Toronto’s ActiveTO program that closes roads like Lakeshore Boulevard on weekends needs to be reviewed as it impacts traffic, which has largely returned to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, says the mayor John Tory.
Tory told CP24 that it has received complaints about ActiveTO, specifically the closure of Lakeshore Boulevard West, and its impact on traffic over the past weekends.
“I have the traffic data, there is no doubt that it had a bigger adverse impact on traffic during that time,” he said. “All I can say is that we are carefully examining all these real results, data and evidence instead of stories.”
“We’re going to come up with something that takes all these considerations into account.”
Toronto closed streets, known as the ActiveTO program, in 2020 to give people more space to get off the road safely when the COVID-19 was getting weird and many other activities were not allowed to operate. .
Tory said she wanted the program to continue after the pandemic because of its value in getting people out in the open.
“We like the idea that some of our public streets and facilities can be used by people on an ongoing basis, so we continued the program in a way to examine the results.”
A CP24 spectator living along the closed section of Lakeshore closed by ActiveTO said he questioned the value of recent ActiveTO closures given the relatively small number of people taking advantage and the heavy traffic he observed in Queensway.
Data collected by the city of Toronto in 2021 suggested that Gardiner and Queensway travel times will be doubled or even tripled on ActiveTO days compared to “ActiveTO non-closing conditions and provincial blockade “.
He said the program will not be eliminated altogether, but will demonstrate a “balance” between easing traffic flow and letting people continue to use car-free streets at times.
“We need to have a balance in the program and have a city that can occasionally close roads for big events and just so that people have the joy of being out,” he said. “But we also have to keep in mind that people have to move, businesses have to keep going, neighborhoods have to stay safe and people have to be able to come and go from home.”