Sections of King St. West will be closed during the Toronto International Film Festival this year, despite an ongoing project aimed at giving priority to streetcar operations on the busy downtown street.

“I was able to confirm that there will be closures on King Street for TIFF,” transportation services spokesperson Cheryl San Juan told the Star in an email Wednesday.

She said transportation staff were still discussing the details with festival organizers and the TTC and “the “size and the scope of any closures has not been determined yet.”

In previous years, a roughly five-block stretch of King between Peter St. and University Ave. has been closed for four days beginning the Thursday of the film festival’s opening weekend in order to create “Festival Street,” a closed off area featuring film screenings, extended restaurant patios, and other attractions.

That closure, which requires headache-inducing diversions to King streetcars during four weekday rush hours, has traditionally been accompanied by additional closures for red carpet premieres and other events that draw large crowds.

Councillor Joe Cressy, whose Trinity-Spadina ward represents the stretch of King that serves as a hub for the festival, said he expects the street to be closed for the Thursday and Friday of opening weekend again this year.

“The exact details we’re still working out, but absolutely Festival Street will be back,” said Cressy.

Cressy, who has been a strong proponent of the streetcar pilot, said that the festival attracts so many people it would likely require transit diversions regardless of whether the city wanted them.

“If we didn’t plan for a closure the closure would happen anyway, but we wouldn’t be able to (transit users) in advance,” he said.

“Frankly this is when Toronto puts its best foot forward to the world for a few days. And I think Festival Street is a worthwhile addition to that.”

The 2018 edition of festival, which each year attracts film heavyweights and movie buffs from around the world, runs from September 6 to 16. A 2013 study found the event and the TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre generate about $190 million a year for the city and province.

Despite the event’s popularity, in the past the TTC has pushed back against the closures, particularly the two weekdays set aside for Festival Street, arguing the festival shouldn’t take precedence over the tens of thousands of people who rely on the King streetcar.

Before the city installed the pilot project in November, King was was already the TTC’s busiest surface route. According to city data, the project — which severely restricts driving on King between Jarvis and Bathurst Sts. — has increased transit use by 16 per cent, to about 84,000 passengers every weekday.

TTC vice-chair Alan Heisey said he would be “very disappointed” if King is shut down during busy weekday periods again this year. “If you told me it was a Saturday and a Sunday, maybe,” he said.

Toronto Star reporters Ben Spurr and Tamar Harris rode the TTC's King streetcar along the pilot project route and drove a car on corresponding streets to see if travel times have changed during the morning rush hours. (Toronto Star)

“I just don’t understand why the road can’t be kept open for public transit, even if it’s closed for other forms of transportation.”

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross declined to comment, saying it would be “premature” to do so until the agency has seen the final plans for the closures.

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“As we have said in the past, however, the TTC does not support closing any major street on a weekday,” he said.

A spokesperson for Mayor John Tory, who has backed the streetcar pilot, also declined to comment.

The city is rigorously measuring the effects of the pilot on transit use and traffic patterns, and council is expected to decide early next term whether to make the project permanent.

The city transportation spokesperson said days on which King is closed for TIFF would be removed from the data collection to avoid skewing the results.