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“Do it faster,” said Mayor Olivia Chow, when asked for her response to companies or developers who might complain. “Right now, it doesn’t matter how long you close (roads), which roads you close, it’s a standard fee. There’s no financial incentive.”

Toronto’s infamous traffic is compounded by its more than 250 cranes in the sky, making it North America’s construction capital. While transportation staff have previously said there is no silver bullet to solving congestion, but are instead proposing a series of multi-faceted measures to alleviate a problem that costs the city .

“This is not about making cars disappear,” said Roger Browne, the city’s director of traffic management, referencing how the city can’t eliminate congestion entirely. “This is about better and more effectively managing congestion.”

The levy would predominantly target utility contractors (such as Enbridge, Rogers, Bell, º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøHydro, Telus, etc.), who are upgrading or replacing the city’s aging infrastructure, and city-led construction which includes building new infrastructure. The pair make up 38 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively, of the total amount of construction happening on Toronto’s right-of-ways, according to data city staff shared Friday.

By way of comparison, housing makes up five per cent and expanding transit makes up eight.

“You drive by and you see construction (on a) road that’s been closed for the last six months or a year,” Chow said, painting an all too common example. “And every time you drive by, nothing is happening.”

Right now, companies who intend to block right-of-ways for construction work for any amount of time anywhere in the city only need to pay a flat fee that comes with whatever permit they need. For example, a costs $338.93 or $1,602.60, depending on the work, but it’s a one-time payment per permit.

Exactly what the new charges would be will be finalized next year, but it means companies would pay dramatically more because they would be paying a levy for every day they’re working. It’s also going to be influenced by how long companies are using up these public spaces, how much space they need and in what parts of the city, considering downtown has the most construction and daytime population.

“Don’t leave the site without doing much on it or using it as a parking lot … which is also infuriating,” Chow said of workers making inefficient use of their time.

City staff are still reviewing what authority they have to implement an escalating fine, and it may be a case where the city needs further approval from the province.

The new levy is not meant to generate revenue, but rather to recover costs city staff accrue or from congestion that the work causes. The money, Browne said, could be put toward upgrading its traffic lights technology or hiring more traffic agents.

“We have a plan to significantly increase the number of traffic agents within the force,” Browne said. “It is a gruelling job so there is a bit of turnover we expect to that.”

Friday’s report, which goes to the infrastructure and environment committee on Sept. 27 before it goes to council, also proposed a new $76 fee for its  as a recovery cost to review permits; as well as increasing fines for stopping and standing illegally during weekday rush hour periods on traffic lanes from $190 to $300.

Transportation staff are also asking council’s approval to start up a pilot that would use cameras to capture drivers blocking bike lanes, illegally using dedicated transit lanes, illegally stopping or parking, and blocking the box — which the city dramatically hiked fines for earlier this week.

While the pilot project wouldn’t ticket drivers, the city is hoping to collect data and prove to the province — whose green light they need — that automated enforcement is feasible enough to make permanent and crack down on these habitual offences.

All things considered, one major measure of success with all these efforts will be whether staff can “move more people through corridors across the board,” Browne said, whether it’s by car, carpooling, transit, cycling or walking.