Road construction season returns to York Region

Yorkregion.com
April 21, 2016
By Lisa Queen

If Canada only has two seasons, winter and construction, then Happy Traffic Jam Time!

Road work will be taking place across York Region this year, according to a presentation by Salim Alibhai, the region’s director of capital planning and delivery in the transportation services department.

The presentation only dealt with regional projects and did not include any construction also taking place on local roads or provincial highways.

Commuters better brace themselves for a whole lot of traffic woes, regional councillors warned.

“We’re going to be under construction this year, the whole of York Region,” Markham Councillor Jack Heath said.

Georgina Mayor Margaret Quirk agreed.

“I think we all know where to avoid during this summer, what intersections and streets,” she said.

The region is investing $2.4 billion on capital road, transit, bridges and intersection projects over 10 years to address the transportation needs of the growing region, transportation commissioner Daniel Kostopoulos said.

“Transportation continues to be the top issue for our residents and this council has shown a lot of leadership and support in approving more funding for transportation capital improvements and capacity increases in the network than in any other term of council,” he said.

Of the 10-year, $2.4-billion transportation capital budget, the region is spending $700 million on transit buses, garages and terminals, not including funding spent on bus rapidways on Yonge Street, Davis Drive and Hwy. 7, Alibhai said.

The other $1.7 billion is earmarked for roads, bridges, intersections, illumination, maintenance yards and technology.

This year, the region will invest $112 million in new roads to accommodate the region’s growth, Alibhai said.

York’s current population of almost 1.2 million will increase to almost 1.8 million by 2041.

The growth construction plan will include continued work on seven ongoing major contracts and three new contracts, including the $69-million widening of 2nd Concession/Main Street North between Bristol Road and Queensville Sideroad, the $30-million widening of Leslie Street from Wellington Street to Mulock Drive, the $5.1-million roundabout at Keele Street and Lloydtown/Aurora Road, the $86-million widening of Major Mackenzie Drive from Pine Valley to Hwy. 400, the $40.9-million widening and redevelopment of Hwy. 7 from Town Centre Boulevard to Sciberras Road, the $32.7-million reconnection of Bathurst Street from Green Lane to one kilometre north of Morning Sideroad, the $37-million widening of Bayview Avenue from Elgin Mills Road to Stouffville Road and 19th Avenue from Linda Margaret Crescent to Bayview, the $50.9-million midblock crossing of Hwy. 404 north of Hwy. 7 and the $50.2-million widening of St. John’s Sideroad from Bayview to Hwy. 404, including a structural rehabilitation required by the Ministry of Transportation at the highway.