Tag: Markham

Categories
General

Growing up: students and rapid transit

growing up: students and rapid transit

It’s that time of year again – students are back to school next week and parents can’t believe how much their kids have grown. It probably seems like just yesterday that they were taking their first steps. If you’re an older student, maybe you’re taking a big step yourself – starting high school or college.

We understand the feeling, because it wasn’t long ago that we were planning the vivaNext rapidways, and now they’re starting to take shape. Highway 7, between Bayview and Warden, is the ‘eager beaver’ of the class. Since 2010 on Highway 7, construction crews have removed medians, relocated utilities and widened the road to allow for dedicated transit lanes. New vivastations are well underway, with nine in various stages of completion and 13 more to come in the next 18 months. Once construction is complete, the rapidway lanes and stations will be tested, drivers will be trained, and the centre lanes of Highway 7 will become a full-fledged segment of rapidway.

This September, students will get to school by bus, car, bike and on foot. Many students ride transit to and from school, and soon, Unionville High School and Seneca’s Markham Campus will have a Highway 7 rapidway outside their doors. In Newmarket, the Davis Drive rapidway will bring rapid transit to the students of Huron Heights Secondary School, and future rapidways along Yonge Street will pass near Sir William Mulock, Richmond Hill, and Langstaff secondary schools. Langstaff and Thornhill secondary schools will each be within walking distance of the planned extension to Yonge Subway, and thanks to the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension, students of Seneca, York and Schulich will be able to take the subway to York University’s Keele Campus in 2016.

York Region’s transit network is designed to help shape how and where our population grows, helping to transform our towns and cities into attractive, accessible urban areas. This includes new residents to our region, and also long-time residents like students, moving from one stage of life to another. This year’s batch of college freshmen will have rapid transit waiting to take them to their first jobs when they graduate. Grade 9 students will be able to head to college via subway, and kindergarten students will have a world of choices. It’ll all happen before we know it…[poll id=”33″]

Categories
Fun & Games

It’s a vivaSummer!

vivaSummer

We all have our favourite places, and summer is the perfect time to explore them with friends and family while enjoying fantastic weather. Once vivaNext projects are complete we’ll have more green space, and plenty of new ‘favourite places’ for you to choose from.

YRT\Viva offers a great Trip Planner at http://tripplanner.yrt.ca that can help you plan your routes from point A to B, wherever you may be heading this summer. Comfortable, air-conditioned viva vehicles can be a great alternative to driving in summer heat, and with 119 vivastations, they’re sure to take you where you need to go.

York Region has lots of green spaces and local parks where you can spend summer outdoors experiencing nature and warm weather. Here are a few natural and green places not to be missed in Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Aurora and Vaughan:

In Markham, spend a day by the water at Toogood Pond. With picnic sites and paths to stroll, this is an ideal site to spend a summer weekend afternoon. If you’re looking to bike or walk a scenic route, head up to Newmarket and take the Tom Taylor Trail. The Richmond Green Sports Centre and Park in Richmond Hill offers the best of both worlds – outdoor soccer fields to stay active and picnic areas to sit and relax. In Aurora, be sure to visit Lambert Willson Park, which has access to beach volleyball, the Aurora Family Leisure Complex and multiple nature trails. Finally, if you’re in Vaughan, the Boyd Conservation Area along the Humber River Valley offers wonderful activities and and is a popular GTA picnic destination.

No matter where your ‘favourite place’ may be, we hope you’ll take transit to get there, and we hope you have a happy summer.  Be sure to drink lots of water and stay sun-safe on those extra hot days. And have fun!

[poll id=”32″]

Categories
Community Events

Help us celebrate Canada Day across York Region!

Canada Day 2012

There are so many ways to celebrate on this July 1. As Canada celebrates its 145th birthday, Markham will be celebrating its first day as a city, after recently announcing that it will be making the transition from being a town to being a city. We’re happy for Markham, and proud to be part of the urban transformation. To get a glimpse of Markham’s future, see our Highway 7 East rapidway information, read all about the Downtown Markham development area, or travel along Highway 7 East to see the new centre-lane vivastations being built.

