Connecting Mississauga - Public transit renaissance

NRU
Nov. 11, 2015
By George Liu

The end of greenfield development in the City of Mississauga means planners must intensify land use in order to achieve future growth. As developers build up instead of out, Mississauga is making large investments in rapid transit to keep people moving by economizing on increasingly scarce road space.

“When we look back at the Greater Toronto Area and the City of Mississauga a century from now, it will be said that this period ushered in a public transit renaissance,” said Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie at the November 9 Mississauga Moves 2015 summit. “In April, Premier Wynne’s government announced the Hurontario-Main LRT would be fully funded, amounting to $1.6-billion ... The LRT is a game changer here in Mississauga. It will be the single largest investment in Mississauga’s history, and it is truly transformational.”

Poulos & Chung partner Nick Poulos sees tremendous ridership potential for the Hurontario corridor.

“The Hurontario LRT is one of the critical corridors ... 28 per cent of people who board a GO train every morning walk to [the Port Credit] GO station ... You can imagine [the increase in ridership] when the Hurontario LRT terminates at this location.”

While the Hurontario LRT will terminate at the Brampton Gateway at Steeles Avenue as a result of Brampton council’s decision to reject the downtown section of the LRT, this isn’t deterring Mississauga in its plans to connect into the regional transit network.

Crombie told participants that staff are currently examining the Dundas Street corridor-from Oakville to the Toronto border-to determine what type of higher-order transit is needed to rejuvenate that stretch: BRT or LRT.

“The current project is the Mississauga Transitway. The next project will be the Hurontario LRT, and the next, next project will be the Dundas Rapid Transit,” Mississauga Dundas Corridor strategic leader Andrew Miller told NRU.

“We have run out of greenfield land in Mississauga, and the city is now doing infill development. There is a synergistic relationship between higher density and rapid transit, and the goal of rapid transit is to unlock the development potential of the Dundas corridor ... The [Dundas corridor] connects major trip generators. A future rapid transit line would be anchored by Kipling subway station to the east, connecting with Dixie GO station, a planned [Regional Express Rail] stop at Cawthra Road, Cooksville GO station, the planned Hurontario LRT and the University of Toronto Mississauga.”

The city has retained AECOM for the Dundas Connects project, which is currently in the study and public visioning phase. The recommendations are scheduled for council consideration in fall 2017.