King Street could get dedicated streetcar lane

Remember the plan to overhaul King Street? City staff want to make this main thoroughfare better for pedestrians, drivers and commuters who rely on the streetcar by giving it an extreme makeover.

One of the ideas is to make dedicated sections for a streetcar right of way and to reduce vehicular traffic on the street. King would be known as a "Transit Priority Street" according to the preliminary plans.

According to a report, the King Visioning Study is a city-building exercise that will explore bold, transformative ideas for how to re-allocate space in the right-of-way to improve transit while creating a great civic street in the heart of Downtown Toronto."

Public consultations for this pilot project are supposed to begin this winter. As previously reported, the pilot might come to fruition as early as spring 2017.

On November 15, the Toronto and East York Community Council will discuss the next steps for TOcore: Planning Toronto's Downtown, a three-year study to help improve the city's downtown area for the future. Making King Street better equipped to handle its massive commuter load is a huge priority for this project. A full city council vote is expected in December.

Photo by Ben Roffelsen.