Controversial Toronto project will make traffic even worse than initially thought

Politicians across levels of government have been going to great lengths to show that they're willing to get tough on Toronto traffic, which has worsened to the point that people are considering moving away due to congestion alone, and even celebrity visitors are complaining about it.

With gridlock top of mind, various studies have quantified just how bad the region's roads could get in the face of it's exponential growth and poor planning, examining our 400-series highways, as well as our downtown thoroughfares.

One that focused on the latter, released a few weeks ago, has actually just been revised with even worse projections than it had originally made.

Ontario expects GTA traffic to get so bad that highways will crawl below 20 km/hhttps://t.co/2EmauxG7vD

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 19, 2024

The study, ordered by the City to plan for the traffic impacts that will come as a result of the revitalization of Ontario Place, stated that gridlock along Lake Shore Boulevard would increase by 23 to 40 per cent by 2032 thanks to the hulking waterfront development.

But, citing a "mathematical error," the firm that was commissioned for the assessment has come back this week with higher numbers: up to a 67 per cent uptick in congestion along the road, which will be the only access point for those heading to the revamped Budweiser Stage, new Ontario Science Centre, and contentious waterfront megaspa and associated 3,000-spot parking garage.

"The proposed infrastructure improvements in the area, and the redevelopment of Ontario Place, peak traffic flows along Lake Shore Boulevard are projected to increase between 2 per cent to 67 per cent above future background conditions," the amended report reads.

But, it notes that these bottlenecks are only likely to be this bad during special events, such as the CNE and TFC matches, as the road is already prone to very high traffic levels during rush hour periods.

Of course, no forecast can perfectly account for the eventual traffic realities of what such a development, along with the region's population growth, may bring.

While the City focuses on dispatching more traffic agents, increasing fines for violations like blocking the box and expediting roadwork, the province is focusing on bike lanes, which it is now preparing to convert back into mixed-traffic lanes on certain streets. Doug Ford's many-billion-dollar, fantastical tunnel under Highway 401 is still also, for some reason, on the table.

Limited traffic zones, congestion levies and other measures that have proven successful in other major cities are also hopefully not out of the realm of possibilities.