We have our own plans for Canada Day – in Newmarket, the vivaNext team will be out celebrating Canada’s birthday at the annual Kanata Day Festival at Fairy Lake (map). Start off your morning with a pancake breakfast at the Newmarket Community Centre & Lions Hall (200 Doug Duncan Drive – map) from 8am until noon. Afterwards, join us at Fairy Lake, where there will also be all sorts of family fun including inflatable bouncers, an extreme bike demonstration, and live entertainment. On Bayview Parkway at George Richardson Park (map), fireworks will begin at dusk.

So what are you doing for Canada Day? Can we count on seeing you out and about in York Region?

Categories
Construction Going Green Uncategorized

Protecting our trees to keep York Region green

Crew works on transplanting trees
Tree buds are an early sign of spring, their canopies are beautifully green in the summer, and we all love their colours in the fall. For many of us, the mature trees on our streets and woodlots are attractive features of York Region’s established neighbourhoods.

So when we develop the rapidway construction schedule and plan, in addition to all the other construction tasks, one of our priorities is to protect and actually increase the number of trees along our routes.

As we design and build our rapidways along Highway 7 and Davis Drive in Newmarket, here’s what we’re doing to take care of the trees we have, and plan for new ones to ensure they continue to thrive into the future.

To start with, we all have a shared commitment to making sure our construction activities minimize impacts to our natural environment. This is a formal commitment that is made early on, in the Environmental Assessments that need to be completed and approved, long before work can begin.

One of our commitments is that our construction activities minimize impacts on trees. At the stage of final design for a rapidway segment, we walk the route with our Arborists to do a careful inventory of all the trees, inspecting each and tagging them, to make sure every tree is included in our construction drawings.

For those trees that are near the construction right-of-way, we look at ways to protect them by installing special protective fencing. We will also look at alternative construction methods where we can to work around a tree, or avoid harming its roots or branches.

For trees that are in the construction right-of-way, we identify any trees that could be safely dug up and replanted somewhere else. Then we work with the local community to identify locations to transplant the trees.

There are some trees that just can’t be saved, either due to a tree’s poor health or other factors. But our commitment is that for every tree we remove, we will replace it with at least one – if not more – new trees.

So this means that once the Highway 7 and Davis Drive rapidway projects are complete, there will be 45% more trees along Highway 7 East and nearly 27% more trees along Davis Drive. Highway 7 and Davis Drive will each be significantly greener when we’re done, and all in all, this adds up to more spring buds, and more fall leaves, for us all to enjoy in the future.

Categories
Community Events

Visit us at the Markham Spring Home Show

Visit us at the Markham Spring Home ShowIf the mild weather we’ve had this winter isn’t enough to smile about, we can remember that spring is on the way. Just before the turn of the seasons, the Markham Spring Home Show will offer a preview of what spring will bring.

Along with the green grass and flowers, spring brings construction. So if you’re at the Markham Spring Home Show this weekend, drop by our booth and talk to us about what’s happening in 2012 in Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan and Newmarket. Like the changes you might make to your home, the rapidways will transform York Region’s key corridors into attractive places to live, work and play. If you have any questions or would like to look at some pictures, staff at the vivaNext booth will be happy to help.

The show is host to over 100 vendors, and celebrity speakers will include pastry chef Anna Olson and gardening experts Mark Cullen and Frank “Flowers” Ferragine. If you drop by our booth to chat, we’ll give you a lip balm to help protect you from spring weather. Hope to see you there!

Markham Spring Home Show 2012

When:
Friday, March 2  (1pm to 9pm)
Saturday, March 3  (10am to 6pm)
Sunday, March 4  (11am  to 5pm)

Where: Markham Fairgrounds
10801 McCowan Road, Markham, ON

Categories
Construction General

Highway 7 East: snapshot of 2011

2011 snapshot

If you’ve travelled along Highway 7 between Bayview and Warden during 2011, you’ll agree that construction has been underway for most of this year. The Highway 7 East rapidway project has firm timelines, and our contractors have been working hard to stay on schedule.

Earlier in the year, we removed the median from the centre of the road, installed a new watermain and started to relocate the utilities. Recently we’ve been installing landscape irrigation systems and continuing to relocate utilities. The construction between Bayview and Warden is part of a segment of rapidway that will connect to Warden Station, the first fully-built rapid transit vivastation, that opened for service in March, 2011.

We’re just finishing up widening Highway 7 on both sides between Bayview and Highway 404, and we have important changes to traffic patterns at intersections for both drivers and pedestrians. These changes are part of the next phase of construction, providing workers enough room to build the rapidway, and platforms and canopies of rapid transit stations.

