Mayor-elect John Tory says he will be “watching like a hawk” as the city begins implementing a new policy that could result in narrower lanes for drivers and more space for pedestrians and cyclists.
According to Fiona Chapman, who is the manager of pedestrian projects with Transportation Services, the city has created a new guideline that will require that all arterial and collector lanes measure between 3 and 4.3 metres.
Though there is currently no city-wide standard for lane widths, it is expected that the guideline, which doesn’t have to be approved by council, will require a large number of lanes to be narrowed with the additional space being used to widen bike lanes and sidewalks.
The city has already narrowed lanes along segments of University Avenue, Bay Street and Jarvis Street as a sort of trial run.
“I’ll be watching it like a hawk because certainly I am going to put my whole being into trying to get traffic moving better and faster as opposed to slowing it down,” Tory told reporters at city hall Tuesday afternoon. “I think it is a genuine attempt to try to make traffic move more smoothly and safely.”
Chapman told reporters at city hall that the new policy is aimed at getting drivers to slow down while improving the flow of traffic overall when combined with improved traffic signal coordination.
Speaking with reporters, Tory noted that a “large number of North American cities” have made similar decision with regard to traffic lane width, including New York City, and promised to withhold judgement until he has more information.
“At least at face value it looks like something that will ease congestion and hopefully enhance safety and on that basis I am not going to say anything against it today,” he said.
It is not known when the city will begin redrawing lanes or how long it may take to do so, but General Manager of Transportation Services Stephen Buckley told the Globe and Mail that city crews will move quickly in repainting lanes where safety will be boosted by the change or useful space will be freed up.
Asked about the initiative as he attended a news conference in Etobicoke Tuesday morning, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca refused to weigh in, noting that the city is free to address traffic flow however it chooses.
“There is a wide variety of traffic calming measures that local municipalities are empowered to make decisions about but I am focused on what the province is responsible for which is making investments on crucial transportation infrastructure,” he told reporters. “I look forward to working with Mayor-elect Tory and the rest of his team to make sure we make our crucial investments.”
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