Bramalea Road EA (City of Brampton)

[Allandale25]

Project Details

www.brampton.ca

From a Councillor's post on the topic:

"In 2015, the @CityBrampton completed a Transportation Master Plan Update that recommended the widening of Bramalea Road from 4 lanes to 6 lanes.

The EA study is assessing potential improvements along the study corridor to accommodate current and future transportation needs of pedestrians, cyclists, transit and motorists. You are invited to participate in the Online Public Information Centre from January 11 – February 28th, to learn about the project findings to date, and to provide your input. To participate, please go to www.brampton.ca/BramaleaEA "

 

[kamira51]

The amount of traffic lights in brampton is atrocious. More gas is wasted when sitting at a stop light, than it does to drive at 110km on the highway.

 

[Northern Light]

Project Details

www.brampton.ca

From a Councillor's post on the topic:

"In 2015, the @CityBrampton completed a Transportation Master Plan Update that recommended the widening of Bramalea Road from 4 lanes to 6 lanes.

The EA study is assessing potential improvements along the study corridor to accommodate current and future transportation needs of pedestrians, cyclists, transit and motorists. You are invited to participate in the Online Public Information Centre from January 11 – February 28th, to learn about the project findings to date, and to provide your input. To participate, please go to www.brampton.ca/BramaleaEA "

Six-laning would result in removing a great many mature/maturing trees; and provide little streetscape space along much of that run.

Poor idea.

I would support adding cycle tracks; a slight widening of some sections of boulevard where this would result in room for trees; reduced turning radii and shorter pedestrian crossings.

 

[Towered]

Project Details

www.brampton.ca

From a Councillor's post on the topic:

"In 2015, the @CityBrampton completed a Transportation Master Plan Update that recommended the widening of Bramalea Road from 4 lanes to 6 lanes.

The EA study is assessing potential improvements along the study corridor to accommodate current and future transportation needs of pedestrians, cyclists, transit and motorists. You are invited to participate in the Online Public Information Centre from January 11 – February 28th, to learn about the project findings to date, and to provide your input. To participate, please go to www.brampton.ca/BramaleaEA "

What is this, the 50's? These suburbs just can't help themselves with their outdated thinking.

 

[Allandale25]

^ from what I read part of the options to be studied will be HOV? Maybe benefit a Bramalea Zum.

 

[kamira51]

Brampton is so poorly developed, I don't know if even toronto levels of transit can fix it because of the layout.

 

[Allandale25]

^ It is a challenge in a suburban context, but if you provide more service you can actually increase transit ridership grow faster than the population increase. That's a form of success.

Brampton Transit’s evolution from a laggard to a leader

For TVO this week, I discuss Brampton Transit’s impressive ridership growth. In the last five years, Brampton Transit has bucked the trend of stagnant ridership numbers encountered elsewhere …

seanmarshall.ca

Ridership

Yearly ridership statistics.

www.brampton.ca

Brampton Still Has the Fastest Growing Transit System in Canada

Repeating the trends set last year, Brampton Transit has continued to lead transit growth in the GTA, with a recorded 14 per cent increase in ridership between 2017 and 2018. Brampton Transit also hit another milestone in 2018, with a whopping 31,239,074 rides recorded as of December. As usual...

bramptonist.com

https://www.emtracsystems.com/news/case-study-brampton-ontario-bus-rapid-transit.html (chart below)

https://www.tvo.org/article/the-secret-behind-bramptons-transit-success (charts below)

 

[Northern Light]

^ from what I read part of the options to be studied will be HOV? Maybe benefit a Bramalea Zum.

HOV by converting existing lanes..........shrug...sure.

I have yet to see the concept work here, unless we mean transit-only lanes.

But I'd be loathe to support even those as a widening.

Again, in lieu of existing lanes, sure.

Six lane roads simply aren't a good answer, its very hard to make them walkable; it would very expensive to even try (lots of expropriation)

 

[Haydenpoon]

Slide 22

To support future growth and travel demands within the City of Brampton, and to improve capacity along the Bramalea Road corridor, the following combination of alternative solutions are recommended to allow flexibility to address the identified problems and opportunities:

• Transportation Demand Management
• Active transportation improvements (pedestrian and cyclists)
• Widen the northern portion of the corridor to accommodate transit queue jump lanes
• Widen the southern portion of the corridor to accommodate 4 general purpose lanes and due to closely spaced intersections, queue jump lanes are extended throughout as continuous transit lanes

This combination of alternative solutions will prioritize the needs for pedestrians, cyclists, transit then auto users, providing sufficient capacity for future growth and development in the City.

The fourth point on slide 22 is basically saying 6 lanes south of Dearbourne Blvd and it will be transit-only not HOV. Yet widening to 6 lanes (Alternative 7 in slide 21) is not recommended

 

[Allandale25]

^ They've also got a video version.

 

[Northern Light]

Slide 22

The fourth point on slide 22 is basically saying 6 lanes south of Dearbourne Blvd and it will be transit-only not HOV. Yet widening to 6 lanes (Alternative 7 in slide 21) is not recommended

Better than I might have hoped.

Still have concerns.

Queue jump lanes, + 2 travel lanes each way, + a left-turn lane is a very large intersection to cross for pedestrians and hard to make pleasant on a sidewalk.

Where those lanes are permanent transit lanes, + a left turn lane, you'd be at 7 lanes.

****

Tangentially, are there plans to grade-separate that rail crossing?

 

[Allandale25]

^ Which rail crossing? The one for the industrial spur?

 

[Student99]

Brampton has the worst gridlock I've ever experienced. It can take forever to get anywhere during peak hours.
I don't think widening Bramalea Rd is the most ideal... better measures should have been taken in Brampton's infancy. One thing I wish they had would be service roads on either side of Highway 410 (much like the service roads alongside the QEW). Any time there is a 410 issue these could be made use of. I would also support the use of the metered traffic lights on ramps to the 410 in peak hours, again, much like parts of the QEW in Mississauga.
Widening Bramalea Rd is pointless because it has a ton of traffic lights anyways. That's not going to make commuting all that easier to be honest.

 

[Northern Light]

^ Which rail crossing? The one for the industrial spur?

Yes, that was what I was thinking of; but I'm only realizing now its essentially in the intersection w/Steeles.

What a terrible choice there.

I'm not sure if that spur always had that alignment; or if Steeles always had its current alignment; but they are way too close together.

I can see what I believe to be former ROW just a bit further north, just east of Bramalea Rd.

That would have been a better alignment to reach the main corridor.

*****

Ya know, looking at this area, I was struck by the awful treatment of Etobicoke Creek, just west of Bramalea Rd.

So, just out of curiosity, I looked at the floodplain map for the area..........

Eeesh, how was this kind of planning ever allowed?

Look at the flood-risk area: (everything in Blue)

 

[ShonTron]

That's a minor tributary of Etobicoke Creek. It also passes under taxiways and runways at Pearson Airport before joining the main creek itself.

The rail spur was laid out in the very early 1960s, when Bramalea was just getting started, and it was always there (and so was Steeles, which was a two-lane county road then). As there are still several customers who get rail shipments along the spur, it's not going away anytime soon.