Halton-Peel Freeway (MTO/Region of Peel, Proposal)

[Platform 27]

I have lived there nearly all my life and and have witnessed the growth and the impact it has on quality of life........I also happen to work in an industry sector where, pretty near, all of the jobs are downtown Toronto. So for several decades I have seen the drive to and from Brampton to the financial core of Toronto grow from 35-40 minutes to now, typically, 1 hour and 20 minutes....and it is only growing in one direction.

If you're commuting into and out of the core at the peak of rush hour, then why on earth aren't you always taking, you know, the large green train that does that exact same trip multiple times? I know you've recently posted about delays on the Georgetown line, but surely if you're willing to spend 1 hr 20 minutes making the trip, you can handle 45 minutes plus the occasional curve-ball?

What is "fairly irritating" to me is how the Province can take a suburban city of +/- 500k which has such lousy links (transit and road) to Toronto and then designate it as a "place to grow" without some sort of solutions that will allow the free (or freer) flow of people and goods to and from that city.

Solutions like, say, the oodles of filthy baby-killing trains that will be running up and down the Georgetown South corridor to serve said "place to grow"?

All-day service is coming to Brampton in what, the spring? Yes, some places are very hard done-by when it comes to transit options in the GTA, but the Brampton to Toronto corridor certainly isn't one of them.

 

[TOareaFan]

If you're commuting into and out of the core at the peak of rush hour, then why on earth aren't you always taking, you know, the large green train that does that exact same trip multiple times? I know you've recently posted about delays on the Georgetown line, but surely if you're willing to spend 1 hr 20 minutes making the trip, you can handle 45 minutes plus the occasional curve-ball?

Never meant this to get personal but since you ask.....the reason that I don't use the "large green train" (fyi your humour comes across in type as condescending and mocking) is because, simply, it stops running long before, either, my work day ends or rush hour ends....simple.

Solutions like, say, the oodles of filthy baby-killing trains that will be running up and down the Georgetown South corridor to serve said "place to grow"?

Now you are confusing me.....either the "large green trains" are the solution I should be taking or they are baby killers. If your first comment was meant to mock me out of my car onto the GO.....connecting me to baby killing by doing so is gonna lessen the chance that I do it!

All-day service is coming to Brampton in what, the spring?

You are the first person I have heard say that all day service is coming to Brampton in the Spring. I have asked GO (and there is no answer) when even the limited service that currently stops at Bramalea (and is by no means all day) would come to Brampton and they have not detailed this. If you are correct then I will have the choice between shortening my commute and baby killing but I have not heard that at all.

Yes, some places are very hard done-by when it comes to transit options in the GTA, but the Brampton to Toronto corridor certainly isn't one of them.

Really? Then tell me, if you would, where all the other larger communities are that have one highway connection to the road network AND very limited GO service AND populations of 500,000 people?

There are challenges all over the GTA but if the challenges of Brampton are just dismissed as people not being "hard don-by" then we have very little hope.

 

[ShonTron]

Halton Hills (which includes Georgetown and Acton, and a large rural area in-between, former Equesing Township, and its hamlets such as Limehouse, Norval and Ballinfad, is amongst the two largest municipalities in Ontario without local transit (the other is Caledon). I'd like to see Halton Hills and Caledon commit to local transit, even if it were contracted to Brampton. Only Georgetown, Valleyfield and Bolton could support it right now, and all three would easily be served by new BT routes, or even extensions of some existing routes (ie 7 and/or 25 into Valleyfield).

I'd have more respect for Metrolinx if it did put effort into establishing (even against their own will) local transit. Even Durham Region, the laggard of the GTA, has provided transit into towns much smaller than Bolton or Georgetown and exceeded by far their (admittedly poor) ridership projections.

Is it sad that it is far easier (and cheaper) to take local transit from Belleville to Picton than from Bolton to Bramalea City Centre, Humber College, or Woodbridge?

 

[Millstone]

The growth was poorly planned, yes, but that is no reason to punish the people who live there for the rest of eternity.

Why not? You bought the land.

 

[hwy7]

Halton Hills (which includes Georgetown and Acton, and a large rural area in-between, former Equesing Township, and its hamlets such as Limehouse, Norval and Ballinfad, is amongst the two largest municipalities in Ontario without local transit (the other is Caledon). I'd like to see Halton Hills and Caledon commit to local transit, even if it were contracted to Brampton.

I would love to see some kind of local transit in Halton Hills, but there is much weeping and gnashing of teeth every time the idea comes up.

