Report to: Development Services Committee Date: February 19, 2008

SUBJECT: Class Environmental Assessment for the Highway 404 Mid-block Crossing between Major Mackenzie Drive and Elgin Mills Road

PREPARED BY: Allan Arbuckle, Manager, Infrastructure & Capital Works, ext 3120

Nehal Azmy, Senior Capital Works Engineer, ext 2197

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the staff report entitled “Class Environmental Assessment for the Highway 404 Mid-block Crossing between Major Mackenzie Drive and Elgin Mills Road,” be received;

AND THAT staff be authorized to conduct the second Public Information Centre for the project to present details of the preferred alternative alignment.

AND THAT staff report back to Council after the second PIC with the results of the Public Information Centre and with final details of the recommended design option to be included in the Environmental Study Report for the project.

AND THAT the existing Hold Zone provision be removed from the lands which are located outside of the preferred south crossing corridor as described in this report.

AND THAT the existing Holding Zone provisions on the lands lying within the preferred south crossing corridor remain in effect until the Class Environmental Assessment Study is completed and filed and the public review period has expired without a Part II Order request.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Past transportation studies completed by the Town of Markham, the Town of Richmond Hill and the Region of York have identified the need for a total of four new mid-block crossings of Highway 404. The Class Environmental Assessment (Class EA) for one of these recommended crossings, located between Major Mackenzie Drive and Elgin Mills Road in the Cathedral community, was initiated in February 2007.

In June of 2007, Council requested that staff report to Development Services Committee on several issues relating to this EA including the need and justification for the crossing, the various alternative solutions investigated, the technically preferred alternative alignment for the mid-block crossing and the next steps to be followed in the EA process. On January 22^nd 2008, a presentation was made to Development Services Committee addressing these issues. A number of questions were raised by the Committee as a result of the presentation and staff was directed to prepare a report to formalize the information delivered in the presentation and to address the concerns and questions raised by the Committee.

The Class Environmental Assessment has now proceeded to the stage where the need and justification for a mid-block crossing in this location has been confirmed, a preferred corridor alignment has been identified, a preferred design concept has been developed and discussions with external agencies, landowners and members of the public have been initiated.

Staff is requesting Council’s authorization to conduct the second Public Information Centre

to present details of the preferred alternative design concept and to receive public and approving agency input which will be incorporated into the final design concept for the project. Staff will report back to Council with details of the comments received at the PIC and with a recommended course of action as to how these comments will be addressed and documented in the Environmental Study Report (ESR). When complete and endorsed by Council, this ESR will be filed for final public and agency review and comment.

The importance of the mid-block crossing of Highway 404 in the Cathedral area as a transportation link supplying needed east-west traffic capacity, supporting alternative modes of travel including transit, cycling and pedestrians and providing improved linkage between adjacent communities has been confirmed by the EA. The creation of a mid-block crossing in the Cathedral Community is compatible with the Town and Region’s transportation plans, the Official Plan and the Secondary Plan for the Cathedral Community and represents a planned rather than retrofit solution as it has been accommodated in the development concept, road network designs, transit plan and cycling plan for the community. From a broader perspective, the need for a mid-block crossing between Major Mackenzie Drive and Elgin Mills Road is further reinforced by the fact that of the four recommended mid-block crossings in the 404 corridor, only two, the Cathedral and Allstate Business area crossings, may prove to be feasible to implement

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to respond to issues raised at the January 22 2008 Development Services Committee meeting and to seek Council’s authorization to conduct the second Public Information Centre for the Class Environmental Assessment for the proposed Highway 404 mid-block crossing between Major Mackenzie Drive and Elgin Mills Road.

BACKGROUND:

A total of four new collector road crossings of Highway 404 have been identified in a number of transportation planning documents prepared by the Regional Municipality of York, the Town of Markham and the Town of Richmond Hill. The locations of these four proposed crossings are shown on Attachment ‘A’.

