Toronto residents fuming about Liberty Village traffic and more road closures are on the way

Even if you don't live in or frequent Liberty Village, you've probably heard of its congestion issues by now as horror stories of lengthy commutes from one end of the neighbourhood to the other continue to roll in.

Gridlock in the condo- and car-dense, 0.6-square-kilometre pocket has worsened rapidly in recent weeks, with the partial closure of King Street West along its north end and work on the Gardiner Expressway bringing things to a boiling point.

Now, the City is planning to shut down another artery in the area, which residents think will undoubtedly deteriorate things further, although it is being done with the intention of somehow helping.

This is what happens when you build too many condos and retailers without upgrading the infrastructure. It's poor city planning at best. Shear incompetence at worst.

— Alexander Mac Donald (@AlexMacDonaldjr) July 20, 2024

Between the streetcar track replacement along King and the Gardiner remediation, road closures for events like the Honda Indy, and the crowding from sports games at BMO Stadium, the neighbourhood was completely snarled over this past weekend, renewing existing calls for the City to address the situation.

The proposed solution, in part, is to shutter part of Strachan Street northbound to redirect traffic via Lake Shore Blvd. and Fleet Street, keeping some of those simply cutting through Liberty out of its bounds.

90% of the traffic in liberty village right now are drivers driving through because of the king street closure, not the residents of liberty village

— james fronten (@FrontenJames369) July 20, 2024

Though leadership believes this will improve traffic flow, locals already up in arms about the "horrible," "sh** show" of a mess fear what another blocked road will do.

"I cannot understand how closing another road will help the situation," one reader who received a handout warning of the upcoming closure wrote to blogTO over email.

Another called the locale the worst place for traffic in all of Toronto by far, saying it took them an entire hour to drive from the corner of Strachan and East Liberty Street on the eastern end of the community to Dufferin and East Liberty while Strachan is still open — a one-kilometre trip. 

"No rush hour, it is like this ALL DAY," they said.

The traffic in liberty village is so bad that there's 6 SB ossington buses trapped on Liberty St and 6 NB buses bunched. You could wonder why these people are driving in this area in the first place but the fact that nothing is being done to curtail car use is a total fail. pic.twitter.com/GVvYjCJh3c

— Justin 🚄🎵🔋🌈 (@not_taylorx) July 19, 2024

Per a plan from local councillor and Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik, along with a temporary shutdown of Strachan, immediate traffic management strategies include stopping non-essential construction along King until the end of September, dispatching traffic officers during peak hours and events, better parking and other enforcement, and more.

These changes will take effect over the next month as Malik's Traffic Action Plan goes to council approval on Wednesday.

I share your concerns about worsening Liberty Village traffic. At Council, I'm advancing an urgent Traffic Action Plan to improve public safety & traffic flow. Over the next month, city staff are rolling out immediate actions. Find more & have your say at: https://t.co/XPIYx9Wu4J pic.twitter.com/clwWuasbNo

— ausma malik (@ausmalik) July 19, 2024

She is also advocating other future closures, asking that the City "review the feasibility of closing Dufferin Street for future TFC games, with communications to the neighbourhood and ticket holders. Further assessments to continue this practice in future if it's successful in improving traffic flow."

The motion for the action plan mentions "examining all measures" to ease gridlock in the area, including methods of "improving traffic flow" — which can include closing streets — though it does not mention these closures specifically.

Liberty Village and surrounding areas are being held prisoner by traffic gridlock because of lousy planning.
King is closed.
The Gardiner is one lane at Strachan.
The Indy is on this weekend.
Fire and Ambulance aren't able to get around.
Basic civic governance help is needed.

— DoubleBlue (@doubleblue2) July 19, 2024

As residents critique the Liberty Village area's poor, "suburban" design and some of the proposed remedies, they are also preparing for things to devolve even further with the start of the CNE next month and the FIFA World Cup in summer 2026.