The City of Mississauga gave staff the green light to enter into a cost-sharing agreement with Metrolinx for the preliminary design and assessment of the Dundas Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor.

The corridor is a priority transit project for the city. It is also a key element of Metrolinx’s 2041 Regional Transportation Plan. Metrolinx recently completed an initial business case for the Dundas corridor from Kipling Station in the City of Toronto, through the City of Mississauga, Halton Region and the Village of Waterdown in the City of Hamilton.

Last year, the city submitted an application for funding to the public transit stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) that was focused on developing bus priority infrastructure on a two-kilometre segment of the Lakeshore Road corridor and on a seven-kilometre segment of the Dundas Street corridor.

The city’s rapid transit office has been working with Metrolinx project planning staff. It released a joint procurement for the Dundas BRT Corridor preliminary design and project assessment on June 19.

“The overall work is based on the full Metrolinx corridor,” said Jerry Che, the manager of rapid transit with the City of Mississauga. “Both Metrolinx and city teams have worked cooperatively on a cost sharing agreement and procurement package to advance the Dundas BRT Corridor development, resulting in mutual cost savings for both the city and Metrolinx.”

The next phase of work for the Dundas BRT corridor will be undertaken in cooperation with Metrolinx to complete the preliminary design and transit project assessment process for the corridor and will include a public engagement plan that adheres to any municipal COVID-19 requirements.

Public engagement for this phase of work is expected in late 2020 or early 2021.

Through negotiations with Metrolinx, the city will be responsible for about 21 percent of the overall study costs—or about half the costs associated with the Mississauga segment. The Metrolinx procurement also advances some costly eligible elements such as detailed utility mapping and topographical survey work within the shared budget envelope to better position this project for the ICIP funding and timelines.

“The city will cost-share the components and manage the study elements for the Mississauga segment to ensure they satisfy application requirements and timelines,” said Che.

The city and Metrolinx have also been working together on the details of the study procurement documents which have now been released to the market by Metrolinx. Procurement is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.

The Dundas BRT project is one element of the Dundas Connects Master Plan, which aims to guide future urban growth and intensification along the Dundas Street Corridor. The plan supports major improvements to transportation, land use and the public realm. Highlights include: encouraging mixed-use development that supports transit, creating more open spaces and community facilities, maintaining existing and supporting new affordable housing, and providing safe cycling infrastructure along the length of the Dundas Street Corridor.

From end-to-end, the Dundas Corridor runs 17 kilometres from Oakville in the west to Toronto in the east.