News Courtesy Mississauga News By Rachael Williams
Iconic transit station designs are in the works at four locations along the 20-kilometre Hurontario light rail transit line in Mississauga.
Port Credit, Cooksville, Rathburn and Hwy. 407 have been characterized as high priority stops along the city’s $1.3 billion LRT transit line. Identified in an “LRT stop hierarchy” staff report, presented to general committee on Wednesday, greater detail will be paid to the stations’ architecture, volume and scale, materials, passenger comfort and lighting.
“I think this is the most vital piece, the aesthetic piece, the place-making exercise, making this thing warm, fuzzy and sexy,” said Ward 7 Coun. Nando Iannicca.
The four stations were identified as level three signature stops because they represent important gateways and entrances to the City.
Port Credit and the Hwy. 407 stops bookend the 22-stop route. Rathburn Road and Hurontario Street is located in the heart of Mississauga, near the Civic Centre, Celebration Square, the Living Arts Centre and Square One Shopping Centre, while the Cooksville stop will connect the LRT with the Milton GO train line and will undergo a major transformation as part of Vision Cooksville.
Level two stops, or “boosted design” stops, are second on the three-tier hierarchy and are slated to receive some visual enhancements and added design features.
Details are yet to be released on the specifics of the design. The city will be using a Metrolinx procurement process since the provincial agency is footing the bill for the LRT. That procurement process is much less prescriptive than that of the municipality, and will rely on the creativity of companies who will submit bids for the design and construction of the project. As such, costs have yet to be determined.
Level two stops have been identified as follows: Derry, Matheson, Eglinton, Robert Speck, Duke of York, The Exchange, Dundas and Queensway.
The base design stops, or level one stops, will be constructed in lower density areas along the corridor.
Steven Bell, manager of downtown collaborative for the city, said the base stops will not be utilitarian, but rather, will “set the minimum threshold for stop design that projects a strong civic quality and aesthetically pleasing form.”
These include: Courtneypark, Britannia, Bristol, Matthews Gate, Central Parkway, North Service and Mineola.
Closing the discussion was Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who issued a stern warning to staff and council: “In 1995, the new government of the day cancelled the Eglinton-Crosstown Subway. We don’t want to be victim to that same fate. So we just want to make sure that this, our plans, are so far down the line that when we break ground in 2018, should there be a new government, they would never think about cancelling our shiny new train.”
Construction for the proposed LRT is set to begin in 2018.
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