Mayor John Tory is trumpeting efforts to fight gridlock at the city’s worst intersections by using measures he says are simple but effective, including retiming traffic signals, adding advance green lights, and installing CCTV cameras.

The mayor discussed the measures on Monday at his latest traffic-themed press conference, where he outlined ongoing work to reduce gridlock at 10 “hot spots” across Toronto.

Tory first announced the hot spot plan in January. Standing at the corner of Finch Ave. E. and Victoria Park Ave., which is one of the targeted intersections, he said the strategy was “not going to eliminate traffic in the city but it’s going to make it flow better, which is something I think people have a right to expect.”

The mayor said the public wants officials to “do everything we can to try and alleviate the traffic that is causing a lot of social and economic and environmental issues for us.”

Improvements made to Finch and Victoria Park so far include a retimed rush-hour signal plan, the addition of a left turn advance green signal, and the installation of a CCTV camera that will allow transportation staff to remotely monitor traffic conditions. Four signs warning turning drivers to yield to pedestrians and cyclists have also been erected.

Miles Currie, director of transportation services, said adding 15 seconds to the east-west green light time would allow five or six additional vehicles to get through the intersection each cycle. The normal cycle time is 90 seconds.

According to Currie, the improvements to Finch and Victoria Park will cost about $50,000, and the entire hot spot project would cost about $1 million.

The 10 locations that have been identified as the most congested are:

Yonge St.-Sheppard Ave.

Black Creek Dr.-Lawrence Ave.

O’Connor Dr.-Don Mills Rd.

Kingston Rd.-Lawrence

Finch Ave.-Victoria Park Ave.

Eglinton Ave.-Martin Grove Rd.

Eastern Ave.-Carlaw Ave.

Mt. Pleasant Rd.-St. Clair Ave./Moore Ave.

Bloor St.-Parliament St.

Yonge-Finch

In addition to the type of improvements made at Finch and Victoria Park, alterations at the other intersections also include retiming signals to give pedestrians more time to cross, adding zebra crossings, lengthening right-turn lanes and implementing dual left-turn lanes.

Tory, who said Monday that to “get Toronto moving” was a “principal task” of government, has devoted much of his two years in office to championing anti-gridlock efforts like towing blitzes on downtown streets, co-ordinating road closures, and the police traffic assistance personnel program.

He said Monday that he couldn’t yet offer definitive data that showed the city’s efforts are alleviating traffic, but he asserted that they are having a positive effect.

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“I am absolutely confident that things are a bit better, and so on, but I’m also very confident, like a hundred per cent confident, had we not taken all these measures, with the tagging and towing, with the construction speed up that we’re doing on road construction, the signal retiming, things would have been much worse. So I think we’re doing what we can to make it better.”

The mayor also weighed in on statistics released by the police last week that showed that between Jun. 1 and Sept. 22, 1,083 cyclists and pedestrians were hit by cars. That’s the equivalent of one collision every 2.5 hours.

Asked whether posting signs telling drivers to yield to pedestrians and cyclists would reduce the number of crashes, Tory said that the city has “a much more comprehensive road safety plan” that it is attempting to implement “as quickly as possible.”

He called the collision statistics “profoundly unacceptable and said “the objective is to get that number down to zero.”

Tory backed the $80.3 million road safety plan, but in July joined a majority of councillors in voting against accelerating the timeline for its implementation from five years to two.

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