Transforming the Highway 404/Highway 7 interchange

Hundreds of cars use the Highway 404/Highway 7 interchange in York Region on a daily basis.

Now it’s also the site of an intense and concentrated three-part, $50 million construction project that commenced this spring and won’t be complete until 2018.

A new four lane road with a 140.7-metre-long (west abutment to east abutment), 23-metre-wide bridge will be built over Highway 404 just north of Highway 7 by general contractor Brennan Paving and Construction Limited.

The four-span bridge will consist of a 225-millimetre-thick concrete deck on precast concrete CPCI (Canadian Prestressed Concrete Institute), 1,900 girders with circular piers, columns as well as pier cap and semi-integral abutments supported on spread footings.

Named Norman Bethune Avenue in honour of Canadian medical hero Dr. Norman Bethune, the road will include on-street bike lanes, sidewalks, plus trees, street lighting and traffic signals where it connects with Centurian Drive/Allstate Parkway on the east in Markham and East Pearce Street/East Beaver Creek Road on the west in Richmond Hill.

Markham-based Brennan Paving will also be extending the Highway 404 northbound off-ramp at Highway 7 and realigning Highway 7 east to the Highway 404 north on ramp.

Also included in the contract will be the relocation of an existing York Region watermain, plus improvements to the existing storm water management pond and a portion of Seneca College’s parking and loading areas.

AECOM Canada Limited is the consultant for the York Region project that is being conducted in collaboration with the City of Markham, Town of Richmond Hill and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. The cost is being co-shared by York Region and the two municipalities.

"Transportation and congestion remain a key concern for York Region residents," says regional project manager Lloyd Fernandes, adding the purpose of the project is to ease congestion along Highway 7 and adjacent roads, while also providing options for commuters heading to and leaving the numerous business parks in the area.

The project will also support public transit service and enhance cycling and pedestrian movement, he says.

With three separate pieces of construction within the same project, a staged approach is being used to address issues such as permitting and approvals. There will also be instances where multiple crews will be on site working to advance separate components, says Fernandes.

Inherent with the project is "a number of opportunities and constraints," he says.

Building a bridge over one of the most congested sections of a 400 series highway in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area with minimal to no disruption to traffic on either Highway 404 or Highway 7 is certainly going to be a challenge, he concedes. To minimize driver confusion and to provide advance notice of changing construction activities and lane switchovers, the region will be utilizing an array of communication tools including road signs, newsletters and postings on its website and social media outlets.

The biggest issue that has made the project a challenge, "yet at the same time is extremely interesting and rewarding" is that this project is the first of four of its kind along the eight kilometres of the Highway 404 corridor from Highway 7 north to 19th Avenue, says Fernandes. Three additional Highway 404 crossings between Richmond Hill and Markham are in the design and planning stage.

"This first road crossing of Highway 404 establishes the basis on which future road crossings will be measured," he explains.

The roots of this project and the three subsequent projects planned goes back to 2004 when an environmental assessment (EA) for the road crossing was conducted. A second EA was done in 2007 for the off-ramp extension. Then, in 2012, the region completed a transportation study in conjunction with Markham, Richmond Hill and the Ministry of Transportation that confirmed the need for the crossings, Fernandes says.

The project will consume a large amount of material including the installation of approximately 20,000 tons of gravel, says Brennan Paving regional manager Winston Ramirez. There will be approximately 60 workers on site, including supervisory staff and subtrades and there will be times numbers reach 80 to 100, he says.