Newmarket is bracing itself for more Yonge Street construction as progress on a road-widening project continues.
Work on utilities is well underway, with the road-widening construction portion expected to start in 2025, according to Regional Municipality of York representatives who presented to Newmarket council March 25 regarding the progress of construction.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said the work will come with difficulties.
“It’s a long journey, and it’ll be impactful, but I am confident we can really work together and try to address the issues,” Taylor said.
York Region is adding to Yonge north of Davis Drive, including adding two lanes — from four to six — new sidewalks and bicycle lanes, intersections, streetscaping and road rehabilitation. Advance work is underway, with more to come, including new hydro poles.
Intersections are also getting added with traffic signals, such as at the Canadian Tire and Food Basics location, north of Davis.
York’s director of capital delivery transportation Salim Alibhai said utilities all along the road have to be moved to make way for the widening.
As construction on the roadway begins, he said they hope to maintain full traffic access.
“Construction is a balancing act when it comes to the needs of the community, the needs of community and the needs of construction,” he said. “We tried to do our best in terms of managing traffic, managing expectations … We do plan to still maintain the full range of traffic that we have today.”
Off-peak hour closures could happen, Alibhai said.
He said that when it comes to impact, in addition to general communications, they visit businesses one-on-one to communicate with them as work progresses.
As far as the possibility of traffic infiltration into side streets, Alibhai said they will try to maintain the four lanes of traffic to help avoid that.
“If something did arise, we would address it working with the town,” he said.
Taylor said it is unlikely municipalities can keep 100 per cent of the traffic flow on Yonge the same during construction.
“It’s not going to be 100 (per cent) successful. The question is it going to be 90 or 80 or 70 per cent, and we don’t know entirely until we get further into it,” Taylor said, adding he hopes town and regional staff can work together to prepare well in advance. “We’re going to experience it."
A public information centre on the road widening will come in the new year, Alibhai said, to discuss the roadworks phase of the project and what residents can expect from it.
The road widening is expected to continue from 2025 to 2027, with streetscaping work to follow in 2028.