Starting next week at the intersections of West Beaver Creek Road, Leslie Street, and East Beaver Creek Road, a dedicated left-turn signal is being added. This new signal will enable drivers to turn left and make U-turns only when no other traffic is moving. Left turns will no longer be permitted when oncoming traffic has the green light.

Wider roads mean wider intersections, so a two-stage pedestrian crossing will also be added. Pedestrians walking at a normal pace will cross to the centre island and wait for the next signal before reaching the other side. Once the rapidway is complete, this centre island is also where Viva passengers will be able to access a rapid transit station.

This has been an exciting beginning to an overall transformation of the corridor which will help shape our growing community for generations. We have many new goals to look forward to in 2012, and as we pass each milestone, the rapid transit network and welcoming streetscape will take shape.

Categories
Surveys Urban Planning

When is a highway not a highway?

Inside Artist’s illustration of a transformed Highway 7

Here’s a question for you – when you hear the word highway, what comes to mind? Like most, you probably think of a lot of traffic moving at high speed along a roadway that is designed purely to get you from one place to another as quickly as possible. There may be the occasional stop along the way, but highway stops tend to be more functional than appealing destinations in and of themselves. A highway is for vehicles, large and small – but typically, not a great place for people.

A highway probably doesn’t bring to mind a welcoming, human-scaled streetscape, where people feel comfortable strolling along wide, beautifully-landscaped sidewalks and boulevards. Most highways don’t offer attractive shopping destinations, with store-fronts and restaurants near the sidewalk.

So why the question? Highway 7 is evolving and we want your thoughts and ideas about changing its name to something that better reflects its future.

Highway 7 is one of the most important roads in York Region and is the connector between urban areas in three of our municipalities. It stretches from Highway 50 in the west, across Vaughan and Richmond Hill to east of Donald Cousens Parkway in Markham. And certainly, in the past Highway 7 was all those things associated with the word “highway” – it carried a lot of traffic, and wasn’t designed to be a comfortable, attractive destination for pedestrians or local residents.

But change is coming quickly to Highway 7, and in the not-too-distant future there will be many sections of Highway 7 where people will want to shop, dine and relax. It’s all part of a larger plan – York Region is planning a system of regional centres and corridors, which follow the Province of Ontario’s Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The vivaNext plan for rapidways and great transit connections along Highway 7 is also a big part of the change, with construction already underway for wide, welcoming boulevards and beautiful transit stations.

So, York Region is looking for suggestions for re-naming Highway 7. Considering the future transformation of Highway 7, what do you think it should be called?

It’s not a contest, so there are no rules – they’re just looking for your ideas. You can make your suggestions to York Region via Twitter (www.twitter.com/YorkRegionGovt), Facebook (www.facebook.com/YorkRegion), or you can post an idea here and we’ll forward it.

It’ll be interesting to see the name ideas people have for one of our most important streets.  Tell us what you think!

Categories
Construction

Our pledge to you

Click here to see the Pledge campaign poster

You probably can guess that I’m very proud to be involved in our vivaNext rapidway construction project underway on Highway 7. I believe – as does everyone who works here – that this project is going to be great for York Region.

We thought people in York Region might find it interesting and reassuring to meet some of the professionals who are part of the vivaNext Highway 7 East rapidway project, and to hear what those individuals personally hope to achieve through their own work. This is the thinking behind our “Pledge” campaign, which you may have seen in posters or video.

The pledge campaign is our commitment to the community – that our design will reflect state-of-the-art technology and transit planning and that it will incorporate detailed urban design elements for beautiful and welcoming streetscapes.

Our construction project will be carefully planned and implemented to minimize disruption as much as possible, and to time the noise and delays for the least inconvenience for commuters, businesses and residents.

We are committed to being careful stewards of the natural environment while we work, to ensure we cause no harm to vegetation, fish or wildlife through the construction project.

And last but not least, we will be transparent and open in providing all the information people need while construction is underway. We will be available to anyone who has a question, comment or concern, through our Community Liaison, Nimisha Raja.

All of us working on vivaNext, whether we’re named in the campaign or not, are personally and professionally proud to be a part of building this state-of-the-art rapid transit system. And we want everyone in York Region to know you have our word on it.

