The Short Answer
Warden Avenue in Markham is open. There is no full closure in effect as of September 2026. The five day emergency closure between 16th Avenue and Major Mackenzie Drive, caused by a sinkhole, ended on April 6, 2026. What is active now is lane restricted road preservation work between 14th Avenue and 16th Avenue running to November 2026, plus culvert rehabilitation north of 16th Avenue. The larger project to watch is the 16th Avenue widening from Leslie Street to Warden Avenue, which runs from summer 2026 to fall 2028. All of this is York Region work, not City of Markham work.
Want this applied to your own property? Call the Kaizen Real Estate Team at (647) 370-8885.
First, the Thing Most People Get Wrong
Warden Avenue is a York Region arterial road, not a City of Markham road. The City does not manage construction on it and does not list it on Markham's own construction pages.
That single fact explains why homeowners searching markham.ca for Warden Avenue updates find nothing. The information lives at york.ca, and York Region's enquiry line is 1-877-464-9675.
Michael John Lau, a REALTORĀ® serving home buyers and home sellers in Markham, Ontario, checks the York Region construction schedule before advising clients on any home fronting or backing a Regional road. Warden, Kennedy, McCowan, Highway 7, 16th Avenue, Major Mackenzie and Leslie are all Regional. The road in front of a house determines who is responsible for what happens to it.
Questions About Your Situation?
Every Markham property and every timeline is different. Call the Kaizen Real Estate Team at (647) 370-8885 and speak to a REALTORĀ® who works this market daily.
What Happened in April 2026
A road depression was spotted on routine patrol on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. By April 1 a sinkhole had formed on Warden Avenue between 16th Avenue and Major Mackenzie Drive, and York Region closed the road in both directions.
The cause was water. Heavy rain on consecutive nights soaked into the ground and washed out the soil beneath the roadbed. Because the extent of the cavity was unknown, a full closure was the only safe option.
The road reopened on Monday, April 6, 2026, roughly five days later. No signed detour was ever posted; York Region simply advised motorists to find alternate routes.
For homeowners nearby, the useful takeaway is not the disruption. It is that a Regional road with known culvert work underneath it produced a washout after two nights of heavy rain, and the Region fixed it inside a week.
What Is Active Right Now
Road preservation, 14th Avenue to 16th Avenue
York Region began concrete repairs and adjustments to maintenance holes and catch basins on May 4, 2026, followed by microsurfacing to extend the life of the pavement. The work runs May through November 2026 and excludes the Highway 407 bridge.
Critically, the road stays open to through traffic. Lanes are reduced to one in each direction during microsurfacing. Access to homes and businesses is maintained and no detour is posted.
Work hours are staggered: repairs on weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., night work Monday to Saturday from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., and Saturdays from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. If you live along this stretch, the night work is the part you will notice.
Culvert rehabilitation, north of 16th Avenue
A separate York Region project rehabilitates culverts on Warden Avenue south of Major Mackenzie Drive East. It began in early summer 2025, paused for winter, resumed in spring 2026, and was scheduled for completion in summer 2026. Lane restrictions apply on weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and weekends from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. as needed.
This is the same stretch where the sinkhole occurred, which is almost certainly not a coincidence.
The Project That Actually Matters: 16th Avenue
If you are buying or selling near Warden, the 16th Avenue improvements are the bigger story.
- Segment: 16th Avenue from Leslie Street to Warden Avenue, spanning Richmond Hill and Markham
- Timeline: summer 2026 to fall 2028
- Scope: widening from four lanes to six, rehabilitation of the Rouge River bridge, culverts and storm sewers, new sidewalks and a multi use path, intersection upgrades, street lighting, repaving and streetscaping
- Traffic: lane reductions outside peak periods, with night and weekend work as required. Driveway access is maintained.
- Next phase: widening from Warden Avenue to Kennedy Road is proposed for 2028, subject to York Regional Council approval
Two and a half years of construction is a genuine consideration for a buyer looking at Berczy Village, Cachet, Angus Glen or Victoria Square. It is also, eventually, an upgrade: six lanes, a multi use path and new sidewalks on a corridor that currently has none of that.
Neeraj Moolchandani on Disclosing Construction Properly
Neeraj Moolchandani, REALTORĀ® at Kaizen Real Estate, tells sellers near a construction corridor to lead with the facts rather than hope buyers do not notice. Project name, who is running it, and the published end date. A specific answer defuses the concern. Silence lets a buyer imagine something worse than the truth.
On showings, the adjustment Neeraj makes is scheduling rather than pricing. Work hours on the Warden preservation project are published, and booking around them costs nothing. A buyer touring while a crew is working forms an impression that a photograph cannot undo later.
Which Markham Communities Are Affected
The active Warden work sits in north central Markham. The communities most likely to notice it:
- Buttonville and the Highway 404 employment lands, on Warden south of 16th Avenue
- Angus Glen, Cathedraltown and Victoria Square, on Warden north of 16th toward Major Mackenzie
- Berczy Village and Cachet, primarily through the 16th Avenue widening
- Unionville, indirectly, through the Warden and Highway 7 corridor
Communities with little or no direct impact include Milliken Mills, German Mills, Commerce Valley, the Aaniin and 14th Avenue area, Cornell and Markham Centre. The work is north of them and the road remains open.
Transit
No YRT or Viva service alerts or detours were identified for Warden Avenue. Viva Purple runs on Highway 7 rather than Warden, so it is unaffected. Since Warden stays open to through traffic with lane reductions only, significant transit disruption is unlikely. Riders can confirm current alerts at yrt.ca.
Buying Near a Regional Road?
Warden, Kennedy, McCowan, Highway 7 and 16th Avenue are York Region roads with multi-year plans. The Kaizen Real Estate Team checks them before you commit.
What Road Construction Actually Does to Property Values
This is the question homeowners near Warden are really asking, and it deserves an honest answer rather than reassurance.
During construction
Active construction outside a home affects showings more than it affects value. Buyers touring on a Saturday afternoon while a microsurfacing crew works nearby form an impression that is hard to undo. Noise, dust, restricted parking and awkward driveway access all reduce the number of buyers who make it past a first visit.
The practical response is scheduling rather than pricing. Know the daily work hours, book showings around them, and tell buyers what the project is, who is running it and when it ends. A specific answer defuses the concern. Silence amplifies it.
After completion
Road preservation and culvert work leave a property no worse off and often slightly better, with smoother pavement and improved drainage. A widening project is different. Six lanes carry more traffic than four, which is a permanent change for homes directly fronting the corridor, offset for the surrounding community by new sidewalks, a multi use path and better intersections.
What sellers should do
- Disclose what you know. A buyer who discovers a 2028 widening project after firming up is a buyer with a grievance.
- Have the facts ready. Project name, contractor, York Region contact, and the published end date.
- Price against comparable exposure. Homes on arterial roads sell to a smaller buyer pool. That is true with or without construction, and it needs to be in the price.
- Time your launch. If the noisy phase ends in November, listing after it ends is worth more than any staging investment.
Where to Check for Updates
- York Region road construction schedule: york.ca, transportation section. This is the page that matters for Warden.
- York Region public notices: york.ca newsroom, filtered to public notices
- City of Markham Roads eMap: for City managed pavement projects on local streets
- York Region enquiries: 1-877-464-9675, TTY 711