Alton Village Streetscaping

Growing a community while honouring its past

One of Caledon’s largest communities, Alton Village was a hamlet originally founded 1816 as a thriving milling operation on a tributary of the Credit River. To this day, Alton Village retains its unique charm with its beautifully preserved heritage sites, repurposed old mills, cascading waterfalls, and stunning views of Shaws Creek. Modern-day Alton is one of Caledon’s proudest historical landmarks, and a fast-developing community that draws more residents and visitors every year.

Downtown Alton has seen rising traffic volumes and population growth in recent years, which called for the reconstruction and streetscaping of its two main roads, Main Street North and Queen Street West. To provide safer roads and reduce traffic speeds, RVA designed and constructed several traffic-calming features, including medians, refuge islands, chicanes, lane shifts, lane narrowing, and corner radii. RVA also provided more public use spaces with the addition of layby parking with permeable pavers, several rest areas with new landscape plantings and street furniture, and shared-use bike lanes throughout the project area.

Part of the construction efforts involved the full bridge replacement of two structures crossing a Shaw’s Creek tributary, which was in a Wellhead Protection Zone Category 1 area. RVA was able to raise the road profile by 1.6 m to provide a hydraulic opening for the river and build 9 m span precast arch to provide a natural passage for large animals and reptiles. Working closely with the Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), RVA conducted fish rescue in accordance with timing windows for coldwater fisheries in the staging of the bridge construction and culvert replacement. Full bridge replacement was completed within a single year, with minimal impacts to local traffic and Provincially Significant Wetland areas.

One of Alton’s defining features is the number of historical landmarks and homes that have been preserved and restored over the years. Opportunities for the area’s beautification were identified through a comprehensive public engagement and consultation process, which included daily house-by-house visits and close collaboration with the Alton Village Residents’ Association. Members of the public were invited to vote on renderings, detour plans, retaining walls, and even street furniture, such as benches, decorative bollards, waste receptacles, and bike racks.

This project resulted in a revitalized downtown core for one of Caledon’s proudest heritage sites, with modern features that blend seamlessly with the historical fabric of the community. The parkette that now sits at the heart of Downtown Alton, with its distinctive ornamental clock, has become the defining feature of its picturesque streets. Alton Village offers its many residents and visitors a chance to step back in time and get a glimpse of what it was like to live in a small Ontario hamlet back in the 1800s, while enjoying the many modern-day amenities this fast-growing community has to offer.