Vaughan spending $3M on Kirby Road extension 'to support planned population growth'

Construction activities expected to commence in early 2022

Yorkregion.com
November 18, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Vaughan council has approved approximately $3 million in funding to support preliminary engineering work for the Kirby Road extension between Bathurst Street and Dufferin Street, according to the city.

“The proposed road extension will support planned population growth, the orderly distribution of traffic, and will have an important function in the overall regional transportation network,” the city told yorkregion.com.

On Nov. 6, Vaughan deputy city manager, infrastructure development Nick Spensieri and director of infrastructure delivery Jack Graziosi gave a report to Vaughan council to provide an update on the Kirby Road extension.

The highlight of the report from the two shows that the city is leading the delivery of the Kirby Road extension and that a “Design-Build delivery model will be utilized to aggressively advance” construction activities to commence in Q1 2022.

The report also says the request for proposal to retain the technical advisory services to undertake preliminary design for the project was released on Oct. 30 and has a closing date of Nov. 30.

The report added that “land acquisition activities will commence at the onset of preliminary design in support of advancing the project into construction.”

SOME BACKGROUND

In 2015, Vaughan council authorized and directed staff to formalize arrangements with Rizmi Holdings Limited (RHL), a private land developer, and permit RHL to undertake a municipal class environmental assessment study (EA study) for the Kirby Road extension.

In 2019, the Kirby Road Extension Environmental Assessment Study was approved following the expiration of the mandatory public review period and confirmation from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) that there were no report highlights.