Tag: environmentally friendly

Categories
Community Events Going Green Rapidways

vivaNext celebrates Earth Day 2013

On Monday, April 22, over 1 billion people in 192 countries around the world took action in their communities to tackle environmental challenges and vivaNext staffers were among them. We celebrated the 43rd annual Earth Day by sporting viva blue and going out to the future site of the Leslie Street and Highway 7 vivastation where we planted an Ohio Buckeye tree, the first of many trees and shrubs to be planted along the rapidway corridors being constructed in York Region.

But that was just the beginning, among the environmental benefits of the vivaNext project will be the improvements to the streetscape along York Region’s key corridors. A key part of those improvements will be carefully planned landscaping, including street trees planted at regular intervals for beauty and shade.

We’ve also used a little science and technology to ensure these trees survive in such a tough urban environment. Large trees need a lot of soil around their roots. In a boulevard, there’s only so much room for soil, so trees generally don’t have the underground space they need to grow strong roots and take in nutrients. On Highway 7, vivaNext is using an ingenious solution called “soil cell technology.” This refers to the cutting-edge approach of constructing a rigid form underground that can be filled with soil and then covered up by sidewalks or even roads. Plantings along the new viva rapidways will include a variety of trees, shrubs and grasses to create the green environment we all appreciate.

We certainly feel a strong connection with the values of Earth Day here at vivaNext; our rapid transit service is a key part of achieving smart growth goals and creating better connected, more livable communities in York Region. On Earth Day, and every day, we work hard to design and build a rapid transit service that offers a green travel alternative, makes it easier for you to get around, and helps to shape growth in an environmentally friendly way.

Check out our video and tell us if you participated in any Earth Day activities or submit your own video!

Categories
Construction Going Green Urban Planning

New technology takes root: helping trees grow

Diagram and photo of Cupolex

Among the beautiful benefits of the vivaNext project will be the improvements we’re going to make to the streetscape along York Region’s key corridors. A key part of those improvements will be carefully planned landscaping, including street trees planted at regular intervals for beauty and shade. Ensuring those trees survive in a tough urban environment is always a challenge, which is where science and technology come in.

Fortunately, our Landscape Architects are up to the challenge, and have tricks up their sleeves to keep our trees healthy and growing strong. To begin with, choosing the right tree is critical. Street trees, especially ones along roads carrying a lot of fast-moving traffic, need to be the kind that can stand up to salt spray and pollution from vehicles. Street trees also need to be relatively drought tolerant, and able to thrive without daily maintenance.

To meet these needs, our Arborist and Landscape Architects focused on a range of hardy trees, including different types of gingko, oak, maple, common hackberry, Kentucky coffee tree, ornamental pear and elm.

Once they’d solved the issue of which trees to plant, Landscape Architects turned to the other big problem facing urban plantings: large trees need a lot of soil around their roots. In a boulevard, there’s only so much room for soil, so trees generally don’t have the underground space they need to grow strong roots and take in nutrients. Our team is using an ingenious solution called “soil cell technology.” This refers to the cutting-edge approach of constructing a rigid form underground that can be filled with soil and then covered up by sidewalks or even roads.

Our soil cell technology is called Cupolex®, and was originally designed as a technique to provide a solid underground framework for ductwork and cables. At first glance it looks like a plastic patio table, with hollow legs at each corner. A series of these patio tables are installed underground, with their legs interlocking, forming a large honeycomb shape – a soil cell – surrounding where the tree will be planted. Then concrete is poured into the legs and over the top, creating a hard, self-supporting shell strong enough to support the weight of vehicles. The boulevard and sidewalks are constructed right over top, with openings left for planting trees. Special access hatches and irrigation pipes are installed for future tree maintenance, and then nutrient-rich soil is blown in, and trees are planted in the openings.

We’re not talking a regularly sized planter full of soil: each soil cell holds at least 16 cubic metres of soil. And each cubic metre is about the size of a stove, so imagine 16 stoves worth of soil for each tree! A typical dump truck holds 8-10 cubic metres, so each tree is going to get more than a dump truck of soil. That’s a lot of soil, and it’s really going to help our trees’ survivability.

Our vivaNext pledge is to do the best planning now, for a beautiful and functional rapid transit system and streetscape. Creating healthy, strong trees that can be enjoyed for generations is part of that, and it’s something we can all be proud of.

Categories
Live-work-play

Summertime fun made easy on YRT\Viva

Summertime fun made easy on YRTViva

It’s already August, but the weatherman is saying that there’s still lots of summer to be enjoyed here in York Region. Happily, all across York Region there are lots of great ways to relax and cool down. Whether your idea of fun includes cooling off by a beach, watching the kids in a wave pool, or taking in a performance at a concert or outdoor theatre, we’ve got you covered.

