Tag: vivaNext

Categories
Community Events

Loving Newmarket? Us too!

In 2015, Newmarket’s Davis Drive will be among the first to debut dedicated lanes for viva and a pedestrian-friendly boulevard with greenery, shopping, businesses and cultural activities. We’re excited to say that construction is in full swing to get us from here to there, including shifting hydro poles and other utilities farther from the road, moving gas lines on the north and south sides of Davis Drive and ongoing work on the new Keith Bridge before traffic can start using it later this year.

That’s why we were quite thrilled to have the opportunity to directly interact with residents at our recent Davis Drive open house and share with them the vision for this key area, how construction is progressing and to hear what they had to say about our community. Many expressed joy and excitement about Newmarket and where it is heading. Below are some of our favourite answers to the question: What do YOU love most about Newmarket?

“Newmarket has ‘blossomed’ in recent years. I love that there are so many parks in such a small area. I’m glad to hear about all the plans to revitalize the town to make it even more attractive. We moved here from Thornhill last fall. We find the neighbours, and people in general, to be very friendly. We love Newmarket!”

“The culture; how it has everything you need in terms of big box stores, but also is rich in local business with gems everywhere. The improvement to Davis is most welcome and this is the stretch of Newmarket where history, culture, local businesses, and ‘town life’ need to be maintained”

“Newmarket is a great town filled with lots of friendly people with an optimistic view. Looking at your drawings and projects, things will really get even better. I wish you all the best with this good-looking town. I love living here, and remain interested and eager to see what will happen in the future.”

We feel the same, and would like to thank all those who live and work in Newmarket for their patience and understanding as construction continues and the transformation takes shape. To get the latest construction notices and project newsletters, sign up for updates and feel free to contact your Community Liaison, Michelle Dudzik, with any questions or concerns you may have at 905 886 6767 ext. 1096  or michelle.dudzik@york.ca.

Categories
General Live-work-play

The vivaNext generation

Construction on vivaNext projects is moving full speed ahead. As structures are built and roads are widened, visions of the future are becoming a reality. The promise of the next generation of York Region’s rapid transit is coming to life.

Here at the vivaNext office, we have also welcomed a next generation, with two new summer students joining our communications team. They both have grown up in York Region, one hailing from Newmarket while the other is from Vaughan. Each of them has lived in the Region for over twenty years, so they know how it has changed over time. Both are looking forward to being a part of the team that brings York Region into its next era.

I hope that excitement like this spreads to all generations. I see the vivaNext generation as people of all ages, who use the vivaNext transit system as a way to travel to modern, urban destinations inside and outside of York Region.

For people in Vaughan, the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (or VMC) will be a new downtown. As a hub for transit, business, shopping, and recreation, the VMC will offer a site for all ages to come together and experience York Region. Our summer student, Alanna, mentioned that she is thrilled about the opportunity to have a “downtown experience” closer to home.

John, our summer student from Newmarket, is looking forward to a highly improved Davis Drive for York Region residents. With pedestrian-friendly boulevards and easy access to places to shop, work, and relax, Davis Drive will become a new destination for the next generation of vivaNext travellers.  

Taken together, these individual projects connect into the vivaNext plan for a seamless rapid transit network, making it easy to travel to work, shopping destinations, and recreation.  

Our projects will benefit everyone who lives or works in York Region, and we want to keep in touch with all of you as these projects are underway. We’re making sure residents are in-the-know with our constant social media updates Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for our e-mail updates.

The future is bright, and the vivaNext generation of travellers has a lot to be excited about.

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Categories
Community Events Rapidways

Davis Drive Open House Results

Click here to see our open house information on our websiteDid you attend our Davis Drive open house on May 15? The event saw a great turnout, with residents and vivaNext representatives discussing what’s coming next for rapidway construction along Davis Drive.

If you weren’t able to attend the open house, all of the materials that were shared are available on our Past Meetings page, so you can read up on the latest information that you may have missed. You can also sign up for project updates.

Thank you to everybody that came out to learn more about vivaNext construction. It was great to speak with residents about the future of the Davis Drive rapidway. Be sure to check back on the vivaNext website for information about any upcoming open house events. We hope to see you there!