The purpose of these Highway 404 crossings is to;

· provide more direct access to lands on either side of Highway 404

· provide additional east-west capacity to meet both existing and future traffic demands,

· achieve a more balanced distribution of east-west traffic demands by creating alternatives to the existing arterial roadways (Highway 7, 16^th Avenue, Major Mackenzie Drive and Elgin Mills Road)

· provide better transit, pedestrian and cycling connections between Markham and Richmond Hill.

The 2002 Markham Transportation Planning Study (MTPS) presented a recommended modified road network based on the goal of limiting the sections of Regional arterial roads which require widening. A key element of this recommended road network is the creation of mid-block crossings of Highway 404 which will provide the required additional east-west road capacity.

The York Region Transportation Master Plan and the Richmond Hill Transportation Planning Strategy Study also identify these Highway 404 mid-block crossings as components of the recommended transportation network.

The Secondary Plan for the Cathedral Area identified a mid-block crossing of Highway 404 connecting to the proposed Woodbine Bypass (shown as Location 3 on Attachment ‘A’). While the Secondary Plan indicates the general location of the mid-block crossing, the actual configuration, alignment and property requirements must be determined through the Class Environmental Assessment (EA) process. In order to protect property which may be required for a future mid-block crossing, Holding Zone provisions have been placed on lots and blocks in the Cathedral development which lie within the EA study area. These Holding Zone provisions were intended to remain in effect until the Class Environmental Assessment Study is completed and filed and the public review period has expired.

The Class Environmental Assessment for this project is being undertaken jointly by the Town of Markham, the Town of Richmond Hill and the Regional Municipality of York with the Town of Markham acting as the lead proponent. The EA was initiated in February 2007 and to-date, the

need and justification for a mid-block crossing in this location has been confirmed, a preferred corridor alignment has been identified, a preferred design concept has been developed and discussions with external agencies, landowners and members of the public have been initiated.

Status of other 404 Mid-block Crossing Projects

The current status of the three other proposed Highway 404 mid-block crossings is summarized in the following paragraphs:

Location No.1 - North of Highway 7 connecting to Allstate Parkway in the Allstate Business Park area - (Attachment A)

This location is the most advanced of the four proposed crossings with the Environmental Assessment having been completed in 2005. The original schedule for the implementation of the project was to complete the detailed design and property acquisitions in 2006 and to commence construction in 2007 for completion in 2008. To-date, work on the project has not proceeded beyond the EA stage due to the refusal of the Town of Richmond Hill to provide their share of design (1/3 of $1 million) until certain long term maintenance and operations issues are resolved. Engineering staff are preparing a separate report on this project which will be presented to Development Services Committee in March 2008.

Location No.2 - North of 16^th Avenue connecting to Markland Street in the Woodbine North area - (Attachment A)

While the road layout in the business park currently under development in Richmond Hill has been designed to accommodate a mid-block crossing in this location, existing development on the Markham side may preclude the creation of a mid-block collector crossing in this area without the purchase and demolition of existing industrial buildings. Engineering staff are currently undertaking a study to determine the technical feasibility and costs of constructing this crossing and will report back to Council with a recommended course of action later this year.

Location No.4 - North of Elgin Mills Road connecting to Honda Boulevard in the 404 North Employment land area - (Attachment A)

The Secondary Plan for the Highway 404 North employment lands includes a major collector roadway crossing Highway 404 in the southern portion of the development area. This collector roadway is shown on the Plan as connecting directly to 19^th Avenue with indirect connections to the Woodbine Bypass and Woodbine Avenue.

The February 2007 decision by the Ontario Municipal Board regarding the Town of Richmond Hill’s North Leslie Secondary Plan precludes the construction of the proposed mid-block crossing through the southern portion of the North Leslie development area. In order to assess the impact of this decision on the feasibility of constructing a mid-block crossing in the 404 North Employment area, Engineering staff have undertaken a preliminary review of alternative crossing alignments and have identified two potential alignments located outside of the area prohibited by the OMB ruling.

