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QEW Credit River Heritage Bridge - PROJECT UPDATE

February 2020 - TOPCA is in receipt of a new Letter (February 13, 2020) (1p PDF) from the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) via their consultant, confirming reversal of the MTO decision conveyed by Letter (October 25, 2019) (2p PDF) to demolish the QEW Heritage Bridge contrary to six years of prior public consultation to preserve it.

EXCERPT: "On December 18, 2019, the Ontario Government announced the commitment to rehabilitate the historic Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) Credit River Bridge in the City of Mississauga.  As such, the Transportation Environmental Study Report (TESR) Addendum process has been cancelled and the project will proceed in accordance with the approved TESR filed in 2013." - February 13, 2020

► At Left: MTO Project Update Letter (February 13, 2020).  Click image to zoom.

NOTE: TOPCA is still pursuing our Freedom of Information (FOI) request filed November 28, 2019, for any existing documents which might have influenced MTO's decision to demolish the heritage bridge.  The FOI Office has now asked for three (3) extensions beyond their mandated 30-day turnaround, to April 3, 2020.  See updates at the Home Page posting.



QEW - Credit River Bridge Project

MTO ANNOUNCEMENT - December 18, 2019:  The Executive of the Town of Port Credit Association (TOPCA) is pleased with today’s provincial announcement via MTO: “Ontario Preserving Historic Bridge in Mississauga: Province will rehabilitate the QEW bridge over Credit River.”

► View: TOPCA Statement (December 20, 2019) in response.

December 20, 2019 - "The TOPCA Executive is gratified by the recent provincial Announcement that “Ontario's government is moving forward with rehabilitating the bridge on the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) over the Credit River in Mississauga” and that all design and construction elements have reverted to the original project parameters. Demolition and replacement of the bridge will not take place."



QEW Credit River Bridge - DEMOLITION?

CHANGE OF PLANS!?  RECEIVED SUDDENLY: Notice of Study Commencement – Transportation Environmental Study Report (TESR) Addendum Study; and Public Information Centre (PIC) for the QEW Credit River Bridge *REPLACEMENT* Project.

► NOTICE re PIC: Nov 7 2019 (2p PDF; rec'd Oct. 28, 2019).

NOTE: This project originally involved the rehabilitation of the existing Credit River Bridge, built in 1934 as an open spandrel concrete arch bridge, and officially designated under the provincial Heritage Act.  Construction of a new (second) Credit River bridge is still planned on the north side of the heritage bridge and needs to be built first.

MTO PROJECT TEAM UPDATE: "Rehabilitation / repair (while technically feasible) is no longer recommended.  Instead, the Province has chosen to take an alternative approach to life cycle asset management through demolition and replacement of the existing QEW Credit River Bridge rather than rehabilitation / repair of the bridge."

► Project Letter (Oct. 25, 2019) announcing Demolition Plan (2p PDF; rec'd Oct. 28, 2019).

MTO P.I.C. WAS HELD: November 7, 2019 @ 4-8 pm at Anapilis Halls, 2185 Stavebank Road.  TOPCA reps attended and made comment, as did our Ward 1 Councillor Stephen Dasko.

Public comments were to be submitted until November 29, 2019 by email to Qazi Nasrullah, M.Eng., P.Eng. Senior Project Engineer (Design and Construction) Ministry of Transportation.   ► TOPCA made a written submission by the deadline (see below).

► MTO Project information: See the renamed QEW/Credit River Improvement Project website.  NOTE: Display Boards, Notes and Presentations from all previous consultations and PICs have been removed.



TOPCA'S WRITTEN SUBMISSION:  TOPCA sent a formal written response to MTO on November 29, 2019, per the set deadline.  We included all the public comments appearing under our Facebook postings concerning demolition of the QEW Credit River Heritage Bridge.

Subsequent to emailing the submission to Qazi Nasrullah, M.Eng., P.Eng. Senior Project Engineer (Design and Construction) Ministry of Transportation, we received written confirmation that our submission has been received and will be addressed:

"Thank-you for your interest in the QEW Improvements Project.  We are preparing a response to the comments you have provided at the recent Public Information Centre, as well as additional comments provided via e-mail correspondence."
 -- QN, December 3, 2019

► View: TOPCA's Submission to MTO (Nov. 29, 2019) (2p PDF) re: QEW Credit River bridge.



TOPCA DEPUTATION: TOPCA reps registered on the Mississauga Council Additional AGENDA: November 20, 2019 (Item 7.12) to make a Deputation about the poor public process observed by citizens at MTO's Nov 7th P.I.C.

► View TOPCA Council Deputation (November 20, 2019) re: 'QEW Credit River Bridge Demolition' (22p PDF, including many visuals).

► Please consider making a comment on any of the TOPCA Facebook entries on this matter, to reflect community views.  The TOPCA Deputation is posted on Facebook here.  NOTE: TOPCA Facebook comments here were referenced in our Deputation at the November 20, 2019 Council meeting; we all want to share citizen ideas!



