Within a section of St. John's Sideroad, between Yonge Street and Bayview Avenue in the Town of Aurora, is the McKenzie Wetland Complex, an important environmental feature to the local community and a provincially-significant area. This road is under the jurisdiction of the Regional Municipality of York. As a result of highly-active community development in this area, the Class Environmental Assessment recommended this road be widened to a four-lane urban cross-section with profile improvements to satisfy design standards. Construction within the wetland presented unique design challenges. The project not only included roadworks, sewers, watermain, streetlighting and traffic signals, but also involved the construction of sheet-pile retaining walls, horizontal directional drilling, tunnelling, railway crossing improvements, timber boardwalks, bicycle trails, landscaping and work adjacent to sensitive wetlands and watercourses. The project successfully overcame two significant limitations: First, it addressed the environmental constraints with unique solutions. Second, it overcame significant financial challenges through successful funding partnerships. This project was nominated for the 2006 TAC Environmental Achievement Award. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E216511.
Abstract