Categories
General Rapidways

Our partners: building on strength

Blog photo: Our partners - building on strength

Last week, I described how our partnership with the private sector is helping us to build our rapid transit system on schedule, and on budget. This week, here’s a primer on who our partners are, in particular our construction lead.

York Consortium 2002, our partner for the design components of the project, includes some of the worlds’ most experienced engineering, design and construction firms. Members of this joint venture include:

  • > AECOM Enterprises – based in the United States, one of the largest transportation firms in the world;
  • > IBI Group – Toronto-based, with offices around the world;
  • > Delcan Corporation – a Toronto-based international company that has developed rail transit in Los Angeles and Tel Aviv;
  • > Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co. – a leading heavy civil contractor with offices across Canada; and,
  • > EllisDon Corporation – a Canadian-based international construction company that has worked on numerous major transit and transportation projects.

Under the terms of our agreement with York Consortium, they were offered the first right to bid on the construction project to build the Highway 7 East rapidway, with their bid competing in a bid process where we’ve gathered a cost estimate from an independent source.

Following this process, last year a partnership between Kiewit and Ellis-Don (Kiewit-EllisDon or KED) led the successful bid to become the construction contractor for the Highway 7 East rapidway.

Having KED is a tremendous benefit for this project, as our rapidways require a broad range of expertise in building roads, bridges, rapidways and transit stations. Kiewit has built some of the most challenging road and highway projects all across North America, including the Sea to Sky Highway in British Columbia. And EllisDon is one of the best known construction firms in Canada, with a wealth of knowledge and experience in our region.

It’s worth repeating that this is a huge project, with many challenges and months of work ahead. But we’re confident that our construction project on Highway 7 is in experienced and capable hands, and so far we’re off to a great start.

Categories
General

Highway 7 East Rapidway Week One Update

A backhoe scoops up pieces of the Highway 7 median near Leslie Street
A backhoe scoops up pieces of the Highway 7 median near Leslie Street

After all the planning and prepping, rapidway construction is well underway for our Highway 7 East rapidway. And so far so good – work is going according to schedule, the weather’s cooperating, and we hope to have this first stage of work done by late May.

Here’s an update on what’s happening, and what to expect over the next while.

Before we can get going on the heavy construction, we need to create some room to work. The way we do that is to remove and pave over the centre median all the way from Chalmers in the west end, to Highway 404 in the east. Using those extra feet of roadway, we will then repaint the lanes, shifting them away from the current edge of the road to give our crews room to work safely, while keeping all travel lanes open.

At that point, heavy construction will start to actually widen the future roadway. Starting at both the west and east ends (Chalmers and the 404) and working toward the middle at Pond Drive, work crews will get going on widening the road on one side, and putting in wide new boulevards. Once they have that first side done, they’ll switch sides.

Most of the widening and boulevard work west of 404 should be done by the end of this year. Once the work on the sides is finished, we’ll have to stop construction for the winter. In the spring of 2012 we’ll get going again, this time working down the middle to build the rapidway and stations.

Similar staging will be used for the eastern section, from the 404 to Town Centre then south to Enterprise, with most of the work to be done there in 2012 and 2013. The whole segment along Highway 7 East will be up and running in 2014.

The median removals require temporary lane closures during off-peak hours, and we know that is creating a bit of congestion. Fortunately, once this first short stage of work is over, our construction contractor, Kiewit-EllisDon (one of the largest construction companies in North America) will be able to minimize disruption as much as possible. They’ve planned the construction so that most of the time, all lanes will be kept open. If lanes are required to be closed, it generally won’t be during rush hour. Even though it’s a huge project, we’re counting on them to get it completed on schedule, and cause as little disruption as possible.

One of our priorities is to make sure it’s easy for drivers to drive through the construction zone, and ensure constant access to businesses and addresses along Highway 7. We’ll be installing construction signs, including electronic message signs, which will warn drivers if the road is congested up ahead, so you’ll know if you need to take an alternate route.

We will be keeping you updated on all the developments as they unfold, but there’s no doubt this is a major infrastructure project, and it’s going to take about three years to complete from one end to the other. So please, drive carefully, watch for signs showing where work is happening, and check your inbox for e-updates on what’s happening out there. If you haven’t signed up yet, now’s the time to register at vivaNext.com.