TORONTO – Traffic causes many headaches not just in the downtown core, but across the city, and now one city councillor is proposing city council take immediate steps to ease congestion along some of the worst routes in Toronto.
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, Chair of the Public Works Committee, is expected to put forward a motion to the committee on Thursday that will commission reports on each of 10 locations identified as the areas with the worst traffic congestion in the city.
The reports will be commissioned to find solutions to the congestion in each area.
As Minnan-Wong notes in his report, many of the most congested areas in Toronto are outside of the downtown core. All of the areas, in fact, stem from major highways, including Highway 401, the Allen expressway, Highway 400, or the Gardiner.
According to Minnan-Wong, the fact that many of the busiest roads in Toronto are offshoots of a main highway suggests that the roads may just be at capacity.
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As one of many remedies to ease congestion near highways, Minnan-Wong suggests diverting traffic to begin the process, as reducing traffic – the ultimate goal – is not always an immediate option.
“We always want to look at reducing, and that means transit, but transit’s not going to be a solution around Sheppard for a number of years,” Minnan-Wong said, “In terms of trying to relieve gridlock and congestion, the public wants the city… to identify the problem and try to move the ball down the field to relieve congestion.”
According to a report by the Toronto Board of Trade, traffic has a serious economic impact for the city. Across the Greater Toronto Area traffic and congestion cost the local economy approximately $6 billion in 2006, according to the Board of Trade report.
As the map put together by Global News shows, many of the areas are close to ramps to major highways.
1) Bayview Avenue and Sheppard Avenue East Intersection
2) Yonge Street – Highway 401 to Sheppard Avenue
3) York Street – Front Street to F.G. Gardiner Expressway
4) Sheppard Avenue West and Allen Road
5) Leslie Street – Highway 401 to Sheppard Avenue East
6) Lakeshore Boulevard – York Street to Bathurst Street
7) Kennedy Road – Highway 401 to Sheppard Avenue East
8) Markham Road – Highway 401 to Progress Avenue
9) Dufferin Street and Finch Avenue West Intersection
10) Black Creek Drive and Lawrence Avenue West Intersection
View Most congested areas of Toronto in a larger map
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