Category: Stations

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General Rapidways Stations Uncategorized Urban Planning vivaNext.com

Glossary of construction terms

Construction can be chaotic for the layperson with its oddly shaped machines digging, drilling and moving around dirt, concrete and other large items. It can be hard to understand what they’re doing exactly, but things can get even more confusing when construction terminology gets thrown around. To help anyone who might be interested we’ve compiled a list of our most often used terms, just for the fun of it –

Abutment A structure located at the ends of a bridge, where the bridge slab adjoins the approaching roadway.
   
Archaeological Testing/Assessment The examination of limited areas for the purposes of identifying historical artifacts. We do this work to meet the requirements of the 2007 North Yonge Street Corridor Public Transit Improvements Environmental Assessment, which identifies areas of potential archaeological interest along the Yonge Street corridor, so that we can ensure any important historical artifacts are identified before the roadway is widened for the rapidway.
   
Backfill Material used to replace, or the act of replacing material, removed during construction. Also, may denote material placed, or the act of placing material, adjacent to structures.
   
Bore Holes Drilling into the ground to bring up samples of earth for testing.
   
Boulevard A strip of grass between a sidewalk and a road, located above a curb.
   
Bridge Pier A supporting structure at the junction of connecting spans of a bridge.
   
Caissons A cylindrical concrete foundation that penetrates through soil to rest upon an underlying stratum of rock. Or the structural support for a type of foundation wall.
   
Canopy A curved glass and steel structure over a vivastation platform that shelters passengers.
   
Cast-in-Place A construction of forms filled with concrete at the final location.
   
Catch Basin A receptacle for catching water runoff from a designated area; usually a shallow concrete box with a grating and a discharge pipe leading to a plumbing or stormwater system.
   
Cofferdam A watertight steel enclosure from which water is pumped to expose the bottom of a body of water and permit foundation construction.
   
Corridor Area where vivaNext has construction underway – e.g. Highway 7 East, Highway 7 West, Davis Drive or Yonge Street.
   
Culvert A drain pipe or small bridge for drainage under a road or structure.
   
Cut and Cover A method of tunnel construction that involves digging a trench, building a tunnel, and then covering it with fill.
   
Daylighting The process of exposing buried utility lines to daylight.
   
Directional Drilling Drilling sideways under structures, roadways, streams, etc. to place pipes, utility lines without excavation and generally limited to less than 30cm in diameter.
   
Duct bank Groups of conduits designed to protect and consolidate cabling to and from buildings. Data and electrical cables are laid out within PVC conduits and bundled together; these groupings of conduit are protected by concrete and metal casings. Duct banks are often buried, allowing contractors to consolidate the wiring for a building into centralized underground paths.
   
Easement An interest in land owned by another that entitles its holder to a specific limited use.
   
Environmental Impact The effects a project will have upon the environment, especially the human environment.
   
Environmental Testing Is used to verify if a piece of equipment can withstand the rigors of harsh environments.
   
Excavator Generally tracked vehicle with rotating body and front mounted digging arm.
   
Geotechnical Testing The process of boring, sampling, and testing the soil at various depths to enable the geotechnical engineer to discover and analyze characteristics of the soil.
   
Guy Wires A wire used to secure a tall exterior mast, antenna, or other structure in place.
   
Hoarding A temporary wooden fence around a building or structure under construction or repair.
   
Hydrovac A large truck-mounted vacuum used to bore holes to locate underground utility cables and pipes.
   
Locates Markings that locate underground infrastructure, identified as follows:

  • Red – Electric power lines, cables and conduit systems and lighting cables
  • Yellow – Gas, oil, steam, petroleum, gaseous or dangerous materials
  • Orange – Communications, cable television, alarm or signal lines, cables or conduit systems
  • Blue – Water, irrigation and slurry lines
  • Green – Sewer and drain lines
  • White – Route of proposed subsurface line or location of proposed excavation
  • Purple – Reclaimed water
  • Pink (fluorescent) – Temporary construction project site survey markings and survey monuments.

 
Man Hole A hole through which a person may go to gain access to an underground or enclosed structure.
   
Precast (PC) Piles A reinforced concrete pile which is moulded in circular, square, rectangular or octagonal form.
   
Pile Driver A noisy machine that repeatedly drops a heavy weight on top of a post-like foundation until it reaches solid soil, rock or cannot be pushed down any farther.
   
