Sometime between 2016 and 2020 Canada’s Greenest Town will be home to a new Superhighway (413) and proxy to a Light Rail System that will run between the Lakeshore Go Station and the Brampton Go Station. What will this mean for the citizens of Caledon? Will we be the beneficiaries or will we just be the related in-law footing a good part of the bill and inhaling all that extra exhaust?
Can we expect simple things like upgraded traffic lights at our major intersections? Perhaps illuminated, electronically-friendly, covered Go Bus shelters with proper (secure) European-style bike racks (rental bikes are an option in the villages & stations)? Or a more user-friendly schedule (enhanced frequency) that encourages people of all ages (and affordability) to better utilize the system?
The new airport monorail air link (currently under construction) will be ferrying people
(+25,000) to at least 3 train/Go link terminals throughout the full daily tenure of planes landing at Pearson International Airport. This would most certainly imply that there would be a more regular and extended service for the peripheral light rail and bus routes. Just imagine, rain or shine, the ability to travel to downtown Toronto to watch a show, go shopping, cheer for the Jays, visit a museum, attend school, or go to work, all for the price of a monthly Presto pass. Traveling with the full knowledge that you can do it with the convenience and safety of a regularly traversed 18-hours per day public transport system.
Further, these scheduled transport enhancements certainly imply that the lands in relatively close proximity to the new highway and the LRT will be rezoned. Hopefully this inevitable rezoning will trend towards educational, institutional, mixed-use residential, and prestige industrial lands as opposed to the transport-oriented big box warehousing that is so commonplace today.
Let’s give our young people something to be proud about. Here is an opportunity to create value-added jobs right here in south Caledon, whether it is something affiliated with the aviation business (Caledon Airport), health care givers and technicians, technology, bio-medical, or construction related skills. Let’s speak out, whether pro or con, for Change is Coming, and the choices are relatively simple: either sit on your hands or join the chorus for positive change and take full advantage of this burgeoning opportunity to help shape the future community of your dreams
Antidotally, the GTA’s population is configured to double by 2025. Let’s work together to protect those things we cherish and hold dear, but also let us be pragmatic to the realities of our changing landscape.
Wishing everyone a most prosperous, healthy and Happy New Year!
-Tom
This is a request, looking into the future, to have illuminated Go bus stations placed at our major crossroads along Hwy 10, i.e. at Old School Rd for all the residents of Strawberry Fields, at Olde Base Line for the Village of Inglewood, at Caledon Village, and at King St for residents of Campbells Cross.
For more information click the links below:
GTA West Corridor: Preliminary Route Planning Study Area
http://www.metrolinx.com/thebigmove/Docs/big_move/TheBigMove_020109.pdf