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QEW Credit River Bridge threatened

And while there has been mention that no one interacts with this bridge because of the lack of trails underneath - there is plenty of space for the credit river trail system to eventually extend under it, and Credit Valley Conservation has a goal of connecting trails from the headlands to Lake Ontario within the next 25 years. http://www.cvcfoundation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Credit-Valley-Trail-Strategy.pdf

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Source: https://www.insauga.com/major-project-underway-in-mississauga
 
And while there has been mention that no one interacts with this bridge because of the lack of trails underneath - there is plenty of space for the credit river trail system to eventually extend under it, and Credit Valley Conservation has a goal of connecting trails from the headlands to Lake Ontario within the next 25 years. http://www.cvcfoundation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Credit-Valley-Trail-Strategy.pdf

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Source: https://www.insauga.com/major-project-underway-in-mississauga

Not likely to happen in the near term, but I would love to see the Mississauga Golf and Country Club returned to nature along the banks of the Credit, roughly 100ha/240 acres it would be an incredible urban nature sanctuary.

Getting the trail through to the south would mean removing homes on one side of the river, and/or massively curtailing back yards, at great expense.............still a nice thought.

When I think of what I want for the rivers of Toronto, I have a few measures in my head of what health looks like; Atlantic salmon spawning, bald eagles nesting, and river otters playing. The Credit has the potential for that; but a lot of $$$ and a few decades will be required to get it there.
 
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Not likely to happen in the near term, but I would love to see the Mississauga Golf and Country Club returned to nature along the banks of the Credit, roughly 100ha/240 acres it would be an incredible urban nature sanctuary.

Getting the trail through to the south would mean removing homes on one side of the river, and/or massively curtailing back yards, at great expense.............still a nice though.

When I think of what I want for the rivers of Toronto, I have a few measures in my head of what health looks like; Atlantic salmon spawning, bald eagles nesting, and river otters playing. The Credit has the potential for that; but a lot of $$$ and a few decades will be required to get it there.

Golf is a rapidly dying sport - especially in high value urban locations. It seems like every urban golf course in the GTA is getting sold off for development, often with significant TRCA dedications involved due to their common ravine settings.

I could see the course get sold off for development on the margins with a good chunk of the lands along the river being renaturalized, much like is happening at Saw-Whet, York Downs, and Glen Abbey. There is a good bit of table lands along Mississauga Road that would be very valuable for large estate like homes, and up along Dundas which could do well as higher density housing for UTM students.
 
Not likely to happen in the near term, but I would love to see the Mississauga Golf and Country Club returned to nature along the banks of the Credit, roughly 100ha/240 acres it would be an incredible urban nature sanctuary.

Getting the trail through to the south would mean removing homes on one side of the river, and/or massively curtailing back yards, at great expense.............still a nice though.

When I think of what I want for the rivers of Toronto, I have a few measures in my head of what health looks like; Atlantic salmon spawning, bald eagles nesting, and river otters playing. The Credit has the potential for that; but a lot of $$$ and a few decades will be required to get it there.

That would really be a fantastic idea. It's a huge golf course that could create a decently sized conservation area. Maybe it would even be a good opportunity for another National Urban Park in the GTA similar to Rouge?

Golf is definitely going the way of the dinosaur these days so it's not out of the question that this golf course could disappear in the future.
 
Or they can just bridge onto the islands in the river and bypass the backyards altogether:
Those aren't "islands" as much as points where the vegetation has temporarily grown above the very low water level, or there's empty mud because the water level is very low. Much of the space is water that is no more than two feet deep, but when it rains heavily it's suddenly seven feet deep
 
Well, who says the pathway can't be more "boardwalk-like"...

While anything is possible w/the political will and the $$$, that is unlikely here.

Putting aside that 'islands' are used by wildlife and the absence of humans (for the most part) is seen as very desirable....

The river depth and current mean full-height protection and industrial support piers.

While a lesser construction boardwalk could cover the land-like area, that would not meet the standards typically employed on a urban site like this.

It would almost certainly be deemed desirable for emergency services to be able to take a vehicle onto a segment that long; that means a choice of vehicle grade concrete supports or deep, heavy-duty helical piles.

The construction cost over such a distance, combined with technical complexity and environmental mitigation would be substantial.

Given that the 'islands' can end up under water, with heavy-current, you're likely looking at caging the entire distance; you're likely into 10's of millions easily.

It can be done, but I doubt it would.

* all of what I've said is based on very crude observation, limited first-hand site knowledge and may be in error; but I do have some experience with similar projects.
 
Was about to post about how sweet that would be to have an elevated boardwalk trail, with similarities to what exists at Brickworks. And that there's ample space to weave it through. But looking at a property map...dang. How is it people can own right up to the water's edge outside a rural area? People even owns parts of the islets! Would've thought TRCA would've rescinded this by decree half a century ago.

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Was about to post about how sweet that would be to have an elevated boardwalk trail, with similarities to what exists at Brickworks. And that there's ample space to weave it through. But looking at a property map...dang. How is it people can own right up to the water's edge outside a rural area? People even owns parts of the islets! Would've thought TRCA would've rescinded this by decree half a century ago.

It speaks to the relative slope of the river bed. Those houses are high enough that there is little or no prospect of flooding, and that is the primary issue to ring bells at TCRA.

Those houses have probably been there for much of those fifty years, too. By the time anyone considered the benefit of retaining the waterway as public land, property values had risen beyond any potential for expropriation - not to mention that those have always been prestige properties. Urban planning has come a long ways in the last half century - but sometimes it’s too late.

- Paul
 
The only people who even see the arches are those in the $5M+ houses nearby and the one or two people you can see kayaking here each day in the summer.

Compare that with 175,000 vehicles driving over it every day.
 
What this bridge needs are service roads on both sides to deal with issues on the QEW, than sending traffic down to the Lakeshore or Up to Dundas. Not only that, there needs to be another road over the river south of the QEW, as well at the Queensway.

Having houses on the edge of the river is no different than most waterfront areas, since there was nothing stopping them when being built other than money.

If you want to see something different, drive the Parkway between Fort Erie and Niagara Falls. On the Canadian side, houses are set back of the road with Millions Dollars homes of huge size, well on the American side where they can, you will find boathouses and homes, but not a princely as Canadian ones.
 
Mineola and Indian Rd should be connected with a bridge, along with the Queensway.

I don't see as much a need for service road connections across the river. The two bridges above should remove most local traffic off the QEW.
 

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