Yonge St. portion of York Viva busway starts construction this year
The $260 million contract is expected to be complete in 2018.

Thestar.com
April 22, 2014
By Tess Kalinowski

Metrolinx has awarded a $260.5-million contract to York RapidLINK, a construction consortium that will build 9 kilometres of new bus lanes and 10 Viva bus stations along Yonge St. in Richmond Hill and Newmarket.

Construction, to begin later this year, is expected to be complete in 2018.

The Richmond Hill portion of the Viva “Rapidway” comprises 6.5 kilometres of bus lane from Highway 7 to 19th Ave. and seven stations. The buses will run in mixed traffic north of Major Mackenzie Dr.

A 2.4-kilometre bus lane will run from from Mulock Dr. to Davis Dr. in Newmarket, where there will be three new stations.

The affected stretches of Yonge St. will be widened to make room for the bus lanes.

They are part of a $1.4 billion provincially funded bus rapid transit system that will provide 34.2 kilometres of segregated bus lanes in York Region. The idea is to provide commuters with frequent service that is more reliable because the buses aren’t running in mixed traffic.

Two short stretches of bus rapid transit have already opened along Highway 7 from Yonge St. east to Beaver Creek and from Warden to Enterprise Ave. The piece of Highway 7 connecting those bus ways – from East Beaver Creek to Warden – will open this summer.

Also under construction is Davis Dr. to east of Southlake in Newmarket, which is expected to finish by the end of next year. Highway 7 between about Keele St. and the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre will open in 2016 to connect with the new Spadina subway extension, expected to also open late in 2016.

York RapidLINK, which is comprised of Aecon, Dufferin Construction, Holcim, Hatch Mott MacDonald, Morrison Hershfield and Leigh Fisher, was among three qualified bidders for the work.

Another contracted will be awarded later this year or early next year for remaining sections of bus lanes along Highway 7.

The $1.4 billion York Viva Bus Rapid Transit project is part of the Metrolinx Big Move regional transportation plan.