And even better, you don’t have to get in a car to get there! YRT\Viva is a great way to get yourself to some summer enjoyment, whether you’re relaxing with friends, or taking the kids for an outing.

Want to have a picnic? Scare yourself on the biggest and fastest rollercoasters? Ride a bike on a forested trail? Or play a round of golf? Whatever your idea of fun looks like, the YRT\Viva Trip Planner makes it easy. You just put in the address you’re leaving from and where you want to go, and the trip planner works out the best route and gives you a schedule. It even has a built-in list of the major recreation destinations across York Region. Then grab your PRESTO card or bus fare and you’re on your way.

For some ideas, check out these links for recreation centres, pools, picnic parks and conservation areas, and then get out there and enjoy the second half of this amazing summer.

YRT\Viva Tripplanner: http://tripplanner.yrt.ca/hiwire

Lake Simcoe region Conservation Authority, conservation areas: http://www.lsrca.on.ca/conservation_areas

List of recreational activities available in Markham: http://www.guidingstar.ca/Recreational_Activities_in_Markham.htm

Website for your municipality – Markham, Newmarket, Vaughan, etc: http://www.york.ca/Municipal+Links/default.htm

Categories
Community Events Going Green Rapidways

Who knew picking up trash could be fun?

earthday_2010_04_23

Did you know that Earth Day is the biggest and most celebrated environmental event in the world?

On Thursday, April 22, vivaNext staffers were among the one billion people in 170 countries who took part in this global event to tackle local environmental challenges. We donned our bright Viva blue shirts and raced the clock – and each other – to see who could pick up the most trash along one stretch of the future Highway 7 rapidway in York Region.

Who won? Well, everyone wins when we each do our part to clean up the planet!

You may be surprised to learn that organizers of the very first Earth Day celebrations were also supporters of live-work-play communities. Then again, perhaps you see the connection between sustainability and pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented spaces.

We certainly feel a strong connection with the values of Earth Day here at vivaNext HQ; our rapid transit service is a key part of achieving smart growth goals and creating better connected, more livable communities in York Region. On Earth Day, and every day, we are working hard to design and build a rapid transit service that offers a green travel alternative, makes it easier for you to get around, and helps to shape growth in an environmentally sound way.

Check out our video and see how we did. Tell us if you participated in any Earth Day activities or submit your video!

Categories
Live-work-play Urban Planning

York Region: the need for a fine balance on growth

We have been talking about smart growth, and what is needed to ensure growth doesn’t change our communities in a negative way. One of the most critical needs is to have great transit in place, before the growth really happens.

At a recent community event, someone asked me: instead of worrying about smart growth, why don’t we just say “no”, and cap the size of our towns and cities the way they are, so they won’t change? Wouldn’t that solve our problems?

Unfortunately, there’s no such easy answer. To explain, here’s a mini-lesson on Ontario and York Region planning – for those of you who would like to read more, I’ll attach some interesting links at the bottom.

Planning for growth is a fairly complicated study of demographics, economic and employment patterns, development, and other trends and data. When it’s all put together, based on past patterns, planners are able to predict future populations and where people are likely going to be living and working. In this way, Ontario and York Region planners have forecast that in 2031 over 1.5 million people will be living in York Region and its communities; that’s up from just over 930,000 in 2006.

With those predictions and similar ones from other regions, the Province – in its Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe – instructed regions and municipalities to be ready to have much bigger populations. That means those municipalities need to plan for enough housing, schools, hospitals, roads, and transit – and everything else people expect from their community. And because the Growth Plan stems from a piece of legislation, it’s not as if municipalities can just ignore it – it’s the law.

The challenge for the Region and its municipalities is to find ways of accommodating all these new residents, in ways that don’t change the existing character of our communities; to leave intact the things that made us want to move here in the first place.

Obviously, finding a solution to this is complex, with many variables to consider, and the final picture will take multiple decades to come to life. But York Region’s planners believe they have found a balance, with rapid transit seen as one of the keys to make it happen.

Some interesting links –

Categories
Community Events Going Green Rapidways

Can you guess what Earth Hour, vivaNext and your laundry all have in common?

earth-hour_2010_03_232This coming Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 p.m., hundreds of millions of people around the world will turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour in support of Earth Hour.

Earth Hour is an annual global event that is held on the last Saturday of each March to raise awareness of climate change, and to encourage each of us to make choices that will lessen our impact on the environment.

This remarkable initiative first began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 with 2.2 million participants taking part. The following year, it had grown to more than 50 million participants in 35 countries and by 2009, hundreds of millions of participants in 88 countries showed their support. Based on this phenomenal growth, there is every reason to believe that Earth Hour 2010 will be the biggest and best yet. Those of us who work in the vivaNext office plan to participate, and hope you will too.

