PART 1: CONSTRUCTION

Few people would disagree that construction is a big cause of the traffic problems in Toronto. As a driver, and former employee of a large company that does work on Toronto’s roads it is clear to me that most construction companies have little regard to how they effect traffic. I can recall a number of times when I shut down a lane of traffic on a major street and not going back for days because my employer had other work and didn’t want to pay overtime to finish that job and free up the lane.

SOLUTION:

REQUIRE CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES TO OBTAIN A PERMIT TO SHUT DOWN A LANE OF TRAFFIC FOR MORE THEN 1 HOUR AT A COST OF $200.00 PER HOUR BETWEEN 6:00am and 10:00pm. NO CHARGE OR PERMIT REQUIRED BETWEEN 10:00pm TO 6:00am.

Only by effecting companies bottom line will they effectively make use of road closures. They will also be motivated to come up with creative ways to avoid it or speed things up:

-The company I worked with has many jobs that cause lane closures that are currently done during the day that could be done between 10:00PM and 6:00am.

-In some cases 3 construction crews doing the same type of work at 3 different locations could be all assigned to 3 different 8hr shifts at 1 location eliminating 2/3 of some road closures (max DB levels would have to be established and enforced at the outside wall of any residential buildings between 10:00PM and 7:00AM).

-Maybe the new condo could be built without taking out a lane of traffic in front for months which is currently the case in several locations along Adelaide St West.

In any case if construction Companies are required to pay, no traffic lanes will be closed unnecessarily. Motorists might be a little more tolerant with construction knowing the company that closed down the lane ahead of them is paying for it.

COSTS

A lot of road work is paid for by the City of Toronto and therefore a lot the permit costs received would be reflected back in contractor bids for the city jobs but the winning contractor would be the one that could keep these costs to a minimum.

The remaining money from permit costs would be more than enough to fund the cost of implementing and maintaining this system and would be a significant revenue stream for the city of Toronto.

IMPLEMENTING

0-6 MONTHS- Establish an office, staff and user friendly web site for the public that can display a map of the city showing every hour of the day for the next 12 months

6-18 MONTHS- Require companies to have a permit to shut down a lane but no charges yet to allow them time to adjust their job bidding costs, come up with new solutions to avoid costs and for the permit office to refine web site and procedures.

-Construction company calls permit office for permit with street numbers from __ to __, direction and lane to be closed and the times it will be closed

Permit employee goes on the permit office web site with Toronto map for that street, date and times and verifies other parallel streets in area not already shown closed with other permits

Permit employee changes map and adds red line for east bound lane closures and green line for west bound closures between addresses given and notes the permit number next to it.

Permit employee then e-mails permit right away to construction company that they are required to display in windshield of vehicles at work site.

Public is given access to view permit web site in real time. They could enter any date and time between 6:00am and 10:00pm in the next 12 months and view a map of Toronto showing what lanes are scheduled to be closed anywhere in the city.

18 MONTHS + Charging for permits begins. Same procedure as 6-18 months except construction companies credit card info taken and billed before permit is e-mailed. For larger amounts certified cheque or bank transfer must be received before permit is issued.

The permit web site for the public would have a phone number for the public to call to report any construction lane closures that do not appear on the web site map for that date and time. If calls for same company and location are received more than 2hrs apart (1hr no charge + 1hr grace) an inspector is dispatched and the company is fined.

The permit web site would also have a phone number for the public to be used for noise complaints from construction companies between 10:00pm and 7:00am. An inspector would be dispatched to check predetermined DB levels at the outside wall of nearest residential building. If the level are too high the construction company would be permitted to work only between 7:00am and 10:00pm with a valid permit.

Only by effecting construction companies bottom line will they truly avoid non-essential lane closures.

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com

NOTE: the above article was written by me on May 29/ 2014 and sent by e-mail to the following:

• Globe and Mail
• Toronto Star
• Frances Nunziata
• Rob Ford (Toronto’s Mayor at the time)
• David Soknacki
• Karen Stintz
• Olivia Chow
• The John Oaklew Show Am 640
• John Tory (Toronto’s current Mayor)

Since John Tory has become mayor he has implemented some of the above ideas such as 24hr construction, and a construction coordination centre.

SOLUTIONS TO TORONTO’S TRAFFIC PROBLEM / PART 2: POPULATION DENSITY

PART 2: POPULATION DENSITY

You don’t have to go too far in downtown Toronto to find another construction crane putting up another 300 unit condo or office tower where there used to be a parking lot, green space or block of single family homes. In fact there are so many that in some areas the cranes look like they could crash into each other as they spin around.

With the major traffic problem and the inadequate public transit in Toronto’s downtown core why are so many permits still given out for all these condos adding hundreds of units a month and cramming more and more people into an already gridlocked city? It is time to stop giving out building permits that add to the population density in areas of Toronto that have transportation inadequacies (almost all or the downtown core). Like a glass of water being overfilled, too much effort is put into trying to clean up the mess rather then the simplest solution of stop pouring the water into it. The longer the city waits to fix this problem the harder it gets and the more expensive it becomes. Building first then trying to update the infrastructure is like packing a house full of new furniture then renovating the walls and floors.

The argument that because most of the people in some newly built condos do not own a car and therefore do not add to the traffic gridlock is a myth. Anyone living downtown that does not own a car requires a wide range of goods and services to be shipped in from groceries, clothing, mail, repair and maintenance services as well as anyone that comes to visit them that travels by car. Also, the more people that do not have a car moving downtown are stressing our current public transit system even further beyond it’s limits.

Once Toronto stops issuing building permits that increase the population density the gridlock will stop getting worse. Let’s get the sewers and hydro upgraded, fix the roads, add subways and once the existing gridlock is gone then issue permits for new condos and projects that add to the population density in the areas that can handle it.

Dave Lister

          listerlogic.com

NOTE: the above article was written by me on June 16/ 2014 and sent by e-mail to the following:

 

SOLUTIONS TO TORONTO’S TRAFFIC PROBLEM / PART 3: ONE WAY STREETS