$40-million overpass will greatly reduce traffic in Mississauga, city says

The shovel will officially dig into the ground on Tuesday morning as major construction work ramps up on a long-awaited bridge/overpass that’s expected to significantly reduce heavy traffic in Mississauga’s north end near Pearson Airport.

After decades of delays, work on the $40-million Goreway Drive Overpass, to be built over CN train tracks in the Malton area of the city, got underway last month with the installation of the storm sewer along the tracks, according to City of Mississauga officials.

The main part of the massive job began on Sept. 27 when the busy Goreway Drive crossing was shut down to traffic to allow for construction, Ward 5 Councillor Carolyn Parrish shared via X (formerly Twitter) late last month.

That section of busy road will remain closed for the next year or so until work on the overpass is completed.

Construction of the new bridge will take more than a year and it’s expected to open to traffic in December 2024, according to project leaders.

In the meantime, city officials and others will gather Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m. to recognize “an important milestone as we mark the start of the Goreway Drive Overpass construction project,” the city said in a news release. “This project will significantly help to ease traffic congestion along Goreway Drive and traffic flow overall northbound and southbound between Mississauga and Brampton.”

Following years of planning, Mississauga officials added, “this project represents a major investment in transportation infrastructure and is a joint-partner project between the cities of Mississauga and Brampton, and CN Rail.”

Parrish noted earlier that the road closure is necessary in order to complete the overpass “in half the usual time.”

The councillor has said her community has been waiting three decades for the bridge to be built. It’s expected to greatly reduce traffic congestion that has plagued the Malton area of Mississauga for decades.

Goreway Drive functions as a major collector roadway in Mississauga that “provides north-south connectivity for commuter, commercial and emergency services vehicles between (Mississauga and Brampton),” project officials said earlier.

The major route crosses the CN tracks some 300 metres north of Brandon Gate Drive in Mississauga.

More than 50 freight trains per day use the three east-west tracks, and often caused traffic to back up on Goreway Drive.

Final contracts for the Goreway Drive Overpass were signed on May 11 of this year. The contract for the project was awarded to Alliance Verdi Civil Inc., of Bolton, and external consultants have been hired to manage the undertaking.

Some three decades in the works, plans to build the Goreway Bridge took a big step forward this past spring with the signing of a three-way agreement between CN Rail and the cities of Mississauga and Brampton.

Cost of the bridge is upwards of $40 million and will be split among the three partners.

The project has stalled over the years for myriad reasons, chief among them some initial mystery as to who owned the land in question.

Map shows location of the Goreway Drive Overpass, to be completed in late 2024. (Google Maps)