McMaster University looking at another Cootes Drive entrance

A second Cootes Drive vehicle entrance to McMaster University, as well as a transportation hub to support LRT at Cootes and Main Street, are among new additions to the school’s updated campus master plan.

The second entrance is planned for Cootes and College Crescent between the existing Cootes Drive offramp and the corner of Main and Cootes.

The placement of the entrance is just south of the pedestrian-controlled traffic light on Cootes Drive and would be the access for all HSR and GO buses. Two Cootes entrances would continue to operate according to the campus master plan — one apparently accessing campus parking and the other for a transportation hub.

“With the re-focusing of the University Avenue/Main Street entrance as a pedestrian gateway, the majority of vehicles (including all buses) will enter campus at College Crescent,” states the new master plan, introduced to the university planning committee last month.

The second Cootes Drive vehicle access, closer to the corner, appears to provide the main vehicle access to the planned transportation hub. That proposed hub would be built on the existing parking lot at the corner of Cootes and Main West. The proposed new Cootes Drive entrance is apparently related to the proposed transportation hub — and therefore the province’s LRT proposal — so Metrolinx is taking the lead on any changes to Cootes Drive at Sanders Boulevard and College Crescent.

Anne-Marie Aikins of Metrolinx said it’s too early to say whether the proposed new access can be located where McMaster wants, whether it will require removing the existing pedestrian-controlled traffic light, or what other impacts there might be on Cootes Drive.

McMaster University communications director Gord Arbeau agreed it’s still too early to say what changes would be needed on Cootes Drive — if the second entrance and transportation hub does indeed move forward.

“This is a very preliminary concept at this point in time,” he added.