TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

 

 

 

 

 

TO:

Mayor and Members of Council

 

 

 

 

FROM:

Alan Brown, Director of Engineering

 

 

 

 

PREPARED BY:

Arup Mukherjee, Manager of Transportation

 

 

 

 

DATE OF MEETING:

2004-Jun-21

 

 

 

 

SUBJECT:

Unionville Traffic Management Plan

 

 

 

 

RECOMMENDATION:

That the staff report entitled “Unionville Traffic Management Plan” dated June 21, 2004 be received;

 

And that the planned future road connections to Highway 7 from Markham Centre be aligned opposite Verclaire Gate, Village Parkway and Sciberras Road, subject to ongoing monitoring and transportation management strategies as outlined below;

 

And that when the intersections are constructed, the north leg of the intersections include appropriate geometric and landscaping treatment to reflect the residential character of the roads on the north side of Highway 7;

 

And that upon completion of the road connections, staff implement the transportation management strategies as outlined in the report entitled “Unionville Traffic Management Plan” prepared by BA Group dated May, 2002.

 

And that the roads identified by the Unionville Coalition, where there are concerns about speeding and safety, be considered by the Markham Traffic Safety Committee as part of the Markham Safe Streets Programme.

 

 

PURPOSE:

 

This report recommends the implementation of a traffic management strategy developed in consultation with members of the Unionville community in response to concerns about current and future traffic patterns. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BACKGROUND:

Residents in the Unionville community have expressed concerns about existing traffic conditions on several Town and Regional roads.  The introduction of the Markham Centre secondary plan (OPA 21; approved in 1997), and current development appearing in Markham Centre have raised further issues with respect to the potential impact on the community as a result of potential traffic infiltration.  In response to the concerns from the community staff held two workshops with members of the community in 2001/2002.  These workshops identified the specific issues in the community and developed an approach to address these issues.  A Traffic Consultant (BA Group) was retained to develop a traffic management plan in response to the community concerns. 

 

The consultants report along with staff recommendations was presented to the May 2002 Transportation Committee meeting.   Committee directed staff to hold public meetings to receive input on the report recommendations.  Two public meetings were held in January and March of 2003.  There were in excess of 200 people in attendance and the community at large raised a number of issues.  One of the primary concerns was the alignment of the roads from Markham Centre with Verclaire Gate, Village Parkway and Sciberras Road and the potential traffic impact on the community.  In response to these issues, Council requested that a representative group from the Unionville community meet with staff, the Ward Councillor and the consultant to respond to the key issues.  This group, known as the Unionville Coalition, held 5 meetings with staff and the consultant to review the technical details and finalize a traffic management plan for the Unionville community.  A detailed chronology of the meetings is outlined in Attachment A.

 

As a result of these meetings, there was a consensus that the collector roads from Markham Centre should be aligned opposite Verclaire Gate, Village Parkway and Sciberras Road.  With respect to the implementation of through traffic prohibitions, opinion was originally divided on whether these prohibitions should be implemented initially or in a staged manner.  There was further discussion on this issue at the last Coalition meeting held on May 31, 2004 and the group agreed that a staged approach (as identified in BA Group’s report – Attachment B) should be taken to protect the community from traffic infiltration.

 

 

DISCUSSION:

 

Primary issue is potential traffic infiltration from Markham Centre

The key issue identified by the Coalition is related to potential traffic infiltration from Markham Centre.  Specifically there was a concern about the proposed alignment of roads from Markham Centre with existing roads into Unionville.  There are a number of criteria and tradeoffs that were considered in evaluating the issue of alignment including impact on transit service, accessibility to Markham Centre, convenience for residents, and operational impacts on Highway 7.  Based on a detailed review of these criteria, it was determined that aligning the roads is the preferred option.  A key consideration was the fact that offset roads would result in a number of additional signalized intersections along Highway 7, increase operational concerns and still not prevent traffic from infiltrating into the community.  It was determined that aligning the roads offered better opportunities to protect the community since through traffic could be controlled more effectively by prohibitions.

 

Through traffic prohibitions were reviewed to protect the community from infiltration

There are various measures that can be implemented to protect a community from traffic infiltration.  It was determined that focusing the solutions at the intersections along Highway 7 would provide the most effective control of traffic volumes entering the Unionville community.  Controlling through traffic across Highway 7 was also seen as the key solution. The consultant reviewed various solutions implemented across the GTA and shared data that showed the degree of compliance with through traffic prohibitions.  The results showed that there is a high degree of compliance to through traffic prohibitions when they are implemented at signalized intersections.  In all cases, there was a greater than 95% compliance to the through traffic prohibitions.  These prohibitions range from selected hours and direction, all day prohibitions and channelized islands to physically restrict movements as shown in section 5.2 of Attachment B.

 

A staged approach is the best way to implement the prohibitions

Through traffic prohibitions can result in significant impacts to the flexibility of residents to take advantage of new road links.  Therefore, the consultant recommends a staged approach to implementing these restrictions based on monitoring of traffic volumes and confirmation of infiltration problems in the community.  At this time, it is difficult to determine the degree of infiltration or the amount of traffic that will enter the Unionville community.  Therefore, traffic conditions should be monitored and results should be documented before restrictions are implemented.  There are readily available methods and techniques that can quantify infiltration problems that have been used by staff (ie license plate traces).  Based on these studies, appropriate prohibitions can be implemented.  The prohibitions can gradually be increased to offer more protection as studies warrant.

