Transportation: Navigating
Orientation
Missisauga and Brampton lie west of the "City of Toronto", and has a number of east-west and north-south roads and highways, resulting from the planning by the early British surveyors in the Upper Canada colonial days. Though the lakeshore at this point is roughly southwest to northeast, most locals conveniently think of the waterfront (and roads running parallel to it) as east-west, and roads running away from it as north-south. Keep in mind that the lake--and the lower ground--is always to the south, and when you see planes in the air, they are heading to or coming from Pearson airport in the northeast part of Mississuaga (which lies to the southeast of Brampton).
There are four major east-west highways, in order from the lakeshore: the Queen Eleizabeth Way (QEW), the 403 (between 9th Line and Cawthra), the 401, and the 407 toll route (which basically runs along the boundary between Missisauga and Brampton, north of the 401).
There are three major north-south highways in the area, the 403/407 along the western boundary of Missisauga, the 403/410 connecting central Missisiauga with Brampton, and the 427, connecting the QEW and lakeshore with the 401, the airport and the 407 by Woodbridge.
To get to the airport, head east until you hit the 427 and then follow the signs. These highways will take you from one corner of Mississauga to the other in about a half hour (longer during rush hour). FoundLocally has more information about the highways.
Numbering on Major Roads
The major east-west roads are continuations of ones starting inside Toronto, and often extend into Oakville and even Burlington. These include (again, starting at and moving away from Lake Ontario) Lakeshore, The Queensway and (after a break) Middle Road, Dundas Street, Burnamthorpe, Eglington, Brittania, Derry (a continuation from Rexdale), and Steeles. In Brampton, the major east-west roads are Steeles, Queen (with major shopping), Bovaird (again, with major shopping), and Mayfield.
The major north-south roads in the area are (from the east in Etobicoke) East Mall & West Mall on both sides of the 427, Airport Road (a continuation of Dixon Rd), Dixie Rd (west of the airport), Tomken (east of the 403/410), Cawthra (south of the 403) and Kennedy Rd (west of the 403/410), Hurontario (more on this shortly) Mavis Street, Mississauga Rd (which turns into Queen Street in Streetsville, and then back again), Erin Mills Parkway, Winstron Churchill Blvd, and 9th Line (which runs along the city limits, parallel to the north-south stretches of the 403 and 407). Any streets crossing Hurontario are stretname + "East" on the east side, and streetname + "West" on the west side of Hurontario.
To figure out where you are in Mississuaga, at least on the main streets, look at the street number. On north-south roads, the numbers increase from the lake, with Lakeshore Rd being 1000, QEW 2000, Dandas 300, Burnamthorpe 4000, Eglington 5000, Britannia 6000, Derry 7000, and Steeles 8000.
In Brampton, the numbers continue to increment and at Steeles they reach 8000, and at Queen they reach 10000 (at Dixie) or 9000 (at Torbram).
For east-west orientation the street number increase from Hurontario outwards. From Hurontario westwards, McLaughlin is 500, Terry Fox 1000, Credit View 1500, Mississauga 2000, and Winston Churchill 3000. When heading east from Hurontario, Cawthra is 700 east, Dixie is 1500 East. In Etobicoke, streets are incremented from the Toronto origin of the street, with higher numbers to the west.
In Brampton, Hurntario turns into Main Street, reverting back north of Bovaird, but it remains the main street for numbering, with roads east of it labelled "East" and roads west of it labelled "West". Queen Stret is the major east-west street, with roads south of it labelled "South" and roads north of it labelled "North"
To the west, McLaughlin is 500, and Chinguacousy (a continuation of Mavis in Mississauga) is 1000. To the east, Kennedy is 500, Heart Lake and the #410 is 1000, Dixie is 1500, Bramalea is 2000, Torbram is 2500 anAirport is 3000.
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