The FIFA World Cup could add up to 15 per cent more vehicles to downtown roads, with traffic impacts even higher on match days, a new report set to be considered by Mayor Olivia Chow’s executive committee today reveals.
The report from City Manager Paul Johnson suggests that traffic modelling on “key downtown corridors” shows an anticipated increase of 10 to 15 per cent in vehicle volumes during the global tournament.
Johnson says that the higher vehicle volume will in turn result in impacts to “business-as-usual operations for drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and public transit riders, especially on the six match days” planned for Toronto.
Approximately 45,000 people are expected to attend each World Cup game at BMO Field – renamed Toronto Stadium for the duration of the tournament.
A fan festival is also planned for the Fort York National Historic Site and The Bentway between June 11 and July 19.
The city is still drafting a mobility plan, which it will be required to submit to FIFA by the end of March.
However, Johnson’s report does lay out a number of actions that are being considered to help counter the expected rise in vehicle volume.
Those include temporary modifications to signal timing, the elimination of on-street parking spaces along major corridors on match days, limits on parking near BMO Field, the suspension of construction projects that impact major corridors and the temporary closure of some highway and expressway ramps to control the volume of traffic – an example of this, the city says, would be the closure of the Jameson Avenue ramp to the westbound Gardiner Expressway.
Furthermore, the city is also planning an extensive communications effort to keep drivers apprised of what to expect.
Johnson says that it will use portable signs during the duration of the World Cup which will “identify restrictions and closures, promoting alternative route options.”
As for road closures, Johnson said that staff are still “working through the process” of determining which corridors will need to have traffic restrictions.
Toronto’s first World Cup game is set for June 12.
The match will mark Canada’s first ever World Cup game on home soil.
