand and appreciate the value of trees and landscaping in our urban spaces. More greenery is good for our air quality, increases property values, and can lower energy costs. It makes our urban spaces feel more welcoming and human-scaled. Plus, it just looks good.

greenery a vivaNext priority

For all those reasons, introducing more greenery and landscaping to the communities where we build our projects has always been a vivaNext priority. Plants are chosen largely for their practicality. Median and boulevard planters filled with lovely, healthy blooms and foliage look gorgeous. Median planters filled with sad, struggling plants? Not so much.

roadside plantings face tough ride

The challenge in getting more of the former and less of the latter, is finding plants that can cope with the often-inhospitable environment associated with roadside plantings. Roadside plantings have to cope with heavy doses of wind, pollution, and winter road salt spray. We’ve made an incredible effort to give our plantings every possible advantage, from the design of the planters, to the amount and type of soil, to the actual choices of trees and plants.

Some of the plants selected for our first projects didn’t thrive as well as we hoped, so we redesigned our plant selections for the rapidways. Now we’re using an even tougher group of plants with a built-in advantage: they already grow wild in this area. Many of the new plants are those you’ll find in rural York Region, growing happily along roadsides and around old farmhouses.

going wild at the VMC

Some, like sumacs, grasses and Kentucky Coffee trees [which isn’t really a coffee tree, but has pods with seeds inside that early settlers used to make a coffee-like drink], are native to parts of Ontario. Others, such as rugosa roses and daylilies, might have been planted many years ago by humans, but they’re so tough, they don’t need any help once they get established and are happy growing wild.

The new flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees, including those we’ve planted in Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, will add a beautiful green note to the Viva rapidways and stations. And because we’ve chosen these natural-born survivors, they should be green and blooming for years to come.

Categories
Going Green Live-work-play Urban Planning

urban parks bring us together

urban parks bring us together

Having at least one feature park is a hallmark of a great city. Central Park in New York, Stanley Park in Vancouver and High Park in Toronto – they’re all natural gathering places. We go there on a hot summer day to find some shade or a splash pad, and on a snow day we go there to skate or make a snowman. Parks make our towns and cities more appealing places to live and work, so it’s important to have them right in the centre of things, where we can get to them easily by taking transit, walking or cycling.

Green parks are beautiful, and a refreshing change from the indoors, but there is also something to be said for the more activity-oriented parks and parkettes. In Markham, Toogood Pond and Milliken Mills are full of picturesque trees and ponds, but the Pride of Canada Carousel in the heart of Downtown Markham also offers a fun diversion from everyday life. If you don’t live right around the corner from these, you can get there on YRT or Viva.

In Newmarket, Fairy Lake Park and the Mabel Davis Conservation Area provide green places to gather for sports and culture, connected by the Tom Taylor and Nokiidaa Trails and meeting in the middle at the Riverwalk Commons, where people gather for concerts and events throughout the year. Mabel Davis and the Tom Taylor Trail can be reached via the new Viva yellow route on Davis Drive, and on the south end of town, YRT will get you there.

In Richmond Hill, Lake Wilcox Park has cultural and culinary events most summer weekends, and is a stone’s throw from the new Oak Ridges Community Centre and Pool. A short walk west from the Viva blue route on Yonge Street is Mill Pond Park – the heart of Richmond Hill’s downtown and host to concerts and neighbourhood festivals all year.

Parks can be activity-focused too, such as Vaughan Grove Sports Park in Woodbridge, offering several soccer and baseball fields just south of Viva and YRT routes on Highway 7. On the northeast corner of Highway 7 and Jane Street, Vaughan Metropolitan Centre will be adding one more important development to this already bustling construction area: an urban park. Edgeley Pond and Park will be in the middle of commercial and residential developments – a place welcoming to all who will live and work there. With a rapidway on Highway 7, the northernmost station of the Spadina subway line and a bus terminal at Highway 7 west of Jane, this park will be connected in all directions.

As we start to see a hint of the spring weather to come, let’s remember how important it is to have great parks, connected by great transit.