Potholing A small, steep-sided hole usually with underground drainage.
   
Rapidway Dedicated lanes for viva rapid transit down the centre of the road [except on Enterprise Drive, where the lanes are beside the road].
   
Re-bar Ribbed steel bars of various sizes used to give concrete strength in tension.
   
Sheet Piling Planking or sheeting made of concrete, timber, or steel that is driven in, interlocked or tongue and grooved together to provide a tight wall to resist the lateral pressure of water, adjacent earth or other materials.
   
Storm Sewer A sewer used for conveying groundwater, rainwater, surface water, or similar non-polluting wastes.
   
Test Pitting An excavation made to examine an existing foundation, or to determine whether an area is suitable for building construction; includes the taking of soil samples and the determining of the depth of groundwater.
   
Transformer A device that changes, or transforms, alternating current from one voltage to another.
   
Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC) Area around Highway 7 West in the City of Vaughan designated as a new development area.
   
Vivastation A bus rapid transit station on a vivaNext rapidway. Includes a platform in each direction, like a train station.
   
Water Main Water supply pipe generally located at the street level which may supply a number of buildings.

 

Categories
Construction Going Green Live-work-play Rapidways Stations Urban Planning vivaNext.com

Working together to achieve transit success

You have heard us talk a lot about growth at vivaNext.  Managing growing communities and planning for the future are always top of mind. As the region that comprises nine local municipalities and is home to 1,084,000 residents, 29,000 businesses and 495,000 employees, York Region is the fastest growing region in the Greater Toronto Area. We are always striving to identify key opportunities to improve upon and expand rapid transit plans to support the Region’s increasing population.

The successful execution of the vivaNext rapid transit plans rely on collaboration. While collaboration seems like a long word that has enough syllables to leave you tongue-tied, to me the definition is simple – working together as a team. At vivaNext we strive to work hand in hand with all our stakeholders and neighbours. With open dialogue and information exchange we do our best to listen and address comments and concerns.

Our rapidways are being built along the Region’s busiest corridors where urban development is taking shape. Check out a few municipal videos showcasing local growth.

VivaNext is proud to be bringing York Region an exceptional transit system that will connect it to the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area.

Categories
Construction General Rapidways Stations Uncategorized Urban Planning vivaNext.com

Understanding real-time travel time signs

We’ve all seen them at one time or another, the big orange and black electronic message boards relaying construction information and how long it will take to travel through a construction zone. You may have asked yourself how these signs provide up-to-date travel time and are they accurate? Perhaps you even timed it to test its accuracy.

These signs are Variable Messaging Signs [VMS]. You may have also heard them referred to as construction message boards. You will see them posted at key locations along the vivaNext rapidway corridors currently under construction. The signs operate from a bank of batteries. Energy from the sun, collected by solar panels on the top of the sign, recharges the batteries allowing the construction information and real-time travel information to stay lit.

The real-time travel information works from innovative Bluetooth technology based sensors to calculate travel times through the construction zone. Once a minute, the current average travel time is posted to the VMS. We were the first in North America to track Bluetooth data and convert it into real-time travel time displays to help commuters decide the best way to minimize their travel time through construction.

So how accurate is the real-time travel data on these signs? We keep a close eye on the travel times displayed on the VMS. We continuously monitor and check the accuracy of these signs to ensure the travel times provided are precisely the time it takes to travel through the construction.

The VMS are just one example of the tools and technology we use to keep you informed of rapidway construction. Check out vivanext.com for the latest news and if you haven’t already, sign up for construction updates.

We thank you for your patience during vivaNext rapidway construction. Once the transformation is complete, the rapidways will help connect communities, save people travel time on viva and transform the physical look and feel of the streets to be beautiful refreshed places to visit, shop or work.

 

Categories
Construction Stations

Lighting up the neighbourhood

It’s the dark days of winter, and our crews are truly lighting up Highway 7 in Richmond Hill. They’re trying out the lighting installed at our new vivastations between Bayview and Highway 404, and it’s an exciting sign that rapidways are well and truly on the way to Highway 7.

Energy-efficient throughout and functional in all weather, these lighting systems are designed to make it easy to identify each station, and are an important safety feature for passengers waiting. Lighting also helps drivers to clearly see the rapidway in the middle of the road.

