Toronto police deployed at congested intersections to help ease traffic flow

A pilot project to place police officers at eight congested intersections in Toronto to ease traffic flow is now in full effect for the next four weeks.

Paid duty officers have been deployed to better manage vehicles and pedestrians as part of the second phase of Mayor John Tory’s congestion management plan.

If successful, the city says it will then ask the province if they can deploy civilians on a full-time basis in place of paid duty officers.

“We’re doing this as a pilot project because we don’t know if it’s going to make enough of a difference to be worthwhile,” Tory told reporters at the intersection of Front St. and University Ave. Tuesday morning.

“But we thought it was worth trying. We picked the intersections on the basis they were some of the worst in the city for either traffic congestion or lack of pedestrian safety, or both.”

The areas designated for the pilot project include:

• Bay St. and Queen St.
• Front St. and Simcoe St.
• Lakeshore Blvd. and Parklawn Rd.
• Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave.
• Front St. and University Ave.
• Bay St. and Bloor St.
• University Ave. and Adelaide St.
• Bay St. and Front St.

The city says the pilot project will cost $250,000 to start with money already allocated from the 2016 budget.

“The idea is to have everybody safe and have things moving better,” Tory said.

“It’s an experiment. Two days is not the time to make a judgement. But we’re going to see how it goes.”

Another test phase will also take place in the fall for four weeks.