 

Categories
Going Green Live-work-play Uncategorized Urban Planning

adding shade and beauty to three parks

As preparation for road widening got underway this spring along Bathurst and Centre, we were able to transplant 38 trees to three local parks in Vaughan. Watch the video to see how it went!

Here’s a quick background glimpse of the planning: During the final design stage of the rapidway project on Bathurst and Centre, all trees along the corridor were inspected and inventoried, and each tree was included in the construction drawings to see how they were impacted. While some were being removed for road widening preparation, those suitable for replanting were identified. Those removed will be replaced at the end of the construction project with even more planted.

We worked with the local community to identify locations to transplant the trees, and this June, the trees were transplanted in Bathurst District Park, Bathurst Estates Park and Rosedale North Park.  VivaNext is committed to sustainable options and transplanting trees is one of those initiatives.

 

Questions or comments? Comment below or email us at contactus@vivanext.com. To stay up-to-date on construction, sign up for email updates at vivanext.com/subscribe.

Categories
Construction Going Green Rapidways

sowing the seeds on Davis Drive

sowing the seeds on Davis Drive

Trees are coming to Davis Drive! Crews are out making their way along the rapidway medians planting trees, shrubs and perennials to create a more attractive, welcoming streetscape. We hope to see buds and shoots blooming all around us in the coming weeks.

To give them the best chance for survival, we carefully choose the species of trees and plants, and plant them in a special planting mix developed by the Region’s Forestry Department, rooted in special soil cells. Even with this great care, nature is unpredictable and sometimes a few don’t make it through the winter. In this case our contractor replaces them under the two-year warranty we have for all of our trees, shrubs and plants. Trees and other green spaces have been shown in studies to have health benefits, build prosperity and increase safety, so they’re an important addition to streets in York Region.

The vivaNext project delivers more than just great transit. With all the plantings on Davis Drive it also reinforces York Region’s Greening Strategy as part of great community design. The strategy promotes actions that support healthy natural environments, and it plants the seeds of inspiration for cultivating sustainable communities.

#ThanksDavisDr!

Keeping with the green theme, May 7 was the Town of Newmarket’s Community Cleanup & Fun Day, and it was a stellar community event! People from all over Newmarket gathered together to pick up garbage and brighten their community by getting involved and getting their hands dirty [gloves were provided!].

We were there to do our part, participating in the morning cleanup and crushing icy snocones for everyone to enjoy. It was our opportunity to say thank you to the people of Newmarket for all their patience, understanding and feedback during construction.

There’s just a little bit left to do before we can call it done, and have a rapid transit system we can all be proud of. Thanks Davis Drive!

 

Categories
Community Events Going Green

it’s all about trees >> and numbers >> on Earth Day 2016

Lad with earth day tree

Today, Earth Day turns 46. What does middle age mean for this global environmental event? An exciting theme and an ambitious goal: the Global 2016 theme is “Trees for the Earth”.

And as Earth Day edges closer to celebrating its half-century anniversary, Earthday.org is asking people around the world to plant trees, with the hope of reaching 7.8 billion trees planted by Earth Day 2020.

That’s one tree for every person on the planet!

In Canada, it’s the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Earth Day Canada, and citizens in this country are invited to participate in the #Rooting4Trees ‘pledge and plant’ campaign. The goal is to help grow a forest of 25,000 trees.

For our part here at vivaNext, we enthusiastically embrace and support the goals of Earth Day. Earth Day serves as our annual springtime reminder that we’re on the right track, as we continue building transit treasuring and protecting the natural environment, promoting smart growth, and building vibrant, livable cities, and healthy communities.

Following the theme of trees, very soon, you’ll see crews planting trees, shrubs and greenery along the Davis Drive rapidway and along Highway 7 West in Vaughan.

And in support of the movement to care for the earth – and to thank the Newmarket community for their patience during construction – watch for vivaNext at the Town of Newmarket’s upcoming Community Cleanup & Fun Day on Saturday, May 7.  We hope you stop in and see the vivaNext team.

Happy Earth Day, everyone!