 

The north leg of the intersections on Highway 7 will be designed to re enforce the residential character of the community

South of Highway 7, Markham Centre will promote a mixed-use development including residential, commercial, institutional and office land uses.  As motorists travel north through Markham Centre and cross Highway 7, it is important that the residential character of the community north of Highway 7 is emphasized.  This can be done with appropriate geometric treatments, lane configuration, and center medians and landscaping.  It is recommended that these types of treatments be included as part of the design for the Highway 7 intersections and future developments proposed at Village Parkway and Verclaire Gate at Highway 7.  

 

 

Other issues raised by the Coalition

In addition to the key issue of infiltration, the Coalition also identified the following traffic matters:

 

·        Regional road capital programme – need to accelerate the widening of Warden Avenue, Highway 7 and Kennedy Road

·        Sidewalks

·        School traffic

·        General speeding and operational problems on selected roadways

 

Staff has addressed these issues as noted below:

 

Regional road capital programme

In response to the circulation by the Region on their road capital programme, staff has identified several road projects to be accelerated.  Specifically, Warden Avenue, Highway 7 and Kennedy Road have been requested to be accelerated by the Region. 

 

Sidewalks

A sub-group of the Coalition met with staff and identified Pomander Road and Kreighoff Road as candidates for sidewalks due to the proximity to Parkview Public School.  Staff undertook studies on two separate occasions and the results showed low pedestrian volumes on these roads that do not justify a need for sidewalks.  Future requests for sidewalks will continue to be evaluated by staff, however, technical justification and consensus from the community will be requested before staff bring forward a recommendation.

 

School Traffic

School traffic congestion was identified at William Berczy School.  Staff have met with school officials and outlined our School Safety Zone plan.  The parent council continues to have concerns about the displacement of cars from Carlton Road to the local streets as a result of parking restrictions in the School Zone Safety plan.  Staff is reviewing these concerns in more detail and will continue to dialogue with the school and parent council to resolve this issue. 

 

General speeding and operational concerns

In the fourth meeting with the Coalition, four work groups were established to identify any speeding and operational concerns in the community.  The work groups were requested to mark up an aerial photo of the community and identify various streets (such as:  Carleton Road, Village Parkway, Fred Varley Drive, Kreigoff Avenue)where they would like to see improvements to help reduce speeds and improve safety.  It is recommended that these specific locations be forwarded to the proposed Traffic Safety Committee for consideration in the Markham Safe Streets programme to be initiated this fall. 

 

 

Main Street Unionville South

The Environmental Assessment (EA) study for Enterprise Boulevard was extended to include a review of Main Street Unionville South.  Given the number of issues raised by the Coalition regarding the road networks and traffic patterns, the portion of the EA related to Main Street Unionville South was put on hold pending resolution of issues with the Coalition.  The Coalition recognized that all the three main road connections (Verclaire Gate, Birchmount Road and Sciberras Road) plus Main Street Unionville would function as a grid network to disperse traffic and offer multiple route choices for motorists in this area.  The EA study has completed an evaluation of potential options for Main Street Unionville South.  The public meeting to receive feedback on these options was held on June 16th.  The preferred option in the EA study is to keep the connection to the future Enterprise Drive but reduce the road to two lanes with streetscape treatments.  Following the Public Information Centre the next steps will be to review comments and respond to questions, finalize preferred alternatives based on input and prepare and file addendum to the Environmental Study Report (ESR).  Staff will verbally update Committee on the results of this public meeting and submit the study report to Committee this Fall for authorization to file it with the Ministry of the Environment.

 

Unionville Coalition Mandate

With respect to the initial concerns raised by the community about traffic infiltration, the Coalition has completed its mandate and agreed with the recommendations outlined in this report.  There a number of major transportation initiatives underway adjacent to the Unionville community including rapid transit, road widenings, Anti-whistling studies, traffic calming, and the Markham Safe Streets programme.  The Coalition stated that it would be productive to continue informal meetings with staff to share information and provide input early in the process.  It is recommended that the Coalition meet on a semi-annual basis with the next meeting planned for the Fall of 2004.

 

 

 

CONCLUSION:

 

The Unionville community, as a result of existing and future traffic growth in the area has raised traffic concerns.  Staff has had a series of sessions with the community including workshops, public meetings and Coalition meetings.  As a result of these meetings, there is a consensus that the best approach to reduce traffic impacts as a result of existing and future growth is to align future road connections with the existing roads on the north side of Highway 7 and implement a staged approach to introducing through traffic prohibitions at these locations.  The Markham Safe Streets programme, which incorporates education, enforcement and engineering initiatives, will address existing operational and safety issues in the community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATTACHMENTS:

 

A – Chronology of public interaction

B – Traffic Management Plan (BA Group)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan Brown, C.E.T.

Director of Engineering

 

Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.

Commissioner of Development Services

 

 

P:\Development\Engineering\REPORTS\2004\June\Unionville Coalition.doc