It’s not all about the bright lights though. Vivastations are being built with reflective, tinted glass curved panels that arch overhead to keep snow and rain off. A glass-enclosed area in the middle of each station has motion-activated heaters, and the raised platform eliminates the need to climb or lift objects up onto a viva vehicle. Technology includes security surveillance and intercom on the platform, and arrival/departure screens with real-time scheduling information.

We already have the first example of a vivastation built in Markham, south of Highway 7 on Warden, so the best way to experience a vivastation is to hop on and off at one. Vivastations will follow a consistent design, but station platforms will be located on different sides of the intersection in some cases. At Bayview Avenue, the vivastation platforms will be curbside, with unique towers alongside that have stairs and elevators leading to Bayview Avenue.

As the days get longer with more sunshine in spring and summer, we’ll start to see the gleaming glass of vivastations along Highway 7. By next winter, vivastation lights will be on, and Highway 7 will be a brighter place for everyone.

 

Categories
Construction Stations

May snow fall and cold winds blow…

Although the forecast is for a cold winter this year, our vivaNext Highway 7 construction schedule calls for us to keep going at full-speed, even while it’s snowy out there. Here’s an overview of what we’re going to be working on this winter along Highway 7, and how we’ll manage to keep going when the temperatures drop.

There’s no doubt that some work – like paving – is best done when it’s warm. So the first rule of project management is to plan the work schedule many months in advance, so work can progress without interruption through all seasons. That means we do the work that has to be done when it’s warmer – such as paving or landscaping – when it’s warm, and use the winter for tasks that can be done at any time of the year.

This winter, our focus will be on continuing with the stations along Highway 7 and on the towers connecting Bayview to Highway 7, leaving the road work and landscaping for next spring.

At the Bayview towers our goal is to enclose the south tower before Christmas, including getting the roof on and the glass installed. Once the space is enclosed but not heated, we’ll do some interior work including elevators and electrical work. And when the towers have permanent power, we can warm up the interior using temporary industrial space heaters. Then we’ll start to install tiling and hand railings, both of which use grout which requires warmer temperatures.

For the stations along Highway 7, working in the winter requires some additional measures which allow us to keep going. One design advantage we have is that our station platform foundations are built with concrete piers sunk into the ground, rather than a compacted granular base which would be a challenge in the winter. We’ll be able to dig the holes for the piers throughout the winter by heating the subsurface before pouring concrete. After the pour, the concrete is covered with insulated blankets and heated with diesel-fired “frost-fighter” heaters. These heaters – about five times as powerful as a typical home furnace – provide enough heat to help concrete cure, even when it’s cold. And when we know it’s going to snow, the entire platform is covered with tarps to keep the snow off our work site.

So with a lot of advance planning, we’ll be able to continue pouring the foundations and platforms throughout the winter. Come next spring we can get back to the road work and landscaping, with our goal unchanged of having the first section of the Highway 7 rapidway operational in 2013.

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Categories
Construction Rapidways Stations

Building for the future: here comes the first Highway 7 rapidway station

Installing vivastation canopies along Highway 7If you’ve been driving along Highway 7 East lately, you’ll notice an exciting development taking shape on our Highway 7 rapidway: the installation of the first of 22 vivastations.

And like everything else on the vivaNext project, the station that we’re going to be building in the median at Leslie and Highway 7 is the product of literally years of design, planning and preparation. Here’s a primer on the stations, and how they’ll be installed.

Like their predecessor at Warden Station on Enterprise Boulevard, our vivastations along Highway 7 are going to be beautiful, strong and very functional. The curved viva blue glass that makes up the canopy is surprisingly rugged – this glass is curved, tempered and laminated for strength, which prevents it from breaking into sharp pieces if it is cracked or broken. Reliability was our first priority in sourcing the manufacturer: our glass panels are actually being made by the company that makes nearly half of the world’s windshield glass.

Although the canopy is made up of nearly 100 individual panes of glass, each will be connected to its neighbour by small fasteners, known as “spiders” – so visually, the glass will look like it’s all one piece.

Supporting the glass underneath is a three-piece structure made of Canadian-fabricated steel, constructed just outside of Paris, Ontario. With durability in mind, the steel will be finished with a high-quality automotive-grade paint to minimize long-term maintenance costs.

