Four big-ticket items Mississauga wants from the Ford and Trudeau governments

Thestar.com
November 20, 2019
Steve Cornwall

If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

Mississauga recently applied for over $718 million from the federal and provincial government for numerous big-ticket items through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.

The transit stream of the program is allocated based on ridership, meaning that the city is slated to receive nearly $339 million from the federal government and $282.4 million from the province for approved projects. Mississauga would provide $226 million, for a total of $847 million for approved transit projects over 10 years.

For the community infrastructure stream of program, Mississauga will compete with other municipalities. The city has asked for around $97.3 million from the federal and provincial governments and Mississauga would contribute around $35.5 million if approved.

Here are some of the big-ticket items Mississauga wants.

Buses

The city is asking for almost $360 million for replacement buses through the public transit stream, which is around 42 per cent of Mississauga’s $847 million transit allocation. According to a staff report, the funding would be for hybrid buses. The city recently purchased 10 hybrid buses for $9.13 million, or $913,043 each.

Rapid bus lanes

Mississauga’s proposal for the infrastructure program includes two rapid bus lane projects, a roughly seven-kilometre portion on Dundas Street in Cooksville and an around two-kilometre part on Lakeshore Road East, between Deta Road and East Avenue. According to a staff report, each project would include dedicated median bus lanes, with stops at key locations. The $305.7 million Dundas portion would also include bike lanes.

Port Credit Public Marina

The city has included a $71.3 million redevelopment of the Port Credit Marina as part of its application. The project so far includes a waterfront park concept and a new breakwater for the marina, which was formerly the Canada Steamship Lines site. Other plans for the site include eventual mixed-use units.

South Common Community Centre and Library

Mississauga has also included a $61.6 million proposal to design and redevelop the South Common Community Centre and Library. The redevelopment is already in the city’s capital budget, but if funding is secured through the infrastructure program, $45.1 million would be freed up for other projects, according to a staff report.