So have you guessed what Earth Hour, vivaNext and your laundry all have in common yet? Just like hanging your clothes to dry, taking rapid transit is one of the little things you can do on a regular basis to lessen your impact on the environment.

Categories
General Going Green LRT Rapidways Subways Urban Planning

Key international publication identifies GTA’s transportation challenges

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is one of the world’s largest and most reliable sources of comparable statistical, economic and social data. In a publication launched in November 2009 entitled “OECD Territorial Reviews: Toronto, Canada”, several of the GTA’s transportation challenges are collectively identified as a key policy issue. They include traffic congestion problems (70% of commuters use cars), poorly integrated regional transit services, and relatively underdeveloped public transport infrastructure.

To address this key policy issue, one of the publication’s key recommendations is to “tackle transportation challenges by creating incentives for reducing car use, access to additional revenue sources, [and] longer term funding commitments by federal government for investment”.

Here in York Region, we are doing our part to tackle these transportation challenges with such vivaNext initiatives as the rapidways, subways and proposed LRTs. In addition to making it faster and easier to get in and out of the GTA, they will make it up to 40% faster to travel along our Region’s busiest corridors. We believe that such incentives will significantly reduce car use, lead to economic revitalization, help the environment, and maintain the quality of life our residents have come to enjoy.

Categories
General Going Green Rapidways

VivaNext will help you keep your New Year’s resolutions!

Getting in shape is a popular New Year's Resolution. Photo courtesy of Jennoit.
Getting in shape is a popular New Year's resolution. Photo courtesy of Jennoit.

Each January, certain New Year’s resolutions consistently make the Top Ten most popular lists. They include:

1. Spending more time with family & friends
2. Getting fit
3. Losing weight
4. Enjoying life more
5. Saving money
6. Helping the environment
7. Reducing stress
8. Helping others
9. Being more punctual
10. Reading more

In future, vivaNext rapid transit projects will make it easy for you to keep all of these New Year’s resolutions. How so? Rapid transit is faster, easier, less expensive and more environmentally friendly than driving. As a result, it can reduce your stress levels, allow you to arrive at your destination on time, and give you more time to work out, do the things you enjoy, be with the people you love, and of course, help you save money and the environment.

We think that’s a lot of added value for the cost of a YRT\Viva fare. Speaking of which, did you know that YRT\Viva fares will remain unchanged throughout 2010?!

Tell us about your New Year’s resolutions. Did they include any of the above Top Ten?

Categories
Announcements General Urban Planning vivaNext.com

Reflecting back on a year of many milestones!

With a new year just around the corner, we wanted to celebrate by reflecting back on some significant milestones for vivaNext in 2009.

In early spring, the Province of Ontario committed $1.4 billion for the construction of dedicated rapidways along Davis Drive, Highway 7 and Yonge Street for Viva vehicles.

The following month, the Ministry of the Environment unconditionally approved the Environmental Project Report for the proposed Yonge subway extension.

Around this time, our new website was also launched along with this blog and other social media initiatives to help keep you informed of all the latest vivaNext developments.

By the fall, preliminary rapidway construction activities were underway in Newmarket and Markham, and a contract for conceptual design work regarding the Yonge subway extension was awarded. In addition, preliminary station designs were also unveiled for several of the Spadina subway extension stations at a series of public open houses, and the project took an important step forward with a groundbreaking ceremony at the Wilson Subway Yard.

Then, just before the holiday season, a ceremony was held on the site of the planned rapidway alongside Enterprise Drive in Markham (which is part of the Highway 7 rapidway project) to commemorate the start of construction of the first 37 km of rapidways.

From every side of York Region, this past year has been filled with milestones for the vivaNext projects. We look forward to bringing you many more in 2010.

Happy New Year from vivaNext!

Reminder: All YRT\Viva rides are free on New Year’s Eve after 7 p.m.

Categories
Rapidways Subways vivaNext.com

Add your business’s name to our wall of support

Across York Region, all kinds of large and small businesses are taking the time to show that they are 100% behind vivaNext projects by sending letters of support.

They recognize that traffic congestion and the lack of convenient transit alternatives have directly impacted their business through lost employee productivity and absenteeism, and that revitalization is needed along some key corridors.

Over the next 20 years, York Region’s population is expected to increase by 50% and the number of jobs by 100%. To help manage this growth and businesses succeed in the future, a faster and more convenient rapid transit system is essential – vivaNext.

To see a list of those businesses that have already sent letters of support and had their names added to our wall of support, visit vivaNext.com/wall_of_support.

If your business would like to write a letter of support for vivaNext projects and be added to our wall of support, please send a message to contactus@vivanext.com.