Traffic

As an arterial road to the downtown corridor that also connects to the 401 at the north end of our neighbourhood, Avenue Road has long been a busy street. When the Avenue Road Avenue Study was undertaken in 2007, the vision included minimizing intrusion of vehicular traffic into adjoining residential streets and the final report stated that: “... traffic volumes on Avenue Road are heavy but have not increased significantly over the past two decades. There is a tremendous volume of through traffic travelling between Highway 401 and the City to the south of this Avenue segment, and this has long been the case. What has been noted is an increase in traffic on the residential side streets east and west of Avenue Road. The consultants report recognized the problem of traffic infiltration through these neighbourhoods, and recommends that the City conduct an area traffic study that extends beyond the Avenue Road intersections to identify problems and measures to discourage through traffic on the residential side streets. City staff concur and have made a similar recommendation to Council”.

Many years later, the traffic on this stretch of Avenue Road has worsened and that traffic study is finally going to happen. On October 29, 2019, Councillor Colle submitted and passed a motion to request a study of traffic calming measures for the area bounded by the 401 south to Brooke, Clyde east to Elm. The study is intended to evaluate measures that would help calm and control traffic and enhance pedestrian safety in the area.

On February 10, 2021, an introductory meeting was held to outline the process that will be used for the Study as well as the timelines. Due to Covid-19 and the resulting reduction in traffic, the technical work (traffic counts) has been delayed until late 2021. However, the City is reviewing other options that may be available for implementation in the interim. This document shares the ideas being considered by City of Toronto Transportation Services.

Public consultation sessions will take place through the course of the review and will be communicated by UACA to residents in the area.

Meanwhile, in November 2021 the Upper Avenue Community Association conducted a survey related to traffic in our neighbourhood. The survey was completed by 240 residents. The key findings are as follows:

1. 76% of respondents believe that traffic in the neighbourhood has increased “very much” over the past five years and 63% felt that way about the street they live on.

2. The most significant issues witnessed by residents in the past 30 days were:

   • Excessive speed - 82% of respondents

   • Failure to stop - 81%

   • Excessive noise from commercial vehicles - 65%

   • Illegal parking - 59%

The data supports the following remedial recommendations:

• Safety-related enforcement measures:

  • Stop sign, red light, and speed cameras

  • 30 km/hr speed limit inside the residential neighbourhood

  • Limit street parking to one side of residential streets particularly those without a sidewalk (e.g. Grey Rd.)

• Stricter parking enforcement inside the neighbourhood

• Prohibit commercial vehicle through-traffic on residential streets

Less popular were physical measures to deal with traffic (e.g. speed humps, round-abouts, pinch-points, landscape barriers, stop signs, and one-way streets).

There were 266 comments provided by 150 different residents demonstrating just how much of an issue traffic is in this neighbourhood. These comments generated considerable input and, while not quantitative, several themes and suggestions emerged as worthy of consideration:

• Police enforcement/patrol for speed and stop infractions (There is a sense that this has been absent for a long time)

• Digital speed notification signs on main streets within the neighbourhood (e.g. Clyde Ave., Ledbury St.)

• Measures to reduce cut-through traffic at rush hours while recognizing that residents need to enter and exit the neighbourhood