First St. Pretty River Parkway Grand Boulevard

Through the First Street & Pretty River Parkway reconstruction, Envision-Tatham assisted the Town of Collingwood in realizing a long term ‘Grand Boulevard’ vision defined through previous planning studies. Initiated by MTO traffic improvements, an opportunity was created to re-define this busy in-town section of provincial highway to provide a community gateway and improve pedestrian connections to the Georgian Bay waterfront. Envision-Tatham developed a 25 year urban design vision for First St. that addressed improvements to both public and private lands. This vision guided detailed design and engineering efforts which resulted in a flexible street framework that could evolve over time in context of ’Grand Boulevard’ objectives. To complement the road improvements, the design includes active transportation, accessibility, and walkable community components, as well as an impressive planted median to reduce the visual impact of the 4-lane roadway. Envision-Tatham also provided input into the Town‘s Urban Design Standards to ensure that future private infill development demonstrates good urban design principles in support the ‘Grand Boulevard’ vision. Construction for this $9.0M roadway and streetscape project was completed in 2011.