Before the station components are delivered, a concrete platform is poured and set, and the connections built into the platform are prepared.  Then the canopy’s three steel structural sections are brought in on a wide-load tractor trailer and  installed. It takes about a week to align the sections perfectly and do some other prep, in advance of the glass being delivered and installed.

Each station includes two platforms/canopies – one for eastbound passengers and one for westbound passengers. Our schedule calls for the construction of one station canopy a month, with eastbound and then westbound canopies being built along the Highway 7 East rapidway throughout the rest of this year. There are a number of steps involved in getting the platforms ready before the glass and steel can be delivered; each platform requires about 12 weeks of work including excavations, installing electrical cables and concrete work.

One of the strategic decisions we made in the beginning for the vivaNext program is to build our rapidway segments consecutively, enabling our designers and construction experts to assess the experience of the previous segment and continually fine tune the design and construction methods. Lessons learned from our experience building the Warden Station have helped us find ways to modify the design, to make the canopies easier and more efficient to install. And because minimizing traffic impacts along the Highway 7 corridor is so critically important, our team has focused on finding strategies to install these huge canopies in a very small space with minimal lane closures.

Beyond providing rapid transit users with a comfortable and convenient experience, our vivastations are going to give a defining look and feel to Highway 7, as it becomes increasingly urbanized and developed over the next few years. We think that’s a milestone that’s really worth celebrating.

Categories
Construction Stations

Winter work

Warden Station in Markham - Winter construction in 2010-2011

This winter has been unusually warm so far, but we probably can’t count on the balmy temperatures continuing all the way through until spring. But at the same time, our vivaNext rapidway construction schedule requires that we make good progress during winter. Although it might be surprising to see construction happening in winter, some work will be taking place – with a little modification to our warmer weather construction methods.

Over the winter, work continues along the boulevards on Highway 7 East, and we’ll build the foundations for the first three rapidway stations at West Beaver Creek Road, Leslie Street and East Beaver Creek Road.

Much of the work we’re doing involves concrete, which doesn’t actually dry but cures through its own internal chemical reaction that creates heat. If the concrete cools down too quickly, it won’t cure properly. So the crews must ensure the ground is warm enough before the concrete is placed, to enable the concrete to begin its own heating process. Once those chemical reactions get going, it keeps itself warm, and all we need to do is keep it insulated while it cures.

In areas where we need to excavate earth, we dig out the first few inches of frozen ground – with these milder temperatures the frost generally only extends down through the first six inches of soil. Then, using ground heaters, we blow hot air into the excavation to warm it up, and cover it with tarps. The concrete is then poured, and the tarps are kept on the concrete until it is cured. The concrete is tested to ensure it has properly set and meets our specifications.

By using these techniques, we will be able to continue work throughout the winter on the boulevards, and construct the six platforms at the three stations.

In the boulevards, we will continue to install the Cupolex® forms for the tree soil cells, which are excavated and then covered with concrete. On the station platforms, crews will augur shallow holes to pour the concrete caissons (foundations) for the platforms, then pour the concrete platform slabs on top of these foundations.

Plenty of work is happening this year for both Highway 7 East and Davis Drive, and there’s still lots of work left to do. But by continuing construction through the winter, we’ll be moving closer to finishing the Highway 7 rapidway.

Categories
Stations

PA systems – designing vivaNext to sound great

PA systems - designing vivaNext to sound great

One of the things I’ve enjoyed about working with vivaNext, has been the opportunity to watch the plan take shape for York Region’s rapid transit future. In our weekly project meetings, I get to see up close the incredible amount of thought and expertise that goes into planning every single aspect of our new system. Now that we’re into final design and construction on Highway 7 East (and will be soon on Davis Drive in Newmarket), detailed design decisions are being made on a whole range of topics. So from time to time, our blog will focus on a particular topic, to give you a sense of what’s happening and a sneak preview of the plan ahead.

This week, our engineers brought forward their initial thinking on the speakers to be used for the Public Announcement (PA) system we’ll have at each station. In my experience, PA systems in big public spaces don’t usually work all that well – it’s sometimes hard to actually understand what’s being said, even if the volume is cranked right up. Our engineers agree that transit PA systems are often either too loud or too quiet, and in either case the words are often garbled and unintelligible.

So this week they made a plan for how to design an ideal PA system for vivaNext. It needs to be designed to provide the right loudness (6 to 10 decibels above the ambient noise), provide uniform coverage across the listening area, and be clear and easy to understand.

