Donald Cousens Parkway

Donald Cousens Parkway
Route of Donald Cousens Parkway in Markham, Ontario.
Road is highlighted in Blue.
Length11.8 km (7.3 mi)
LocationMarkham (Cornell; Box Grove)
North endYork_Regional_Road_25 Major Mackenzie Drive
Major
junctions
Ninth Line
16th Avenue
Ontario_7 Highway 7
Ontario_407_Toll Highway 407
14th Avenue
Box Grove By-Pass
South end Steeles Avenue East at the TorontoYork boundary
Construction
Inauguration2004

Donald Cousens Parkway or York Regional Road 48, also referred to historically as the Markham Bypass or Markham Bypass Extension, is a regionally-maintained arterial bypass of Markham in the Canadian province of Ontario. Named for former Markham mayor Don Cousens in April 2007, the route initially travelled northward from Copper Creek Drive in Box Grove, south of Highway 407, to Major Mackenzie Drive (York Regional Road 25). A southern extension to Steeles Avenue was later completed and the name Donald Cousens Parkway applied along the extension to Ninth Line. In addition to its role of funneling through-traffic around downtown Markham, the route serves as a boundary to residential development as land to the north and east are part of the protected Rouge National Urban Park and southwest limits of the planned Pickering Airport.

Construction of the route began in 2002 north of 16th Avenue. In 2004, an interchange with Highway 407 was constructed along with a connection north to Highway 7. Both segments and the interchange were opened by December of that year. The following year, construction began to connect these two segments as well as on the Box Grove Bypass along Ninth Line; the former opened in October 2006 and the latter in the spring of 2007. Construction of the most recently opened segment, connecting the Box Grove Bypass to the interchange with Highway 407, began in 2009. It opened after several delays in 2012 and included a realignment of 14th Avenue.

Donald Cousens Parkway and a planned connection with Morningside Avenue in Toronto form an "East Metro Transportation Corridor", originally envisioned by the province in the 1970s as a six lane municipal expressway. During the mid-1990s, the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) conducted studies and identified the need for the corridor by 2011. Although York Region had intended for a continuous alignment, the Toronto City Council has opposed the direct connection between Morningside and Donald Cousens Parkway. As a result, it is now proposed to connect Morningside Avenue and Donald Cousens Parkway via a widened Steeles Avenue and extend Morningside to Steeles further west near Tapscott Road.[1]

  1. ^ "Steeles Avenue Widening and Morningside Avenue Extension". 22 November 2017.