The ‘Main’ mission

Metrolinx, the transportation agency for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, has big plans for the region’s transit network, not least of which is the transformative role of the Hurontario-Main LRT.

Long term forecasts show that the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), which is already home to over six million people, is set to grow nearly 50% by 2030. To address this exceptional growth, the Ontario Provincial Government developed a land use plan, Places to Grow. In turn, the region’s transportation agency, Metrolinx, has developed The Big Move, a long-term transit expansion plan covering the regional GO Transit network and a series of other transit infrastructure projects in Toronto and the wider GTHA.

It’s an ambitious undertaking, and to help prioritize the range of rail, LRT, and BRT projects for Metrolinx, Steer Davies Gleave carried out a series of Benefit Case Assessments. We have found that one of the best-performing projects is a 13 mile LRT line – the Hurontario Main LRT (HMLRT) – to connect the cities of Mississauga and Brampton. Both municipalities, which lie to the west of Toronto and close to the Pearson International Airport, have seen rapid expansion over the last few decades and are expected to continue to grow significantly by 2030.

The HMLRT will run from Port Credit bordering Lake Ontario north to downtown Mississauga, and continue north to downtown Brampton. Both downtowns are designated as ‘Urban Growth Centres’ in Places to Grow, and they will be a main focus of the LRT project. The LRT route will also serve a series of ‘mobility hubs’, connecting with GO Transit stations in Port Credit, Cooksville, and Brampton, and with new BRT services that link into the HMLRT corridor.

But the plan is not just for LRT. The cities have developed a Corridor Master Plan with a vision of city-building and sustainability centering on LRT as a key mode of travel. The Hurontario-Main LRT will also form a key component of Mississauga’s comprehensive Downtown 21 Plan, which sets out details of its urban growth plans. A ‘complete street’ design approach in Mississauga and Brampton will support wider changes – with higher density, mixed-use transit-oriented development providing more diverse and vibrant streets with a greater focus on pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users. This comprehensive Master Plan has been recognized with a planning award from the Canadian Institute of Planners, and it sets the context for the next stage: developing the details of the project, obtaining environmental approvals, and developing a robust business case to secure project funding.

Steer Davies Gleave is currently developing the HMLRT project as part of a multidisciplinary team led by SNC-Lavalin. Steer Davies Gleave and SNC-Lavalin have worked together on similar projects in Hamilton, Edmonton, and Vancouver, and bring extensive international LRT experience to the project.

Working to the ‘complete street’ design approach, we are proposing urban style LRT. This draws on best practice from Europe and elsewhere, and features modern, low-floor light rail vehicles (which can be integrated into the wider complete street designs), a high proportion of segregated LRT track, and priority through signal-controlled junctions. The end result will be a fast, frequent, and reliable LRT system that provides a high quality service for existing transit users in the corridor and new ‘choice riders’.

In addition, Steer Davies Gleave is leading the transit planning work, including initial designs for the alignment and 29 LRT stops. Overall ridership forecasting, traffic assessments, and the development of the business case for the project, together with inputs to LRT System Design Guidelines and a comprehensive stakeholder engagement and public consultation program are also part of our scope.

All of these components will provide key inputs to the wider aim – to use urban style LRT to shape the cities of the future in Mississauga and Brampton, turning the Master Plan into a project ready for implementation by the end of 2013.