Abstract Manager

The City of Vaughan’s downtown, the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC), is identified as an ‘Urban Growth Centre’ by the Province of Ontario and a ‘Regional Centre’ by York Region expected to support an intense concentration of development including a mix of different land uses, such as residential, retail, office, civic, and cultural uses. Development interest in the VMC has surpassed expectations, hence resulting in residential intensity that initially was not anticipated when the VMC Secondary Plan (VMCSP) was first developed. At present, the auto usage in the area is high, contributing to congested traffic conditions. A significant shift toward non-auto modes is essential for accommodating the high-density mixed uses proposed for the VMC while managing traffic congestion on the road network.

Since the initial TMP was developed over a decade ago, the current update focuses on a robust multimodal transportation network built on the backbone of a fine grain grid network. Recommendations include enhanced pedestrian and bicycle facilities, transit circulator connecting the VMC TTC Subway Station, Highway 7 BRT and Bus Terminal, as well as improvements to transit and active transportation amenities. With billions of dollars of transit infrastructure investment already in place, this TMP Update’s key challenge is solving the first- and-last-mile connections with emerging technologies and innovative solutions. The TMP Update also recommends grade-separated active transportation connections throughout the downtown, autonomous transit services and micro-mobility hubs.

Parking management is also a critical component of the study to shifting the auto-centric dependency. The VMC Parking Strategy Update, as part of this study, provides an implementation plan to achieving zero vehicular residential parking while increasing requirements for bicycle and micro-mobility within the downtown core.

Collaboration continues with MTO, transit agencies (Viva, YRT, TTC) and Metrolinx to advance the subway line extension even further north of the VMC, convert the Highway 7 BRT to LRT, and implement additional crossings of 400-Highway series to enhance the transportation options to get into and out of the downtown.