It’s Canada’s most famous stretch of road. But cruising downtown Yonge St. by car will be more difficult this summer if the city agrees to close two lanes of traffic for a proposed Celebrate Yonge street festival.

There would be more space for the already overflowing foot traffic if cars are restricted to a single lane in each direction between Gerrard and Richmond Sts., say the DownTown Yonge Business Improvement Area (BIA) and City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam.

For one month sidewalks would be bumped out onto the road with decorative planters to separate people from cars, allowing visitors to experience Yonge “in more creative ways,” said BIA executive director James Robinson.

More: Yonge St. first went car-free in the 1970s

The festival, Aug. 17 through Sept. 16, would coincide with prime tourist season and attractions such as the CNE and the Toronto International Film Festival. Ryerson University students would also be returning to class.

Citing the experience in Little Italy, Robinson notes that several city neighbourhoods have come into their own in recent years, thanks in part to wider sidewalks.

“What tends to happen on Yonge St. is people go from A to B and they don’t really experience our main street in a positive way,” he said.

Unlike the Yonge pedestrian malls staged during the 1970s, nobody is suggesting the street be completely off-limits to cars.

The street has more car capacity than it needs, said Wong-Tam, who is taking the festival concept before the Toronto and East York Community Council on May 15 and then city council on June 6.

The BIA says people on foot outnumbered cars two to one in March. In the summer, presumably, foot traffic would be even heavier. A single lane of car traffic is more than enough to accommodate the 350 to 550 cars that travel in one direction in an hour on that stretch, said Wong-Tam.

“To really qualify for four lanes we should be hosting 1,300 to 1,500 cars per hour,” she said, adding that many motorists choose other routes.

“We have the busiest street in Canada and the sidewalks are barely 2 metres in width in most areas …. Right now the sidewalks are so crowded that people are jostling for some real estate to just move one step ahead and they actually don’t have the opportunity to stand back and look at the store displays. We’re hoping, while people are sitting down and enjoying Yonge St. from a different perspective, they will actually linger and shop,” she said.

Wong-Tam suggested that the pilot project, which leaves room for deliveries to businesses that don’t have laneway access, could also help set the stage for the city to host international events such as World Pride, the Olympics or an Expo.

“Right now we don’t have that high-urban, pedestrian-friendly, high-volume street that can accommodate that type of activity,” she said.

Toronto Public Works and Infrastructure Chair Denzil Minnan-Wong said the reduced traffic doesn’t concern him on a temporary basis, but it might be worrisome if it were to be considered permanent.

“It might be interesting to look at turning Yonge St. into a one-way. There would actually be room for a separated bike lane and possibly more transit,” he said. One-way streets are one of the few tools the city has for tackling traffic congestion in the core, said Minnan-Wong (Don Valley East).

One problem is the number of restrictions on turning onto Yonge, he said.

“I think Yonge is a wonderful street that’s under-used by cars. If people could get onto the street they would use it.”

The Celebrate Yonge festival is in keeping with the Yonge Street Planning Framework, a blueprint released last year for turning the tired, historic downtown stretch into a more modern, improved urban space.

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Wong-Tam said Mayor Rob Ford had a briefing on the Framework last year and, on his advice, she has sought the support of the city’s economic development committee chair, Michael Thompson.

Thompson did not return a call from the Star on Monday.

More: Yonge St. first went car-free in the 1970s