A northerly alignment located adjacent to the north limit of the proposed Honda development site was reviewed and eliminated from further consideration due to its detrimental impact on the proposed Honda Site Plan and close proximately to a future 19^th interchange. A southerly option located to the south of the Honda site in the general vicinity of the location shown on the 404 North Employment Lands Secondary Plan has also been identified in Attachment ‘B’ and while this option is technically feasible, it poses significant implementation challenges through the North Leslie lands particularly as it relates to the crossing of a Rouge River tributary and the impact on a woodlot. The property required for this alternative has been identified and an

agreement has been reached with the Rice Group to protect this land until May 1 2009. This timeframe will allow Richmond Hill to conduct an analysis of the feasibility of developing this option through the North Leslie area. If it is concluded that the southern alignment is feasible, an Environmental Assessment will be initiated, if not, the construction of a Highway 404 mid-block crossing between Elgin Mills Road and 19^th Avenue will be abandoned.

DISCUSSION

Need for additional roadway capacity confirmed

The sections of Major Mackenzie Drive and Elgin Mills Road east and west of Highway 404 are currently operating at or near capacity under existing traffic conditions. Projected increases in traffic volumes due to planned residential and employment growth in the area including the Bayview North Business Park in Richmond Hill and the Cathedral and 404 North Employment developments in Markham will increase traffic to levels which will continue to meet or exceed the capacity of the regional roads even when the planned widening of Major Mackenzie Drive to 6 lanes and Elgin Mills Road widening to 4 lanes are completed. Additional east-west capacity will therefore be required to provide acceptable levels of service particularly during peak periods.

Need for additional transit opportunities established

The Town of Markham through the Markham Transportation Planning Study and York Region Transit (YRT) have identified the need to develop a road network which provides the opportunity to maximize the use of public transit by creating links between communities. To achieve this goal, YRT has planned to provide transit services on a number of roadways in the Study Area including a mid-block collector crossing of Highway 404.

Need to promote alternative transportation modes identified

The Markham Transportation Planning Study presents a number of strategies to reduce auto trips. These strategies include increasing the number of travel choices available to residents by creating cycling and pedestrian networks. Markham’s Cycling Master Plan identifies the proposed Cathedral mid-block crossing as an on-road bike route.

Evaluation of Alternative Solutions

Two alternative methods of providing the required additional east-west traffic capacity have been identified,

· additional widening of the east-west Regional Roads including widening Elgin Mills Road from the planned 4 lanes to 6 lanes and widening Major Mackenzie Drive from the planned 6 lanes to 8 lanes,

· the construction of a new mid-block crossing of Highway 404

Although the additional widening of Regional Roads could provide the required additional traffic capacity, these widenings would create roadways with more traffic lanes than currently included in the Region’s road network plans, require wider right-of-ways than those currently identified in the Region Official Plan and would be counter to the goals of the MTPS. The additional widening of the Regional Roads represents a retrofit solution as these widenings have not been accommodated in existing development plans or infrastructure construction and would therefore require significant property acquisitions and extensive modifications to the existing infrastructure including the Highway 404 interchanges. This alternative would not provide the desired connectivity between lands east and west of Highway 404 for transit, cyclists and pedestrians.

The creation of a mid-block crossing is compatible with the Town and Region’s transportation plans, the Official Plan and the Secondary Plan for the Cathedral Community and represents a planned rather than retrofit solution as it has been accommodated in the development concept, road network designs, transit plan and cycling plan for the community. While the economic and cultural impacts of both the road widening and mid-block crossing alternatives are similar, the mid-block crossing alternative is favored from both a social and transportation perspective as represents a planned rather than a retrofit solution and it provides better opportunities for alternative modes of travel and improved linkage between adjacent communities. The natural environment impacts of both the mid-block crossing and the widening alternative are similar. Although a new crossing of the Rouge River tributary will be required for the mid-block overpass option, the Regional Road widening option would require widening of existing structures crossing this tributary with similar impacts. It should be noted that the Rouge River tributary crossing proposed as a part of the overpass option is required to service the surrounding developments in Richmond Hill and will be constructed whether or not the mid-block crossing over Highway 404 is implemented.

