海角社区官网is appointing a traffic 鈥渃zar鈥 to oversee efforts to de-clog its notoriously gridlocked streets.
At a council meeting Wednesday, members approved that asked the city manager to create a new position called congestion lead, or 鈥渃zar.”
The official will be responsible for finding 鈥渃reative, cross-divisional solutions” to traffic problems, and “pre-emptively identifying” obstacles and remedies, according to the motion.
City hall already employs senior officials who are responsible for managing traffic, including a general manager of transportation and a director of traffic management. The mayor’s motion didn’t specify what additional powers whoever is appointed to the new position would wield, or whether any additional funding would be required for the role.听
But Chow said that creating the position was necessary in order to break down silos between city departments, and harmonize various gridlock-fighting policies 海角社区官网has implemented in recent years, such as the establishment of a road work co-ordination office, new fees for developers who take up car lanes and the deployment of additional traffic agents.
鈥淎ll of the pieces are now in place. Ah! Let us now have someone in charge of all of these pieces,鈥 she said in response to questions from her colleagues.
鈥淭he buck stops at one place, one person,鈥 she added.
Chow said the position wouldn鈥檛 be filled by hiring someone new, and instead a current staffer would be placed in the role. She didn’t directly answer reporters’ questions about whether the official would do double duty by holding on to their existing position, but said she would leave the decision on who gets the job to city manager Paul Johnson. Council approved a motion from Coun. Brad Bradford聽(Ward 19 Beaches 鈥 East York) asking the city manager to report back with his choice by July.听
Coun. Stephen Holyday (Ward 2, Etobicoke Centre) said Chow’s proposal to better co-ordinate different traffic-related policies was “a helpful thing.” But he questioned how the congestion lead will be held accountable. “Will that person get fired if congestion continues to rise?” he asked.
Holyday said residents are “looking to hold somebody accountable for decreasing congestion in this city” and that the mayor, not a bureaucrat, should ultimately be held responsible. “And I just don’t think it’s that simple to create a czar and hand it off,” he said.
The idea of creating a congestion lead isn’t new. The gridlock fighting plan released by the 海角社区官网Region Board of Trade in February called for greater accountability around traffic issues at city hall. It suggested the municipality could establish a new office helmed by a 鈥渃ross-departmental commissioner鈥 to co-ordinate transportation initiatives and 鈥渢roubleshoot congestion hot spots.鈥
Bradford, Chow’s most frequent critic on council, said that the mayor should have acted sooner to appoint a congestion lead, a position he has previously proposed himself.听
He put forward a motion Wednesday requesting that Chow use her “strong mayor” powers to appoint someone to the role immediately, accusing her of showing “a lack of leadership” on the city’s toughest files. The motion was voted down.
A new report from the board of trade on Toronto’s congestion points to construction as being the main culprit, but other elements are also slowing
A new report from the board of trade on Toronto’s congestion points to construction as being the main culprit, but other elements are also slowing
A report on Toronto’s congestion management plan that went to council Wednesday outlined the major traffic challenges facing the city, which the document said has experienced a one-year population increase of more than 125,000, and a 26 per cent spike in vehicle registrations since 2014.
The increased demand for limited street space is exacerbated by road-hogging construction projects for utility work, transit lines and development, which according to the report are a major contributor to congestion.
While Toronto’s traffic has been ranked among the worst in the world, the report stated that some measures the city has put in place to address gridlock have been effective. It cited the example of a new left turn from Lake Shore Boulevard to Spadina Avenue that was implemented in August to help alleviate traffic caused by lane closures on the Gardiner Expressway, which it said has resulted in 10 minutes of travel time savings.听聽
Director of traffic management Roger Browne told council the city is also starting to see 鈥渆arly signs鈥 that its imposition of time-based fees on contractors who block lanes of traffic is having a positive effect.
He said one contractor was recently proposing a lane closure of eight weeks, but after the city advised the company of the new fees, which went into effect April 1, it reduced that to seven weeks.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very early on鈥 and the fee structure may still need to be fine-tuned, Browne said, 鈥渂ut we are seeing things moving in the proper direction.鈥
In addition to creating the new traffic czar position, Chow鈥檚 motion directed staff to work with the police to launch blitzes against parking in no stopping zones on busy routes during rush hour, and to report to a council committee on implementing transit signal priority for the above-ground sections of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
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