Toronto neighbourhood is a traffic nightmare due to constant construction

The traffic in one Toronto neighbourhood has residents feeling like they're living in a slow-motion nightmare.

Toronto has a traffic problem — bet you've never heard that one before.  However, for Liberty Village residents, the problem reached a fever pitch this weekend when the streets were filled with unmoving, bumper-to-bumper traffic following a diabolical combination of construction and the Toronto FC home opener at BMO Field.

Messy traffic issues concern Liberty Village residents. Emma Burns.

The typically quiet (or, relatively quiet given its proximity to major city veins) neighbourhood has been plagued with traffic headaches for weeks, thanks to major construction cutting off portions of King Street and diverting cars through Liberty Village.

Starting in mid-February, the construction to replace a 146-year-old water main and renew streetcar tracks along King between Dufferin and Shaw has led to major TTC and traffic diversions, and is expected to continue through (at least) May.

Drivers frantically try to escape the neighbourhood like rats in a maze. Adam G Shaffer.

With spring well on its way and the TFC season bringing additional visitors to the area, residents are left to worry that the problem will get worse before it gets better.

"It's the nightmare we all knew would come true," writes one community member in a neighbourhood Facebook group.

"It's only going to get more hellish as the year rolls on with Ontario line construction work ramping up added into the mix," writes another.

Some residents of the neighbourhood are now angling for portions of the area to be restricted to local traffic only during peak times, but no movement has been made yet on that front.

In February, it was reported that traffic congestion costs the city $11 billion per year. The city has appointed a task force to tackle the issue, but, evidently, measurable progress has yet to be made.