Progress on Congestion and Gridlock

Earlier this month, I took the reins of my first Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting as Chair.

Congestion and girdlock remain my number one priority and it was front and centre on Public Works’ agenda.

The Committee voted to move forward with a pilot project to reduce congestion by speeding up city-led construction projects. Among other things, the pilot will explore extending work hours, shifting to overnight work and using incentive-based contracts.

The Committee also took an advanced look at some of the congestion-cutting initiatives lined up for 2015, including the roll-out of 80 additional arterial cameras, a pilot of the latest “smart signal” technology and signal synchronizations on 12 major corridors.

I spearheaded two motions to help get the city moving.

The first asks for a report on using portable cameras at construction sites, allowing us to monitor and respond to construction-related gridlock in real time.

The second asks for a report on how we can better share traffic-related information between the city’s key players, like the TTC and the Transportation Services Division. I also asked city staff to explore using “Big Data” to understand, evaluate and respond to congestion.

You can see copies of my motions here and here. You can also read up on the city’s plan to speed up public-sector construction projects here.