After 30 years, major Mississauga bridge looks like it will finally be built
Published November 2, 2022 at 4:31 pm
It’s been a long three decades in the works, but it now appears a bridge over CN train tracks in the Malton area of Mississauga is finally being built.
A contract to build the Goreway Bridge, long sought after in order to alleviate heavy traffic in the area, looks like it will be awarded in the coming months with shovels to go in the ground not long after.
Mississauga Ward 5 Councillor Carolyn Parrish, who represents the area, provided the most recent project update via social media on Monday (Oct. 31).
In a post to Twitter, the longtime councillor wrote that meetings between all key players in the deal are ongoing until the project is put out to tender and “I will be reporting on Twitter when contract is awarded. When the first bulldozer runs, I will be on site.”
Parrish noted that project partners–the cites of Mississauga and Brampton, and CN Rail–recently had a second meeting to talk about final agreements with respect to CN’s share of the financing.
City of Brampton officials, who have the lead on the undertaking, said in a recent online project update that “design and approvals are being finalized, with the project anticipated (to see) a fall start to construction.”
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Though that timeline appears to be behind, all indications are that the project is full steam ahead.
Once construction does start, “Goreway Dr. will be closed for 16 months for the construction to be completed. The construction is expected to be completed summer 2024. Once the project has been tendered, signage and additional information will be provided,” Brampton officials said.
Update on Goreway Bridge. Brampton, Mississauga and CN have had 2nd meeting on final agreements re CN’s share of financing. Weekly meetings til bridge is put out to tender. I will be reporting on Twitter when contract is awarded. When the first bulldozer runs, I will be on site! pic.twitter.com/ugwmyjrO5z
— Carolyn Parrish (@carolynhparrish) October 31, 2022
The project is dubbed the Goreway Drive Grade Separation (over the CN tracks). It has stalled over the years for myriad reasons, chief among them some initial mystery as to who owned the land in question.
Essentially, the bridge is needed, according to those supporting it, to alleviate heavy traffic in the area.
Goreway Dr. functions as a major collector roadway in Mississauga that “provides north-south connectivity for commuter, commercial and emergency services vehicles between the two cities.”
The major route crosses the CN tracks some 300 metres north of Brandon Gate Dr. in Mississauga.
More than 50 freight trains per day use the three east-west tracks, and often cause traffic to back up on Goreway Dr.
In a Sept. 28 Goreway Bridge project update to her residents, Parrish wondered in her newsletter, “Why has the Goreway Bridge taken 30 years…and it’s still not started?”
Along the way, at various times, Parrish suggested the project simply wasn’t a priority for Brampton, lead partner in the arrangement.
She concluded that “very recently, CN Rail changed their lead persons on this agreement, so it is being reviewed again and hopefully signed Nov. 11. The job will be tendered and construction will finally begin. I have pushed as hard as I can, as your councillor, to have the Goreway Bridge built.
“City of Mississauga has our share of the money in reserve and are pushing hard to complete the technical agreements necessary,” she continued. “But we are not in charge of the project, the City of Brampton is.”
Cost of the project is upwards of $40 million and is expected to be split among the three partners.
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