Traffic delays to come as tracks laid for new transit route in busy Mississauga corridor

Tracks are being laid next week on a busy road in north Mississauga as work on the $1.4-billion Hurontario St. light-rail transit (LRT) route continues.

The laying of tracks on Hurontario St. near Derry Rd. will also lead to lane reductions and other traffic restrictions between next Tuesday (May 16) and June 13 as the installation work continues.

Project leaders at Metrolinx, the provincial agency overseeing the massive LRT undertaking, say eastbound and westbound traffic on Derry Rd. will be reduced to a single lane during track installation.

Additionally, left-hand turns at Derry Rd. and Hurontario St. will not be permitted.

Those reductions and restrictions are in addition to ongoing delays on Hurontario St.

When completed in fall 2024, the 18-kilometre Hazel McCallion Line, as the route has been named, will whisk riders along Hurontario St. between Port Credit GO station in Mississauga’s south end and Brampton.

The LRT line, which will make 19 stops along the way, will also hook up with various other transit services including GO, MiWay and Brampton Transit.

As work continues, City of Mississauga officials continue to push for cash and a commitment from the provincial government to reinstate plans for a Downtown Loop that would take the LRT into the Square One area and farther west to serve all the condos and businesses.

Mayor Bonnie Crombie recently told insauga.com she won’t let Ontario Premier Doug Ford forget about his earlier public commitment to supporting the downtown transit loop.

Crombie said the loop, which was axed from the larger project three years ago in a cost-cutting move by the Ford government, is badly needed to serve Mississauga’s rapidly growing downtown core.

Mississauga officials say money from the provincial government and Ottawa, too, if possible, is needed to get the loop built.

An earlier suggestion from Ford that Mississauga hit up developers for cash is likely a dead end, the City has said.

Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, also MP for Mississauga Centre, has told insauga.com on several occasions that Ottawa is willing to come to the table to help pay for the loop.

Some estimates indicate it will cost up to $400 million to add the loop to the LRT project and that was before plans to make it larger. That amount is expected to rise significantly as time goes by and construction costs rise.

Mississauga believes that money will be well spent on a downtown population that is expected to double in the next 30 years and will need ways to move across the city and the rest of the GTA.

From May 16-June 13 there will be lane reductions at Derry Rd and Hurontario St for track installation. Eastbound and westbound traffic will be reduced to a single lane on Derry and left turns at Derry and Hurontario will not be permitted. For more info, email [email protected] pic.twitter.com/Y9kuG2NZWe

— The Hazel McCallion Line (@HMcCallionLine) May 10, 2023