City will ease traffic by tightening rules on road closures for construction, Mayor Tory says
Mayor Tory took part in road closures coordination committee meeting on Thursday
CBC.ca
Nov. 23, 2017
Chris Glover
As part of the steps the city is taking to tackle traffic, condominium developers may soon face tighter restrictions on how long they can close roads for construction, Mayor John Tory said Thursday.
Tory said he plans to meet with a condo developers group to discuss ways to close roads for shorter periods to accommodate their construction projects.
"There needs to be better communication on their needs and ours," Tory said to reporters following a meeting Thursday of the road closures coordination committee at city hall,
"They've been asking for a meeting with me because I'm the one often-times holding on those potential closures."
5.1 KM shut down for developers in 2016
In 2016, reports stated private developers temporarily shut down 5.1 kilometres of roads, sidewalks and bike lanes in the city for construction.
While the only full-street shutdown last year was on Helendale Avenue — a sidestreet that runs west of Yonge Street a few blocks north of Eglinton Avenue — the situation on that street underscores the problem. Construction on Helendale shut down a sidewalk and a traffic lane for four-and-a-half years.
The city has gotten stricter in accepting developers' applications for roadway closures since Tory took office, and he said Thursday that he'll discuss the possibility of introducing incentives for finishing projects early and penalties if they require roads to be closed for a longer period.
"As you know they always ask for these lanes to be closed for a period of time, and they often go over the period of time and come back for an extension," Tory said.
Condo developers are already feeling the sting as road closures are now costing them more, especially in the city's busiest areas.
Before 2015, a sidewalk on a side street and a lane of traffic on a main artery cost the same to close for construction.
Now, it costs between $5.77 a month for each square metre of space occupied to as much as $107.94 a month per square metre for priority roads.
Road restrictions for utility work
Tory also recently had a meeting with utilities, including hydro, telecom and gas, on fighting traffic delays that may happen due to their work. He said the meeting went well.
"They were polite in not responding necessarily right away to some of things that I told them in terms of some policies we were looking at that which would more more restrict when they can do their work," the mayor said.
The utilities have already met with the city to express concerns and another meeting will happen in December.
"The idea again is to make sure that those policies as modified by their input, in a reasonable manner, would be in place early next year," Tory added.
Taking on illegal deliveries
Delivery trucks may also see a further crackdown beyond the blitzes and warnings that have been given out to stop them from pulling over and holding up traffic, Tory added.
As part of the "Smart Streets" plan or "Curbside Management Plan," which came out earlier this week, the city is looking at how traffic on curbsides can be addressed to ease congestion.
"We are not going to put up with having lanes blocked by deliveries anymore at rush hour or at other times when it not consistent with the law," the mayor said. "Many other cities have shifted deliveries to off-peak evenings and overnight hours."
He said the city is looking at permanent rules to curb delays.
In one of several pilot projects launched to put an end to traffic chaos caused by deliveries, there will be a permit for deliveries in the financial district's business improvement area to allow deliveries at a certain time and place.
"We are not going to be inconsiderate of the needs and practicalities of business in all that, but we also have to look at that balancing act ... that will allow business to do their business but at the same time allow other people move around the city," Tory added.