A summary of the evaluation of the various alternative solutions is included as Attachment “B”.

From a broader perspective, the need for a mid-block crossing between Major Mackenzie Drive and Elgin Mills Road is further reinforced by the fact that of the four recommended mid-block crossings in the 404 corridor, only two, the Cathedral and Allstate Business area crossings may prove to be feasible to implement.

Cost-Benefit

The widening of Elgin Mills Road and Major Mackenzie Drive and the construction of a new mid-block crossing of Highway 404, have similar estimated costs in the $15 to $16 million range. The potential benefits provided by the mid-block crossing, particularly its ability to support transit and other alternative modes of transportation are greater than the road widening option whose principle benefit is the ability to provide additional road capacity.

Recommended Alternative

The recommended design concept for the Highway 404 crossing which is proposed to be presented at the second Public Information Centre is shown on Attachment “C”. The main features of the recommended alternative are;

· A collector roadway with sidewalks and bicycle lanes connecting to the Woodbine Bypass in Markham and Leslie Street in Richmond Hill

· A two span concrete structure crossing over Highway 404

· A single span concrete structure crossing over the Rouge River tributary.

· At-grade intersections with Markland Street in Markham and with a future local road serving employment lands adjacent to Highway 404 in Richmond Hill.

Anticipated Traffic Volumes

It is anticipated that approximately 1400 vehicles will utilize the mid-block crossing during the morning peak hour (870 vehicles westbound and 540 vehicles eastbound). Of these vehicle trips, it is estimated that approximately 260 vehicles in the peak hour (120 westbound, 140 eastbound) would represent trips originating from and destined to areas immediately adjacent to the 404 corridor (Bayview North Business Park and Cathedraltown). The balance of the trips are assumed to consist primarily of vehicles using the Woodbine Bypass – mid-block crossing route for northwest / southeast originating and destined trips. These estimated traffic volumes do not account for the potential impact of eliminating two of the four proposed 404 mid-block crossings or the potential impact of future development in Markham as determined by the Growth Management Strategy.

West Cathedral Community External Traffic Impact Study

The selection of a mid-block collector road crossing of Highway 404 as the preferred alternative is consistent with the recommendations of the External Traffic Impact Study prepared by the Cathedral developers in support of the Official Plan and Secondary Plan for the West Cathedral Community. The configuration of the road network developed for the West Cathedral community provides for the mid-block crossing and the recommended Transit Plan presented in the Study identifies the mid-block crossing as a potential transit route.

Public Consultation

The Highway 404 mid-block crossing project is being carried out as a Schedule” C” Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (Class EA). The Class EA process mandates a minimum of three points of contact with the public,

· After alternative solutions have been developed and evaluated (PIC)

· After an alternative solution has been selected and alternative design concepts developed and evaluated. (PIC)

· Upon completion of the Environmental Study Report for the project. (notice)

The alternative solutions for the 404 mid-block crossing north of Major Mackenzie Drive were presented to the public at Public Information Center No. 1 held in June 2007. A preferred solution has been identified, alternative design concepts prepared and evaluated and a preferred design concept has been identified. Staff is prepared to present this preferred design concept to the public at the second Public Information Centre tentatively scheduled for April 2008 pending Council’s authorization to proceed with the PIC.

Removal of Holding Zone Provisions

In order to protect property which may be required for a future mid-block crossing, Holding Zone provisions were placed on industrial lands which lie within the EA study area. While these Holding Zone provisions were intended to remain in effect until the Class Environmental is completed and filed and the public review period has expired without a Part II Order request, the EA has progressed to a stage where it possible to identify certain lands which lie outside of potential mid-block crossing corridors. The location of the properties currently subject to the Hold Provision together with the three mid-block crossing corridors being evaluated by the Class EA is presented in Attachment “D”.