To deliver on the first measure, there are sensors that will constantly measure the ambient noise levels – which will be higher during the day when multiple buses are at the station at once and traffic is passing by, and quieter at night when there’s less activity. The sensors can be connected to the speakers, so that the volume can be constantly adjusted to keep it at the right level. Being able to adjust the sound to just above ambient noise levels is very important, to ensure that people on the platform can hear messages, while ensuring it isn’t so loud that sound spills off the platform and disturbs others.

Placing the speakers is relatively straightforward, taking into account where people will be along the platform and in the enclosure, and also considering our vivastations’ curved canopies and glass and steel structure.

Measuring the intelligibility of the system (i.e., how easy it will be to understand what is being said) is more complex, and uses a modelling approach called the Speech Transmission Index or STI. The STI is one way that acoustical engineers have to model how sound will move around a space, taking into account echoes, distortion and background noise, to predict how clear the final messages will be.

Designing a first-class PA system is complicated, and like everything else on this project, depends on a wide range of technical and design expertise. Our team is more than up to the task, and I hope you find this gives you a sense of the kind of work needed to bring vivaNext to life.

Categories
Announcements Stations vivaNext.com Ways to win

Warden Station is now open!

Warden Station, your new rapid transit station, is Now Open!

The first built example of a rapid transit system is now open in York Region! We’re proud to announce that Viva vehicles began arriving at Warden Station in Markham on Sunday morning, and we were there Monday to celebrate with the morning commuters as the Viva Pink, Purple, and Green picked up and delivered customers at this new station through the morning rush hour.

Warden Station is at the intersection of Warden Avenue and Enterprise Boulevard, on the first rapidway segment in York Region. We’ll be building rapidways on Davis Drive in Newmarket, Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, and along Highway 7 from Vaughan to Markham, with a total of 71 vivastations similar to Warden Station located about one kilometre apart along each rapidway.

We’re really excited about opening Warden Station, and we want you to help us celebrate by entering our contest for your chance to win a 10-pack of 2-zone, adult Viva tickets!

Click here to enter the online contest.

Categories
General Rapidways Stations Uncategorized

New vehicle + new rapidway + new station = Training

New Nova bus being used for training at Warden Station in Markham
New Nova bus being used for training at Warden Station in Markham

It wasn’t that long ago that vivaNext was listing required specs for new Viva vehicles and testing design ideas for a rapid transit station. It feels like just yesterday that we were deciding station platform widths, highlighting accessibility requirements both on and off Viva and modelling the streetscape of the rapidways.

Now, some of the new vehicles have already arrived, the first new rapid transit station has been built in York Region and the first stretch of rapidway has been completed.

The new vehicles (made by Nova Bus) have great features – larger windows, a wider centre aisle, great lighting, and an accessibility ramp at the front door instead of at the middle. They’re powered by advanced clean diesel propulsion systems that produce fewer emissions, and we’re proud to say they’re manufactured in Canada. For drivers though, it also has new, unfamiliar on-board systems and controls.

The new vivastation is completely different from a typical transit shelter. It’s a rapid transit station, complete with heated waiting area, messaging boards and safety and accessibility features. It will serve our community for generations to come. However, with the platform being much higher than a street curb, Viva drivers must practise pulling into the station and review procedures related to its operations.

The rapidways allow Viva vehicles to bypass congested traffic as they operate in their own lane. Something drivers are also becoming more familiar with, now that the first stretch of rapidway is completed at Warden Ave. and Enterprise Blvd. in Markham.

Yes, training is a key focal point right now to ensure opening day goes without any unexpected inconvenience to our customers. Driver training on all of these elements has been underway for a while, and the Nova Buses are gradually being introduced into service. In just a matter of days now, we’ll see customers using the new Warden Station, boarding a new Viva vehicle and travelling down the new rapidway.

If you’re in the Warden Avenue and Enterprise Boulevard area, join us on opening day and bring your camera! Stay tuned for the official announcement and we’ll see you on the new platform on opening day with something special.

We love to hear from you, so if you’ve seen a Nova Bus or the new Warden Station, tell us what you think by replying to this blog, or by posting a comment on Facebook or Twitter. If you have a photo of yourself or your friends on the Nova Bus, we’d love to see those too!