As Toronto tries to combat stalled traffic at the city’s top 10 most congested areas — three of which are in Bayview — Myles Currie, the director of City of Toronto: Transportation Services, is saying the best promise for real relief is an expanded rapid transit system. Until then, any strategies that Currie’s department presents to the public works and infrastructure committee in the fall will be geared toward traffic management. Measures may include co-ordinating construction projects and traffic signals, looking at bus station placement and road geometry, addressing a road repair backlog and encouraging carpooling.
“There’s so much development within the city and even outside the city that we have increasing demand on our roads, whether it’s through condos along these corridors, at Sheppard and Finch and the downtown core, as well, or outside of 416 and the 905,” Currie said.
Unless Willowdale gets the infrastructure (transit) to support it, the local councillors have said that the area can’t absorb any more development. Coun. John Filion blamed bad planning decisions made more than 20 years ago for the current situation in his ward.
“I think the city needs to be hit over the head with a two-by-four to kind of recognize what it has created at Yonge and Sheppard and not do any more of it by approving even more development in the area,” he said.
Bayview Avenue and Sheppard Avenue; Yonge Street between Highway 401 and Sheppard Avenue; and Leslie Street between Highway 401 and Sheppard Avenue top the list of the city’s most congested areas; City of Toronto staff said, however, that the list was not presented in any particular order.
Michael Shulman, who lives near Bayview and Sheppard, attributed the lack of any real solutions to a series of dysfunctional levels of government.
“It’s just wall-to-wall cars, and it’s worse now, and what we’re seeing is municipal politicians are finally coming around to agreeing that it’s worse,” he said.