As described in this report, the recommended mid-block crossing design concept lies within the south crossing corridor as shown on Attachment “D”. Staff are recommending that the Hold Provision continue to apply to these lands and that the Hold Provision be removed from the balance of the lands which lie outside of this south corridor.

Project Schedule

Pending Council’s endorsement of the recommended alternative, the second Public Information Center for the project will be held in April 2008. Staff will report back to Council with the results of second PIC and details of the recommended option and seek authorization to file Environmental Assessment Report (ESR) in May 2008. The completion and filing of the final ESR document is scheduled for late June 2008.

Project Implementation

It is recommended that once the EA process has been completed, sufficient preliminary design work be carried out to accurately define the extent of the property required to construct the preferred option and that this land be set aside as municipally owned blocks through the subdivision or site plan process. This procedure is identical to the approach which has recently been applied in other locations, particularly through the Seneca site for the future Allstate Parkway mid-block crossing and the Highway 404 ramp off-ramp extension and through the

Metris and Jolis properties for the future Rouge River crossing in the Woodbine North Community. Securing the property during the planning stage of the development avoids the need to acquire land in a retrofit situation which has occurred for other projects such as the extension of Rodick Road from 14^th Avenue to Esna Park Drive and the Enterprise Drive extension to Main Street Unionville. In these cases, occupied properties had to be purchased, businesses relocated and buildings demolished to accommodate the construction of required infrastructure.

Although the project has been included in the Town and Region’s capital plans for construction commencing in 2015, the timing of the construction will be monitored and the capital plan adjusted as required to reflect future needs as development in the area progresses.

Estimated Construction Cost

The cost of constructing this project from Leslie Street to the Woodbine Bypass is estimated at $15.1 million including the following major items of work;

404 crossing structure	$4,200,000
watercourse crossing structure	$1,900,000
Roadworks incl. signals & illumination	$4,300,000
Drainage & stormwater management	$900,000
Construction contingencies	$2,200,000
Professional fees	$1,600,000
Total Estimated Cost	$15,100,000

The cost of constructing an overpass structure is dependent to a large degree on the number of spans in the structure (which affects number & size of supporting piers and foundations), the overall length of the structure and the total length of the road required to connect the overpass with the surrounding road network. A comparison of the cost of constructing the proposed Cathedral mid-block crossing to the cost of constructing two other mid-block crossings of 400 series highways in Markham which also involve watercourse crossings is provided in the following table. As noted in this table, the estimated cost of the Cathedral mid-block crossing is less than the estimated cost of the Highway 7 crossing due to its shorter bridge structure with fewer spans and higher than the Rodick Road/Highway 407 structure which has a significantly shorter overall project length.

Location	Road Construction	Bridge lengths	Total Cost
404 Mid-block crossing – Major Mackenzie Drive/ Elgin Mills Road (location 3)	1360 m – 4 traffic, 2 bike lanes	2 span – 75 metre (highway) 1 span- 30 metre (watercourse)	$15.1 million estimated
Rodick Road Highway 407 overpass Status – constructed 2006	870 m – 4 traffic, 2 bike lanes	2 span – 82 metre (highway) 1 span – 18 metre (watercourse)	$12.9 million actual
404 Mid-block crossing – Highway 7/16^th Avenue (location 1) Status- EA complete	950 m – 4 traffic, 2 bike lanes	4 span – 137 metre (highway) 1 span – 4 metre (watercourse)	$19.6 million estimated

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS AND TEMPLATE: (external link)

No financial considerations at this time.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS:

The preferred alignment for the mid-block crossing will be selected through an Environmental Assessment process to minimize the potential impacts to the environment.

RECOMMENDED BY:

_______________________ ________________________

Alan Brown, C.E.T. Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.

Director of Engineering Commissioner, Development Services

ATTACHMENTS:

Attachment A - Site Location

Attachment B - Alternative Evaluation

Attachment C - Preferred Alignment Option

Attachment D - Hold Provisions