A tractor digs into dirt as crews look on.

Medians removed for Hurontario LRT project

Here’s the difference a clean-slate looks along one of Ontario’s great urban thoroughfares.

Oct 16, 2020

It’s an extra- large amount of work on medians.

Crews continue to shatter and haul away medians built along the Hurontario light rail transit (LRT) route. The divides, used to separate opposing traffic lanes along Hurontario Street, will be replaced by the tracks and stations and equipment needed to run the new transit system.

Debris is loaded into a truck.

Debris is loaded into a truck. In a future story, we’ll look at what happens to much of that waste. (Metrolinx photo)

But getting rid of that much concrete and debris doesn’t just happen with a single hammer and elbow grease. Inch by inch and foot by foot, crews are having to break apart and haul away the medians, which are mixed, including flat and raised surfaces.

They are all being leveled down to the road’s surface.

Crews use machines to chip concrete.

Crews hack away at the old center divides. (Metrolinx photo)

Once the process is complete, these areas will be converted to a roadway to ensure traffic keeps moving during construction of the new transit line.

A tractor digs into dirt as crews look on.

A machine does work after medians have been removed along Hurontario Street. (Metrolinx Photo)

As the images show, the work is heavy and impressive, changing what drivers – and soon enough, riders using the Hurontario LRT – see out of their windows as they travel along between the two Ontario cities of Brampton and Mississauga.

pavement being put down.

What it begins to look like, once the median is gone. (Metrolinx photo)

By the way, we’ll soon have an interesting story, about what happens to much of the waste and debris collected for projects like the Hurontario LRT.