Premier solidifies commitment to Hurontario LRT downtown loop

A recent meeting between Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish and Premier Doug Ford suggests the addition of the city’s long-awaited downtown loop of the Hurontario LRT is a done deal. 

“The Premier confirmed the downtown loop will be a reality and paid for by the Province,” Parrish told The Pointer following a meeting with Ford in his home office. Since stepping in as mayor, Parrish has taken several meetings with key officials in Ford’s government, highlighting many of Mississauga’s desperate needs.  

The face-to-face commitment should put an end to what has been an ongoing saga of uncertainty surrounding the downtown loop. The critical section has been removed and toyed with several times since the launch of the Hurontario LRT project.  

After axing the two-kilometre addition in 2019, Ford made a U-turn in 2022 when, ahead of the provincial election, he eluded to resurrecting the loop, promising the Province would “make it happen eventually, sooner or later.” Igniting hope for Mississauga’s elected officials who had championed the extension, he claimed finishing the loop was a priority for his PC government. The announcement was made without consultating Metrolinx, a spokesperson for the provincial transit agency previously told The Pointer. At the time, Metrolinx said the doors were not closed on the addition — which the agency has said can be added in at any time — but that the consortium’s primary focus was on getting the LRT completed. But the project is now two years behind schedule and it is unclear if it will meet the revised 2024 completion date.

The Premier’s latest promise follows a push from the Province in January that requested Metrolinx move forward with plans to reintroduce the downtown Mississauga loop as part of the LRT project.

The request was later solidified in the PC’s latest financial blueprint, which announced an investment of $67.5 billion over the next decade for public transit. The 2024 provincial budget included a commitment to extend the LRT, also known as the Hazel McCallion Line, by beginning the planning and design activities for the Mississauga loop and extension of the line into downtown Brampton to “ensure the proposed extensions can progress as the construction of the Hazel McCallion LRT Line continues.” It did not provide updated cost estimates or a timeline for when it would be completed. The PCs have yet to reveal the exact funding for the restored sections, or when that funding will flow. 

However, it was the first time the loop extension for the downtown was included in the provincial budget since Ford cut it from transit plans in 2019, citing cost concerns. Removing the loop reportedly saved at least $200 million at the time. 

While the latest meeting with the Premier indicates positive change is coming for Mississauga and the future of its transit network, it remains unclear how the operation and maintenance of the city’s largest transit infrastructure system will be paid for. Although the Province signed a $4.6 billion contract in 2019 with transit consortium Mobilinx for the construction and total capital cost of the line, along with most of the operating/maintenance costs, Mississauga has been told it would be responsible for covering an additional billion dollars over the next 30 years once the LRT is up and running. In its latest budget ask, the City called on the Province to support the operation of the LRT, which staff warn will be “a significant operating cost” for the municipality. 

The downtown loop would add three additional stations around the city centre.

(Metrolinx)

The road to the finish line for Mississauga’s Hurontario Line, which will bring the city closer to becoming a more transit-oriented city, has been a bumpy one. 

The timeline for completion has experienced several revisions—it was originally slated to open in 2022.  

Since breaking ground in 2020, the Line has experienced pandemic-related delays, supply chain issues and logistical challenges. Metrolinx has not confirmed whether the agency is on track to meet the current 2024 timeline for completion after Mississauga City staff highlighted a revised construction schedule for the project in April last year. At the time Metrolinx assured staff and council the LRT construction would meet its revised target for completion in 2024. 

A spokesperson told The Pointer earlier this year, “When construction nears completion and we move into the testing and commissioning phase, we will be in a better position to provide a specific opening date.”  

The future LRT is critical to support the projected population growth and ensure connectivity to other transit networks in the municipality, according to a 2016 Benefits Case Analysis. The Line, once completed, will feature 19 stops. It will travel through two urban growth centres and connect to major transit systems including GO (Milton and Lakeshore West lines), the Mississauga Transitway, Brampton Transit, ZUM and MiWay. 

City staff and elected officials have argued the downtown loop is a critical piece of the project. 

It is essential to Mississauga’s future growth and development, especially in the downtown core where staff have predicted the population will grow by 50,000 people over the next decade. Officials have also boasted that the loop, featured on the City’s asks to upper levels of government during budget time for several years, will connect over 72,000 residents to the transit network by 2051. Without it, one of the city’s densest areas would be cut off from the rest of the Line. 

“In order to help the City realize the full potential of downtown Mississauga, the downtown loop must be considered a funding priority,” the latest budget submission states. “Moving forward with the [Hurontario LRT] project inclusive of the downtown loop represents major steps towards transformational transit improvements that our residents and businesses within the downtown and along the Hurontario corridor are depending on.”

Without the loop, the project’s current design would have a 7.5-minute gap between trains to Hurontario Street. But City staff estimate that with the loop, there will only be a 2.5-minute window between trains in the downtown core, and only 5 minutes between trains on Hurontario Street.

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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