5 Big Developments Coming to Brampton

Published December 20, 2017 at 1:30 am

It’s no secret that Brampton is a city that’s growing rapidly. We’re Canada’s ninth largest city with almost 600,000 people, we have one of the youngest populations in Canada, and we aren’t stopping there. 

There are a ton of exciting projects in store for Brampton over the next few years — in ten years, chances are Brampton will look nothing like it does today!

But that’s a good thing. The City is setting Brampton up to be “future-ready,” complete with new developments like a huge new university, two full hospitals, and so much more. 

Here are five big developments coming to Brampton:


5) Downtown Brampton streetscape upgrades

Did you know that the city and the Region of Peel are embarking on a multi-year project to create a vibrant urban centre in downtown Brampton? Well, there are two parts to this project: first, the city and Peel Region will revamp the watermains and sewers, and second, they will upgrade the streetscape downtown to have wider sidewalks, mountable curbs, bollards, fixed seating, new paving, lighting, and planting concepts, more public art, and an enhanced overpass on Nelson Street. The most controversial has been the elimination of street parking that’s coming. The street parking areas are likely to be replaced with an on-road 1.5 metre cycle lane or a raised 1.5 metre cycle lane for safe cycling. 

A redesign of the sanitary sewer and watermain works is planned for construction in 2018, and the streetscape improvements are scheduled for construction in 2019. The downtown streetscape project sits at an estimated $25 million, not including engineering costs, or the sanitary sewer and watermain works project.


4) The Riverwalk

The Riverwalk project sits at an estimated $200 million for a long-term solution to flood risk in Brampton. It’ll run along the Etobicoke River floodplain, aiming to increase potential for urban development and, ultimately, make Brampton more healthy, sustainable and resilient, says the city.

“It will put the creek back at the heart of downtown, creating a vibrant new space that provides a distinct identity for [Brampton],” says the City. 

An Environmental Assessment for flood mitigation measures is slated to begin in 2018, so this project is a few years down the road, as well.


3) A Ryerson-Sheridan university partnership

On March 14, 2017, after much excitement about Brampton’s upcoming university, Mayor Linda Jeffrey revealed that the new post-secondary institution in Brampton would be a partnership between Ryerson University and Sheridan College. It’ll be a very hands-on facility focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics–or “STEAM.” It has since been revealed that the campus will be located in downtown Brampton and could cost up to $150 million. The province will want to move forward fairly quickly with the project, with it likely starting in the 2020s. So, we’re still some years away.


2) A stop on the Hurontario Light-Rail Transit (LRT) system

The Hurontario LRT project is part of the largest infrastructure investment in Ontario’s history and the province is providing $1.4 billion to build it in Mississauga and southern Brampton. The stop will officially be located at Brampton Gateway Terminal, a big transit hub in Brampton, and the LRT will run down Hurontario to Port Credit GO. Brampton famously turned down additional funding to carry the route further down Main Street into the city’s downtown core. 

For those who are unaware, the Hurontario LRT project includes approximately 20 kilometres of new dedicated rapid transit  in southern Brampton, with 22 stops and connections to GO Transit’s Milton and Lakeshore West lines.

The LRT could be completed and useable by 2022.


1) Two fully functioning hospitals

After a woman was stuck on a stretcher in the hallway at Brampton Civic for five days earlier this year and a whopping 4,352 patients were stuck on hallway stretchers at Brampton Civic during Code Gridlock (extreme overcrowding) for 65 days from January through April this year, often for anywhere from 40-70 hours at a time, the City and the Province had to respond to the fact that there are not enough funded beds at Brampton Civic to support our growing population. Now, 37 new beds are coming to Brampton Civic and Peel Memorial is set to turn into a full hospital — most would say, finally. 

Over all, more inpatient services, including complex continuing care and rehabilitation for patients and their families, have been confirmed for Phase 2. As well, over 100 new rehabilitation and complex continuing care beds have been promised.

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