CIMA+ was retained by the City of Markham to carry out a Class Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Highway 404 North Planning District area which extends from approximately 400 m north of 19th Avenue to approximately 600 m north of Elgin Mills Road. In developing alternatives, CIMA+ explored a range of development parcel sizes to determine optimal sizing for future market demands. We also conducted a detailed assessment of traffic data to identify the number of collector roads required to appropriately address land use requirements. The range of alternatives were analyzed against factors related to the socio-economic, natural and transportation environments, and assessed their ability to provide reasonable access to the land parcels, number and spacing of new intersections with the Regional road network, potential to disturb or displace cultural features, and possible effects on the natural environment.
Environmental Assessment of Highway 404 North Collector Roads
The greatest challenge in this project was finding a balance between the appropriate size of land use parcels, impacts on the natural environment and cultural features, and finding mitigation measures to solve utility conflicts, while maintaining continuity of the collector road network.