QEW Credit River Heritage Bridge - FOI Request

NEED FOR INFORMATION: Years of citizen consultation went into the final (November 2018) design of the QEW Credit River Bridge project and the resultant RFQ via Infrastructure Ontario in April 2019 (Provincial Government News Release, April 25, 2019).  Now one sudden Public Information Centre (PIC, November 7, 2019), is all that is needed to reverse course?  On what basis?  The "decision" is being presented as fait accompli without any supporting studies.

November 28, 2019 - The TOPCA Executive filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) request ('how to' webpage) for all MTO documentation concerning the announced "decision" to demolish and replace the QEW Heritage Bridge.  TOPCA's F.O.I. Request Form appears below.

We are asking for all Ministry of Transportation (MTO) documentation supporting the recent recommendation made some time in 2019, and announced in a Project Letter: October 25, 2019 (2p PDF) to demolish the QEW Credit River heritage-designated bridge in Mississauga, rather than rehabilitate it per the 2013 TESR and subsequent public consultations up to and including November 2018.

UPDATE: December 18, 2019 - Further to our FOI request filed November 28, 2019, and despite the provincial announcement (December 18, 2019) reversing the demolition decision, we still expect to receive data concerning the present condition of the heritage bridge and recent (2019) feasibility / cost studies comparing rehabilitation versus demolition / replacement.  FOI legislation commits to fulfilling requests within 30 days.  Given the holidays and amount of information sought, TOPCA reps agreed to an extension, to January 31, 2020.

FURTHER UPDATE: - The MTO FOI office requested a 2nd extension, to February 29, 2020.

A formal Letter from the MTO Coordinator, Freedom of Information and Privacy (dated February 21, 2020) has now requested a third extension for an additional six weeks, to April 3, 2020.

► Click images at left to view the 2-page Letter from MTO.



MISSISSAUGA COUNCIL POSITION: Demolition of the Heritage Bridge was on the Mississauga Council AGENDA: November 20, 2019 (Item 7.8).

► View the unanimous Council Motion 0265-2019.

► View the City Press Release (November 22, 2019): Mississauga Council Strongly Objects to Heritage Bridge Demolition by Ministry of Transportation.




COUNCILLORS AT THE BRIDGE: The Mississauga Ward MAP indicates the QEW Credit River Bridge site is at the juncture of Wards 1, 2, 7 and 8.  Councillors Stephen Dasko (Ward 1), Karen Ras (Ward 2), Ron Starr (Ward 6) and Dipika Damerla (Ward 7) visited the bridge site (map) on November 20, 2019 to highlight the City-wide concern about proposed demolition.  This image (with full caption) was published in the Mississauga News article (Nov. 26, 2019): Mississauga council, residents angry at Ford government's plan to demolish QEW heritage bridge.

 


HERITAGE MISSISSAUGA POSITION:  Heritage Mississauga Facebook Page:

"The QEW bridge over the Credit River was originally built in 1934 and is a fine example of Art Deco architecture.  The bridge was rehabilitated and widened in 1960.  The “ER” light standards are replicas of the original light standards from 1940, and were installed along the route in honour of the formal naming of the Queen Elizabeth Way (“ER” referring to “Elizabeth Regina”, in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s mother).  The bridge features a stunning concrete arch structure.  The QEW Credit River Bridge is identified as a Provincial Heritage Property of Provincial Significance under the terms of the Ontario Heritage Act."



ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION: Close-up image of the QEW bridge, highlighting the utility corridor running underneath the deck, previously planned to provide an E-W active transportation connection over the Credit River.

The MTO Project Team says it is still working with the City to incorporate pedestrian + cycling crossings E-W across the Credit River, and N-S over the QEW at Stavebank Road.

Below are concept images presented at the MTO public workshop in December 2017.  There was no sign of these images at the PIC in November 2019.  NOTE: These images have been removed from the MTO project website but have been retained by TOPCA.

 



QEW - CREDIT RIVER BRIDGE PROJECT: PIC #2 (2018)

NOTICE Was received from the Project Team, QEW Credit River Bridge Detail Design (MTO) concerning the second Public Information Centre for the QEW Credit River Bridge project.

DATE:  November 13, 2018 @ 4-8 pm at Anapilis Halls, Hall B, 2185 Stavebank Rd (map).

► Click images to view further details contained on the 2-page NOTICE: Page 1 | Page 2.

This project involves the rehabilitation of the existing (heritage) Credit River Bridge, construction of a new westbound Credit River bridge, improvement to the QEW, and reconstruction of the Mississauga Road Interchange.

This PIC provided the public and other interested stakeholders with an opportunity to review and discuss the study with members of the Project Team who presented the design, provided an overview of environmental mitigation measures and construction sequencing, and discussed next steps.

The Project Team is also working with the City of Mississauga to incorporate the City’s active transportation initiatives for pedestrian + cycling crossings over the Credit River, and the QEW at Stavebank Road as shown in these 2017 concept images: