Report to: Development Services Committee Date Report Authored: June 22, 2010
SUBJECT: Box
Grove Collector Road and Temporary Closure of 14th Avenue
PREPARED BY: Brian
Lee, Manager, Development Engineering
and Transportation, Ext. 4838
RECOMMENDATION:
1)
That the report dated June 15, 2010 entitled “Box Grove
Collector Road and Temporary Closure of 14th Avenue” be received;
2)
And that the temporary road closure and diversion
option to help facilitate the opening of the Box Grove Collector Road as
outlined in this report, as recommended by staff, be endorsed;
3)
And that the Regional Municipality of York be requested
to approve the temporary road closure and traffic diversion option;
4)
And that Staff be authorized and directed to do all
things necessary to give effect to this resolution.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Not applicable.
To seek Council’s endorsement to
request The Region of York for a temporary closure of 14th Avenue west
of Reesor Road to facilitate construction of a box culvert on 14th
Avenue, the realignment of 14th Avenue, completion of the new Box
Grove Collector Road, and the installation of a new rail crossing with Canadian
Pacific Rail Havelock Subdivision (Kawartha Lakes Railway).
In April 2008,
the Town executed the Box Grove Community Memorandum of Understanding Amendment
No. 1 with the Box Grove developers and the Regional Municipality of York (“MOU
Amend 1”) regarding, amongst other things, the construction of the Box Grove
Collector Road (“BGCR”) as shown on Attachment ‘A’.
The section of BGCR north of 14th
Avenue to about 50 metres south of the existing 407ETR Eastbound off ramp falls
within the Box Grove Hill Phase 2B subdivision (19TM-030012), and is under
construction by the Box Grove Hill Developments Inc. as part of its subdivision.
This section is scheduled to be completed and opened to the public this fall.
Construction of the south section of
BGCR (14th Avenue to existing 9th Line By-pass) requires
careful coordination of a number of related components, including the
realignment of 14th Avenue to intersect BGCR and the new at-grade C.P.
rail crossing as noted in Attachment ‘B’.
Box Grove
Collector Road / C.P. Rail Crossing
The objective is to have the BGCR
completed and opened to the public by the end of 2010. The 14th Avenue and BGCR
intersection with C.P. rail crossing however will delay the completion of the
roads due to safety concerns related to the skewed angle at the intersection
and the lack of gates at the rail crossing.
Ideally, the realignment of 14th
Avenue is to be constructed as the first phase to allow continuous traffic movement
along the new 14th Avenue and to connect to BGCR to the north and
south at the new intersection. However, the new 14th Avenue can only
be opened if the at-grade rail crossing is completed. The time required for CP
Rail to approve and the consultant to carry out the detailed design and to manufacture
the at-grade crossing signal and control system is in the order of 9 to 12
months. It is therefore not feasible to
have this crossing operational by year end. Without this crossing, the new 14th
Avenue/BGCR intersection cannot be opened.
Closure of 14th
Avenue and Traffic Diversion Options
The Box Grove Developers Group is
responsible for the design, contract management, and construction of the south
section of BGCR including the 14th Avenue realignment.
The culvert replacement on 14th
Avenue west of BGCR will require closure of 14th Avenue for about 5
months. The engineering consultant for
Box Grove Developers Group also evaluated a number of further road closure and diversion
options to enable BGCR to be opened by year end. Options were evaluated based on safety, time
delay, construction phasing, inconvenience to commuters, and costs.
Staff is proposing an option that
will require the temporary closure of 14th Avenue from west of Ressor Road to east of Ninth Line (Box Grove By-pass) for
10 to 12 months, in order that BGCR can form a new T-intersection with the west
section of the new 14th Avenue. The portion east of BGCR to Reesor Road will
remain closed until the new at-grade rail crossing is completed (see Attachment
‘C’). There are no construction safety issues with this option. The only
disadvantage of the temporary closure of 14th Avenue east of BGCR is
the impact on longer distance commuters to and from Durham Region and emergency
response vehicles. Approximately 400 to
500 vehicles travel on 14th Avenue in the peak direction during each
peak hour and the total daily traffic is 4000.
Due to the importance of completing
BGCR, staff is recommending that Markham Council request the Regional
Municipality of York approve the temporary closure of 14th Avenue to
enable the BGCR to be completed and open to the public by year end. The Region is considering this option but
have concerns that there may be Markham residents opposing to re-opening 14th
Avenue after it has been closed for an extended period.
There are no
direct financial impacts to the Town regarding the recommended diversion
option.
None
The
completion of the Box Grove Collector Road is an important component of the
transportation network to service the growth in Box Grove. Building Markham Future Together (BMFT)
identifies the importance of a complete transportation network to support
growth management.
N/A
RECOMMENDED BY:
________________________ ________________________
Alan Brown,
C.E.T. Jim
Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Director of
Engineering Commissioner
of Development Services
Attachment
‘A’ – Schedule ‘A’ of Memorandum of Understanding Amendment No. 1
Attachment ‘B’
– BGCR Construction and 14th Avenue Realignment
Attachment ‘C’
– Temporary Condition to Open BGCR
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Temporary Clousure Of 14th Avenue\Temporary Closure Of 14th Avenue In East
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