VIDEO: New highway overpass a key part of LRT route in Mississauga

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Published December 28, 2023 at 1:16 pm

Hazel McCallion Line Hwy. 407 overpass
Crews are working on the Highway 407 overpass that will accommodate both vehicles and light-rail transit trains that will be part of the Hazel McCallion Line. (Photo: Metrolinx)

Highway 407 and Hurontario Street in Mississauga’s north end is a busy place these days as work continues on a major part of the $1.4-billion light-rail transit route that will run between south Mississauga and Brampton when completed.

Project leaders overseeing construction of the 18-kilometre Hazel McCallion Line said via social media that a new highway overpass being built will accommodate the LRT train vehicles as well as regular traffic.

“With 67 truckloads of concrete and 75 tons of steel, our crew’s hard work is bringing the new 407 ETR bridge to life,” Metrolinx, the provincial agency overseeing the massive project, said in a recent post to X (formerly Twitter) that also includes a brief video of ongoing work (see below). “The overpass is being extended before being separated into three standalone bridges for LRT and vehicular traffic.”

When open to passengers, the Hazel McCallion Line will whisk riders from the Port Credit GO station in south Mississauga all the way north into Brampton, with 19 stops along the way.

Initially slated to be completed by fall 2024, there now appears to be a delay in that timeline, according to reports. It’s not yet known how long that delay will be.

Meanwhile, another major step on the project was also taken recently, officials say.

Metrolinx noted in early December that “key track work is happening” in north Mississauga.

“We’re building the complicated section of rail that will allow light rail vehicles to divert from the centre of Hurontario Street to Topflight Drive to get to the Operations Maintenance Storage Facility and vice versa,” Metrolinx officials said in an online project update. “The east side of the Topflight Drive intersection will be expanded to accommodate an increase in traffic.”

The OMSF, located just south of Highway 407 on the Mississauga-Brampton border, will serve as the hub of the LRT route, officials say. The huge site will house a repair shop, a vehicle cleaning facility and material storage space and will be able to accommodate 42 light rail vehicles at a time.

In recent weeks and months, crews have also been working on a main part of the LRT line in south Mississauga, namely the building of an underground station at Port Credit GO.

Metrolinx officials said the recent completion of major work in Port Credit now allows room for the LRT station to be constructed.

Map shows area in north Mississauga near Highway 407, where a new overpass is being constructed as part of the Hazel McCallion Line.

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