Ontario city bumps LRT off main drag

City leaders in Brampton, Ontario, voted on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2014, to banish any portion of the Hurontario-Main Light Rail Transit Project from the city's Main Street, despite the preference of regional transit agency Metrolinx to place the line on the major thoroughfare.

Key city councilors suggest LRT can run either underground or on one of several other alternate alignments. The full City Council is expected to endorse such a recommendation next week.

Local media reported Brampton Planning Chief Marilyn Ball told councillors there were 11 alternatives examined in depth by the consultant, including digging under the city’s historic downtown core and taking the trains underground, but when asked if any were viable, she hinted it will come down to cost.

Metrolinx’s recommended route aligns LRT up Hurontario Street, from the Port Credit GO Transit station in Mississauga to Brampton’s downtown GO Transit station. Brampton officials have stressed they support LRT, but not trains on the recommended route, among other objections citing potential business disruption and possible damage to structures in the city’s historic neighborhood.

Metrolinx gave its official support for the 14.2-mile, C$1.6 billion LRT line in late 2012, designed to link Brampton with Mississauga, Ontario, Canada’s six largest city. Both cities lie just west of Toronto. Last winter preliminary design and environmental assessment work for the Hurontario-Main Light Rail Transit Project was completed.