City Centre light-rail transit loop officially part of the plan for Mississauga once again
Published February 8, 2024 at 12:03 pm
Mississauga will get its downtown light-rail transit loop after all.
Speaking today at the Mississauga Board of Trade, Ontario Premier Doug Ford confirmed the “downtown loop” is once again part of plans for the Hurontario Street LRT line, two years ago renamed the Hazel McCallion Line.
Eliminated in 2019 from plans for the Mississauga-to-Brampton LRT route in a cost-cutting move by the Ontario government, the loop is now being reinstated into the massive $4.6-billion transit project.
For the some 75,000 people expected to in a decade or so be living in highrises around Square One in Mississauga’s City Centre, the loop means they’ll have additional public transit right at their doorstep.
In January, the Ontario government directed Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency overseeing the Hazel McCallion Line project, to prepare a business case for both reinstating the transit loop in Mississauga and extending the route north into downtown Brampton.
Metrolinx delivered its findings to the province earlier this week and its business case has met with the Ford government’s approval.
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“Ontario has accepted the initial business case for the expansion of the Hazel McCallion LRT and is moving forward with this important project,” government officials said in a news release today. “The LRT will include a four-kilometre extension of the line into downtown Brampton via Main Street from the Brampton Gateway Terminal and a two-kilometre extension with a loop in Mississauga.”
The loop will connect the LRT line on Hurontario Street to Square One with additional stops through to Confederation Parkway in the downtown core of Mississauga, officials continued.
“The LRT will provide one of Canada’s quickest-growing cities with faster, more frequent and more reliable transit than the existing bus service, travelling in an exclusive right-of-way with signal priority at intersections,” the news release continued.
Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said people “deserve access to reliable transit options that connect them to good-paying jobs and housing.”
He added the extension of the Hazel McCallion Line is an essential next step in “our mission to get commuters where they need to go, when they need to be there.”
City of Mississauga officials have aggressively pushed the province since 2020 to restore plans for the “downtown loop,” arguing the added access to public transit would be desperately needed by the tens of thousands of people expected to soon be living in the area in addition to the thousands more who work at businesses right around Square One.
With the extension into Brampton, the Hazel McCallion Line is a 22-kilometre LRT route along Hurontario Street that’ll whisk riders from Port Credit GO in south Mississauga all the way north into Brampton when it opens later this year or in early 2025.
The “downtown loop” will, essentially, shoot off from the main line on Hurontario Street and circle through the many highrise condos and businesses in Mississauga’s downtown core.
The loop will add several stops to the Hazel McCallion Line, which currently features 19 stops from south Mississauga to Brampton.
Ford also confirmed today his government’s support to enhance GO train service along the Milton line, which includes a number of stops in Mississauga. Long-awaited two-way, all-day service on that key line is now a priority of the province, the premier said.
Map shows route the Hazel McCallion Line will follow when it opens to passengers. The reinstated transit loop in downtown Mississauga will be added to an updated map.