 

[GraphicMatt]

I would love to see some kind of local transit in Halton Hills, but there is much weeping and gnashing of teeth every time the idea comes up.

I love in the last letter when the writer says that the "crime rate in Brampton in Bramalea is crazy" and then posits that public transit linking Halton Hills to Brampton would just bring more crime in, as clearly criminals are often in the habit of waiting for an hourly bus, commuting in, robbing a house, waiting for an hourly bus, then returning home with all their loot.

 

[TOareaFan]

Why not? You bought the land.

nothwithstanding that I, personally, have lived in town for over 37 years (ie. the poor planned growth grew around me) it is still a lousy sentiment to say....too bad, so sad you bought it live with it while we go and improve the lots of others.

For one, I am sure that no individual bought their homes in Brampton under the assumption that the transit and road planning in the area would be allowed to fall so far behind the homes. Those people were, simply, buying a home for their family to live in. I personally have letters in a file in the basement that are over 25 years old that say (paraphrased) "don't worry, we are working on improving the transit and all day GO will come soon" and these letters were not from builders/developers but from government type folks.....so punishing homeowners forever seems a bit ludicrous.

Secondly, aside from it being wrong to ignore the transit needs of a city of such size (the 3rd biggest in the GTA) hurts the entire region. How many lost fares are there to help GO balance the books a bit more because the commuters from such a large part of the population largely ignore GO because the service is so limited? How much productivity is lost because of the additional contribution they make to road congestion?

It is so simplistic to say "you bought it, you live with it" and, I would say, wrong.

 

[Platform 27]

Now you are confusing me.....either the "large green trains" are the solution I should be taking or they are baby killers. If your first comment was meant to mock me out of my car onto the GO.....connecting me to baby killing by doing so is gonna lessen the chance that I do it!

That was a reference to the rhetoric put out by the Weston folks about how (a) there were way more trains being added to the corridor in the future than was, in their opinion, necessary, and (b) that these would predominantly hurt their children.

You are the first person I have heard say that all day service is coming to Brampton in the Spring. I have asked GO (and there is no answer) when even the limited service that currently stops at Bramalea (and is by no means all day) would come to Brampton and they have not detailed this. If you are correct then I will have the choice between shortening my commute and baby killing but I have not heard that at all.

Sounds like GO's PR people are asleep at the wheel. The Georgetown North project has been running for almost 18 months now. The official line is that reno work at Brampton and Mt. Pleasant station is supposed to be finished by February, but I think drum118 might have noted at some point that they looked a little behind. I'm not sure how long after that it will be before more trains start running, but it should be soon.

 

[hwy7]

Sounds like GO's PR people are asleep at the wheel. The Georgetown North project has been running for almost 18 months now. The official line is that reno work at Brampton and Mt. Pleasant station is supposed to be finished by February, but I think drum118 might have noted at some point that they looked a little behind. I'm not sure how long after that it will be before more trains start running, but it should be soon.

I hope it's soon, but I read this on Steve Munro's blog:

During the Oct. 20 meeting, Gary McNeil stated that GO has no plans to add more service on the Georgetown South line until 2015, because the corridor construction will cause severe restrictions on our ability to provide more services.

I read that to mean "no additional trips until 2015," but I could be (and hope I am) misinterpreting it.

 

[andomano]

I read that to mean "no additional trips until 2015," but I could be (and hope I am) misinterpreting it.

You're not misinterpreting it... GO can't add more trains without impeding on the construction schedule.

 

[TOareaFan]

You're not misinterpreting it... GO can't add more trains without impeding on the construction schedule.

but they could (no?) extend any and all trains that currently terminate at Bramalea out to Brampton and Mt. Pleasant (and possibly Georgetown)....that would not change, at all, the number of trains going through the south end construction sites.....but it would mark a major improvement to the Brampton folks who live west and north west of Bramalea....particularly that high growth NW part of town that would be particulalry interested in this proposed new highway (see that nifty way of getting this back on topic about the "freeway").

 

[unimaginative2]

^Yeah, my memory might be fuzzy but I remember the Eves government mentioning that any future freeway projects would be PPP-developed toll roads. That was something I would have actually supported the Conservatives on.

I'm with you on that. I might even go a step further. What about tolling existing highway segments that are heavily upgraded, at least until they're paid for. If they could get the widening of the 401 done west of the 410/403 to Milton in a couple years, I'd gladly pay a few bucks to save an hour. If I'm in a rush, I often divert to the 407 anyway.

 

[GTA]

Thank You for this information as friends
www.topix.com/forum/ca/norval-on/T3UB3RPE7SLMPTDCC
of ours called the Metroland Missed News controlled by
www.topix.net/forum/ca/halton-hills-on-georgetown/TRANJRJ01ETQQEGJO
or this article proably wouldn't even have appeared &
www.topix.com/forum/ca/halton/T74FH40QGGJMHS7IK
the hodge podge of projects are so disjointed we're ending up with this
http://www.topix.net/forum/ca/halton-hills-on-georgetown/THDAKRUOV664MTCK7

 

[waterloowarrior]

The final report was released in May (28 MB PDF)

Report calls for new freeway and Norval bypass
http://www.insidehalton.com/news/article/805719--report-calls-for-new-freeway-and-norval-bypass

A new north/south freeway on the east side of Halton Hills and a Norval bypass are among the new roads recommended in the Halton-Peel Boundary Area Transportation Study Final Report.

The report outlines $629 million in new roads and road improvements within the study area (between King St. to the north, approximately Hwy. 401 to the south, Trafalgar Rd. to the west and Chinguacousy Rd. to the east) by 2031 to accommodate the expected tripling of the population to 295,700 (from 91,200 in 2006).

New roads recommended in the study include:

• A north-south transportation corridor— the Halton-Peel freeway connecting Hwys. 401 and 407 in Halton to the south (in the Ninth Line area) and a potential interlink with the Greater Toronto West multi-modal corridor in the north

• An east-west connection (Norval bypass) which would link Georgetown and Brampton via the Guelph St./Bovaird Dr. Corridor (Hwy. 7)

• Bram West Parkway— which would connect to Hwy. 407 and the Halton-Peel Freeway in Brampton

• Norval West Bypass— four-lane arterial road bypass, west of Norval, running between Hwy. 7 and 10 Sideroad

• Winston Churchill Blvd. Bypass— from 10 Sideroad to existing Winston Churchill Blvd. constructed as a four-lane arterial road.

Tim Dennis, Halton Region’s Director of Transportation Services, said it’s not known specifically when the new roads would be built, but the study says they are required by 2031.

The exact alignment for the new roads will be determined through an environmental assessment, said Dennis.

The study also identified improvements to existing roads in Halton and Peel. In Halton they include:

• widening of Steeles Ave. from west of Winston Churchill Blvd. to Milton from the planned four lanes to six lanes

• widening of Trafalgar Rd. from two to four lanes, from Steeles Ave to Maple Ave.

• widening of Winston Churchill Blvd from two to six lanes, from Hwy. 401 to Five Sideroad, and from two to six lanes from Five Sideroad to the junction with the Winston Churchill bypass

• widening of 10 Sideroad from two to six lanes from Trafalgar Rd. to Winston Churchill Bypass/Norval West Bypass

• reconstruction of Eighth Line and 10th Line between Steeles Ave. and 10 Sideroad

The report also includes transit services:

• Steeles Ave. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service extension further west from its currently planned western terminus at Lisgar Go station to possibly Milton GO station by 2031

• inter-regional transit service on Guelph St.- Bovaird Dr.corridor, connecting Brampton with Georgetown by 2021

• Ninth Line/Mountainview Rd. transit service by 2031

• HOV lanes and transit service on the Halton-Peel Freeway synchronized with the construction and opening of sections of the Halton-Peel freeway

• carpool lot to be constructed and synchronized with the opening of sections of the Halton-Peel freeway and the provision of transit service

• transit in existing and planned development areas

The Halton-Peel Boundary Area Transportation Study is a joint study undertaken by Peel and Halton Regions, the City of Brampton and Towns of Halton Hills and Caledon. It is to provide a master plan for the study area in light of the Province’s Places to Grow plan, Metrolinx’s Regional Transportation Plan and the Province’s environmental assessment currently underway for a potential GTA West Corridor.

Halton Hills Council and Halton Region’s Planning and Public Works Committee will both have staff reports before them this week recommending endorsing the study, approving it as a long-term transportation master plan for the area, and directing staff to participate in formulating a memorandum of understanding between all the study partners to determine a framework for implementing the study improvements.

Dennis said Region staff is to report back to Council in the fall on when the Environmental Assessment will begin and how the projects will be financed.

The study recommends the Halton Peel Freeway be funded by presumably the Provincial government.

 

[nfitz]

The final report was released in May

Great post. But a warning to anyone else who clicks on that link ... it's a 28 MB PDF file.