Mississauga to add lanes to Aquitaine, Argentia
A recent public forum on the City of Mississauga’s plans to permanently keep new bike lanes on Meadowvale-area streets received both criticism and some support from attendees.
At issue was the ongoing debate about the reconfiguration of Aquitaine Avenue (from Tenth Line West to Millcreek Drive), Argentia Road ( east of Winston Churchill Boulevard to Turner Valley Road) and Millcreek Drive (Derry Road West to Britannia Road West). These three roads, all in Ward 9, were selected because they are all up for rehabilitation.
On June 11, residents attended the Meadowvale Community Centre to offer feedback specifically on the Aquitaine project – which sees the road changed into three lanes plus a cycle track.
“We didn’t decide on it. We didn’t get to vote on it. We didn’t get told about it until it happened and then we didn’t know what was going on,” said resident Jim Southward. “I don’t appreciate bike lanes, not knowing about them or not having a say in any of it especially when my taxes went up 10%.”
The concerns about rising taxes being used to fund the lanes was a concern echoed by other residents.
“When this was presented a year ago, I looked at it and said I don’t think this will work,” said resident Jim Moore. “At Aquitaine, there are tremendous line-ups of vehicles going back and forth. And if you want to make a left-hand turn, you will have to wait two to three revolutions of the light changing because of the volume of the traffic. So, money being spent on this is a waste.” Moore added that it is important to educate both children and adults about traffic rules.
Meanwhile, attendee Cary is a cycle enthusiast who supports the lanes. “There will be people who use it and people who will oppose it. But it is going to need a lot of education,” said Cary. “If you educate people at a young age to use cycles, then this will be a good plan for the city. But we have a city that’s built on a cool car culture. How do you shift that narrative?”
Some residents suggested that the current pilot project configurations could work for Aquitaine Avenue, which is residential, but they did not make sense for Millcreek Drive and Argentia Road, which are industrial, and therefore the project should be discontinued.
Local councillor Martin Reid was on hand to engage with constituents. “We’re at a point where this pilot project is coming to a close and we had to make some decisions on what the final build is going to look like, so we wanted to make sure that we had recorded everyone’s input on that.” Councillor Reid considered the turnout strong and exceeded expectations and said all responses will be taken into consideration. Councillor Reid however did note that any final construction of bike lanes would not take place for a while, until 2029. “The final build has been delayed due to the region doing their wastewater and their sewer infrastructure under the road,” he explained.
