Tag: subway extension

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Announcements Stations Subways

Station designs for Spadina Subway extension continue to take shape!

An aerial view of the Steeles West Station design
An aerial view of the Steeles West Station design

In the fall of 2009, preliminary station designs were unveiled at public open houses for two of the six stations that will be located along vivaNext’s 8.6 kilometre Spadina subway extension, which will extend from Downsview Station in Toronto to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station in Vaughan.

Next week, on Wednesday, February 3, 2010, the preliminary design for a third station – Steeles West – will also be unveiled at a public open house and you are invited to attend.

As previously mentioned on this blog, all of the six stations that will be built along the Spadina subway extension will have a unique design. The most striking features of the Steeles West station preliminary design are its very distinctive and futuristic profile, and its central light cone, which allows daylight to reach all the way down to the platform levels. It’s truly something you have to see for yourself to appreciate.

Following this public open house, a second one featuring more detailed architectural concepts will take place for the Steeles West station in the spring of 2010. Preliminary designs for the remaining Spadina subway extension stations – Finch West, Highway 407 and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre – will also be unveiled in the coming months.

Steeles West Subway Station Public Open House
Date: Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Location: Black Creek Pioneer Village,  Garfield Weston Room
1000 Murray Ross Parkway, Toronto, ON

Categories
Live-work-play Urban Planning

Montreal tops list of “9 Great Streets Around The World”!

Crowds pack Boulevard Saint Laurent during a street festival. Photo courtesy of Djof.
Crowds pack Boulevard Saint Laurent during a street festival. Photo courtesy of Djof.

Project for Public Spaces (PPS), an internationally-recognized non-profit organization that helps communities get the most out of their streets, both as transportation links for all modes of commuters and as vital places for people to enjoy, recently compiled its list of “9 Great Streets Around The World”.

Affectionately known as “The Main”, Montreal’s Boulevard Saint Laurent tops PPS’s list for a number of reasons including its Access & Linkages, Comfort & Image, Uses & Activities, and Sociability.

With vivaNext, this kind of placemaking will also take place along York Region’s busiest corridors as people come to live, work, shop and play in close proximity to great transit service. In addition to great access, vivaNext will bring attractive boulevards, planted medians and an enhanced pedestrian experience including continuous, wide sidewalks.

We wouldn’t be at all surprised if Highway 7, Yonge Street and Davis Drive top the PPS list of great streets in years to come!

Categories
Announcements Press Stations Subways

The Spadina subway extension moves forward!

From left: Vaughan Mayor Linda Jackson, Ontario Minister of Transportation Jim Bradley, Toronto Mayor David Miller, Federal Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty and TTC Chair Adam Giambrone begin the work on the Spadina subway extension.
From left: Vaughan Mayor Linda Jackson, Ontario Transportation Jim Bradley, Toronto Mayor David Miller, Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and TTC Chair Adam Giambrone begin work on the Spadina subway extension Friday.

This past Friday, November 27, 2009, a groundbreaking ceremony of a link that will connect the future Spadina subway extension mainline to the existing Wilson Subway Yard and expand yard storage facilities was held.

Government dignitaries in attendance at the Wilson Yard connection site included the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Canada’s Minister of Finance; the Honourable Jim Bradley, Ontario Transportation Minister; His Worship David Miller, Mayor of Toronto; Her Worship Linda Jackson, Mayor of Vaughan; and Toronto Transit Commission chair Adam Giambrone.

“This is another significant step forward that will help meet the Greater Toronto Area’s future network needs,” said York Region Chairman and CEO Bill Fisch. “As York Region continues to grow and mature, it is imperative to have the proper infrastructure and resources in place for both residents and businesses today and in the future.”

Extending from the Downsview Station in Toronto to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station in Vaughan, the Spadina subway extension will cover a total of 8.6 kilometres and include six stations. Every day, almost as many people travel north to York Region from Toronto as vice versa — including many of the 50,000 students and staff who study and work at York University.

The completion date for the Spadina subway extension is 2015. The $2.6 billion funding required for the project has been secured from all levels of government including $697 million from the Government of Canada, $870 million from the Province of Ontario, $352 million from York Region and $526 million from the City of Toronto.

Categories
General

The best way to holiday shop will get even better with vivaNext!

If you’re like most York Region residents, your holiday shopping list is long and involves trips to multiple retail locations.

Leaving your car at home and taking transit instead is the best way to avoid traffic jams and parking problems. It’s also a lot less expensive since you don’t have to pay for things like gas, valets, tickets, and even towing.

With a YRT\Viva ticket, you can travel on any YRT or Viva vehicle in any direction for a two-hour period with just one fare. How convenient and inexpensive is that?! Simply remember to hang onto your ticket or transfer as proof-of-payment so you can hop on and hop off vehicles.

As great as transit already is for holiday shopping, it will get even better with vivaNext. The subway extensions, rapidways, and proposed light rail transit lines will make it even faster and easier to get around York Region’s busiest corridors and beyond.

In fact, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a certain somebody in a red and white suit using our transit system to do his holiday shopping in future!

Categories
Going Green Stations Subways

There is light at the end of the Steeles West subway tunnel!

An artist rendering of the Steeles West subway station.
An artist rendering of the Steeles West subway station.

Each of the six subway stations that will be built along the Spadina subway extension – a key part of the vivaNext plan – will have a unique design.

Above ground, the most striking feature of the Steeles West Station conceptual design is its very distinctive and futuristic profile. It looks like something right out of ‘The Jetsons’. Below ground, a central light cone will bring daylight all the way down to the platform levels – a solution that’s both illuminating and eco-friendly.

The Steeles West subway station will also feature a commuter parking lot with 1,900 parking spaces plus two bus terminals, including one for YRT and Viva.

Planned service frequency from Downsview Station to Steeles West Station is every two minutes, and from Steeles West Station to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station, every five minutes.

Categories
Stations Subways

Check out the preliminary design of the new Sheppard West subway station!

A key part of York Region’s vivaNext plan is the Spadina subway extension. Extending from Downsview Station in Toronto to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station in Vaughan, it will cover a total of 8.6 kilometres and include six stations.

This Tuesday, November 17, 2009, you are invited to attend a Public Open House to view the preliminary design concept for one of these stations – Sheppard West Station. It is the first of two public open houses for Sheppard West Station. The second one, scheduled for Spring 2010, will show detailed architectural concepts.

Sheppard West Subway Station Public Open House
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Location: The Crystal Room (2nd Floor)
Montecassino Hotel & Event Venue
3710 Chesswood Drive, Toronto

Categories
Announcements Rapidways Subways vivaNext.com

Get all the latest news about vivaNext in our fall e-newsletter!

Wondering when and where we’ll start to break ground on the vivaNext rapidways? Or how they are already affecting urban transformation in such key destinations as downtown Markham?

In our fall e-newsletter, which has just been posted on our website at vivanext.com, you can find quick and easy answers to these vivaNext-related questions, and many more.

For example, you can learn what people just like you have to say about commuting to and from work in York Region, and whether or not they think our rapid transit projects will make things better or worse.

Perhaps you’re especially looking forward to the proposed Yonge subway extension? If so, then you’ll enjoy our look back to where it all began more than fifty years ago.

We even reveal the lucky Grand Prize winner in our ‘Next Best Thing To Summer’ contest. It’s all there, along with a handy sign-up form so you can conveniently receive future issues of our e-newsletter in your Inbox, along with customized email updates about vivaNext projects of particular interest to you.

Once you’ve had a chance to read our latest e-newsletter, we encourage you to submit topic suggestions for future issues right here on our blog.

Enjoy!

Categories
Community Events

The holiday season kicks off this Sunday in York Region with the first of five Santa Claus parades to take place during the month of November.

To help the big guy in the red and white suit greet all of the thousands of people who will line the various parade routes to see him, vivaNext helpers have been invited to join him. They’ll be walking in front of our beautiful blue Viva vehicle specially decorated for the parades and impossible to miss.

Each helper will be wearing a 4-sided cube costume measuring 24” wide by 30” high that showcases the vivaNext changes coming to York Region. As they walk along and wave to the crowds, their cubes will rotate in formation to reveal four unique and colourful streetscapes in Newmarket, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham – each one representing the urban transformation that vivaNext rapid transit projects will help to create.

We  hope they will be as much fun for you to watch, as they will be for our parade marshal to coordinate. We look forward to seeing you en route!

Parade Schedule:

November 8 – Vaughan – starts at 2:00pm
click here for a parade route map
November 15 – Richmond Hill – starts at 1:30pm
click here for a parade route map
November 21 – Newmarket – starts at 11:00am
click here for a parade route map
November 28 – Markham – starts at 11:00am
click here for a parade route map
November 28 – Aurora – starts at 6:00pm
click here for a route map

Categories
Community Events Ways to win

vivaNext segway team drives awareness at Vaughan Mills

Our vivaNext segway team was so successful at driving awareness for our projects at Markville Mall and the Markham Home Show earlier this month, we decided to put them to work once again at Vaughan Mills this past weekend.

Take a peek at our short video and see for yourself what a hit they were with passing motorists and pedestrians alike.

BTW, this is the last day of our contest. If you haven’t entered yet, there’s still time to do so by texting* the word “vivaNext” to the number 101010. Good luck!

* Wireless service provider charges may apply.
Categories
Ways to win

Last week to enter to WIN great prizes

A woman entering our contest at Markville Mall over Thanksgiving long weekend.

This is the last week of our vivaNext ‘text to win’ contest, which began October 9, 2009 and ends this Friday, October 30, 2009. So far, 17 lucky people have won great daily prizes. Plus, along with all other contestants, they still have a chance to win the Grand Prize – the new iPod nano.*

For a complete list of the prizes we are awarding, please visit our website. While on our website, you will also find out all of the latest project information, including rapidways and subway extensions up to Highway 7.

Remember…you can enter once every day during the contest period. The more days you enter, the more chances you have to win. To enter, simply text** the word “vivaNext” to the number 101010. Good luck!

* “iPod nano” is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, Inc. is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.
** Wireless service provider charges may apply.