{"id":26001,"date":"2020-02-21T18:21:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T23:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26001"},"modified":"2020-02-21T18:21:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T23:21:34","slug":"parking-crunch-addressed-in-new-traffic-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/parking-crunch-addressed-in-new-traffic-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Parking crunch addressed in new traffic study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Aurora moves to make the historic downtown core a\ndestination once again, pointed questions are often asked just where people are\nsupposed to park if they plan to drop into local businesses or, in the future,\nenjoy Library Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an issue set to be addressed this week as Council\nreviews an updated Master Transportation Study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the plan are a number of proposals to address the\nparking crunch not only for individuals and businesses in Aurora\u2019s Downtown\nCore but also commuters looking to travel into Downtown Toronto for work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the key proposals contained within the plan is one\nfrom Metrolinx to turn land previously occupied by the Town\u2019s Public Works\nDepartment on Scanlon Court into a parking lot to accommodate an estimated 400\nvehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parking situation at the GO Station is set to only\nget worse as Metrolinx prepares to accommodate both double-tracking to make way\nfor all-day two-way train service on the Barrie line and the construction of an\nunderpass at Wellington Street. Both related projects will take up a\nsignificant portion of GO\u2019s Berczy Street lands already allocated for parking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA parking needs assessment was undertaken as part of the\nTMP (Transportation Master Plan) to document current parking conditions within\nthe Aurora Promenade, including Yonge Street from Wellington to Church Street,\nLibrary Square, and the Aurora GO Station area,\u201d says Town Traffic Analyst\nMichael Bat, going on to outline a number of short-term recommendations pegged\nat the 1 \u2013 5 year window. \u201cMetrolinx is proposing to construct a new surface\nparking lot at 9 Scanlon Court with an estimated supply of more than 400\nparking spaces. This is primarily to offset the loss of existing Berczy Street\nsurface parking lot on the west side of the rail corridor to the new platform\nconstruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs part of the proposed Wellington Street Grade\nSeparation Project, Berczy Street will be realigned and there will be reduction\nin the number of parking spaces related to this project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional short-term recommendations include a further\nlook at on-street parking on Yonge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the traffic demand along Yonge Street from Wellington\nStreet to Church Street increases, on-street parking along this segment should\nbe strictly enforced to maximize safety and reduce congestion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On-street parking is also addressed in the long-term\nwindow, including consideration for new on-street parking policies to prevent\nGO commuters \u201cfrom parking on adjacent residential streets, including clear\nsignage and information on where appropriate overflow parking is located\u201d and\nthe chance for residents to apply for on-street parking permits for accessible\nusers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFurther study is required to determine an appropriate\nsolution to address area-specific needs,\u201d says Bat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the five-year window, further opportunities might\npresent themselves in the consolidation of privately-owned parking lots in the\ndowntown core and the possibility of using land currently under the\njurisdiction of the Lt. Governor John Graves Simcoe Armoury on Industrial\nParkway South for parking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsolidation of private lots into municipally owned and\nmanaged lots promotes efficiency in land use, creates land for new development,\nand results in increased pedestrian activity in the area,\u201d says Bat. \u201cThis may\nbe achieved through new development application process and\/or land\nacquisition. It is to be noted that land acquisition costs requires further\nconsideration if this option will be considered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c215 Industrial Parkway South is a property owned by the Town of Aurora and is currently leased [to the Armoury]. Although this property is located outside of the study limits, there is a possibility of this property to be converted to municipal parking lot in the future, if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir <\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Aurora moves to make the historic downtown core a destination once again, pointed questions are often asked just where people are supposed to park if they plan to drop into local businesses or, in the future, enjoy Library Square. This is an issue set to be addressed this week as Council reviews an updated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Ln","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 09:46:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}