The City of Toronto has identified a handful of new tools it hopes it can use to reduce gridlock in Canada’s largest urban centre, including expanding its use of automated enforcement, increasing fines for drivers, and implementing financial penalties for developers and utility companies that block lanes of traffic for extended periods.
City staff say they are proposing a construction congestion management levy for construction work that obstructs roadways and sidewalks. According to city staff, developers and companies would be charged fees based on location and the impact on traffic in the area. They would be charged daily and could face escalating fees depending on the duration of the work.
The city also recently announced that drivers who block intersections will now face a fine of $450, up from just $85. Traffic agents installed at some of Toronto’s busiest intersections have been credited for eliminating instances of vehicles blocking intersections 96 per cent of the time, the city said in a news release earlier this month. According to the city, this has reduced travel times and decreased the risk of collisions or near misses between vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.
The city is also looking to artificial intelligence to help solve some of its traffic woes. Traffic simulation modelling, staff said, would create a digital twin of the city, allowing officials to view traffic in real time and implement various scenarios that could help with mitigating congestion. The technology, staff said, could also help determine how much to charge for the construction congestion management levy.
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