Categories
Community Events Uncategorized

Join us at our Davis Drive open house!

Join us at our Davis Drive open houseAs you may have noticed, construction on Davis Drive is well underway. As construction continues each day, we want to make sure you are in the know about what is happening in your neighbourhood. Please join us at our open house meeting on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 to learn more about the rapidway construction in Newmarket along Davis Drive.  You’ll have the opportunity to read up on maps and information boards, and speak with vivaNext representatives about what is to come for Davis Drive. This is a great chance to learn about how rapidways will benefit Newmarket and you as a resident.

Don’t worry if you can’t make the meeting though. We’ll post all of the materials from the open house on the past meetings page of our website. Also be sure to sign up for project updates, so you can receive up-to-date information on construction.

Join Us!

Date: Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Time: Drop in between 1 and 8pm

Location: Bethel United Church
333 Davis Drive, Newmarket

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
Community Events Construction Rapidways Uncategorized

Davis Drive rapidway construction – ready, set, go!

Davis Drive rapidway construction

Last year we accomplished a lot on Davis Drive, and as of this spring we’ll be moving full speed ahead on construction to build the rapidway. Starting soon, you’ll see a lot of utility companies along the corridor working to relocate gas, power, telecommunications, etc. Later this summer, we’ll be working on the Keith Bridge near the Tannery and doing some work near Southlake hospital. Watch for updates about all of this work, with more details to come.

 The Davis Drive rapidway will be complete in 2015, and we’re bringing an exceptional rapid transit system that will connect to other parts of York Region and help shape Newmarket’s growth. There’s a lot of work happening until 2015, and during construction we’ll do our best to keep disruptions to a minimum. We also want to keep everyone informed, so if you have questions or concerns we hope you’ll contact your Community Liaison, sign up for updates to get the latest construction information and come to our Davis Drive open house on May 15.

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
Construction

VivaNext’s underground world

Underground conduit being installed

Recently at one of our weekly project meetings, I was thinking about how much time our designers and field engineers spend discussing and planning for things that are invisible to most people, and in many cases aren’t even directly related to our rapid transit project.

Every foot of our design work for the vivaNext construction project has had to take into consideration a dizzying array of underground utilities, their service connections to customers and residents, and unknown buried utility lines that may or may not be abandoned. Interfering with or changing any of those elements isn’t an option, because they’re part of the critically important infrastructure that everyone living or working in our Region depends on. We need to either work around them, relocate them, or bury them even deeper before we can do our own work.

So here’s a primer on everything located out of sight, in the underground world of vivaNext construction.

First, let’s think about all the things that everyone needs – water, electricity, heat, sanitation. In York Region, the larger the infrastructure the deeper into the ground it goes. All utilities need to be a minimum of 1 metre below ground.

Storm sewers are installed 2 metres below the curb while watermains are placed under the middle of roads at depths of 4 metres or more. There are two main water lines on the north and sound sides of Hwy 7, as well as storm sewers running up every street Highway 7 intersects.

Gas mains are installed 1.5 metres deep as close to property lines as possible, and when they cross under roads and creeks they’re as deep as 2.5 metres.

Telecommunication conduits can be installed in the boulevard at a depth of 1 metre due to their smaller size. As the population grows, so does the demand for telecommunication services, so quick access to these lines is important.

Then there are all the other things people want in their homes. How about a phone line? Or a line for your computer? And don’t forget the cable you need to watch your favourite TV show. During our construction projects, we’re coordinating with all the private telecommunications companies, as well as York Telecommunications Network (YTN) which provides connectivity to Viva bus stops. Where a lot of telecommunications lines need to be installed, they’re placed in a concrete encased duct bank.

And then there are the culverts, catch basins, manhole covers, oil grit separators for the storm sewers, and the fire hydrants. Add the underground elements for our landscaping, including tree soil cells and irrigation lines, plus foundations for bridges and other structures. That pretty much covers the main elements that are underground – and we didn’t even mention the utility work taking place above ground!

So if you ever thought it was taking a long time for us to begin building the above ground part of the project, you’ll know why we devote so much time to locating, designing around, and in some cases relocating, underground components before we can build on the surface.

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 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.