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Leaders must address the GTA’s harmful gridlock now - October 18, 2008
Leaders must address the GTA’s harmful gridlock now
One of the most common complaints I hear from customers is about traffic congestion in the GTA and how it’s only getting worse.
Our business and political leaders have made strides in tackling this difficult issue. The building of the 407 Highway toll route and the High Occupancy Lances on Highways 403 and 404 come to mind.
Next year, construction is set to begin on a new subway line to York University and on the Sheppard Line Extension. In addition, the Viva Transit Project will be expanded.
These initiatives are steps in the right direction, but they’re more like Band-Aid solutions at best.
The bigger issue here is that there are far too many cars on the roads for the current infrastructure to handle. Each year, thousands of new vehicles are added to the roads without any appreciable increase in the number of roadways to accommodate them.
How bad has it gotten? Ten years ago, commuters from Barrie, Whitby, Keswick and Oakville spent 45 minutes to an hour driving into the city. Today, those commute times have more than doubled.
In the meantime, little is being done to alleviate traffic congestion. Toronto Mayor, David Miller, has proposed a major expansion of the Toronto Transit System. He has also called for a national transit strategy for all of Canada.
I applaud the Mayor’s willingness to acknowledge the problem and to speak openly about it.
The Mayor’s good intentions aside, however, Toronto’s traffic problems extend far beyond its own borders. It needs to be addressed in larger terms. What’s being done to address the gridlock on Highways 401, 400 and 404? Where are the long-range solutions to address rampant gridlock on the main arteries leading into the city?
Whenever a good idea is brought forward, it runs into a brick wall. For example, PickupPal (www.pickuppal.com) is a global car-pooling service that links drivers and passengers who are going to the same venues (concerts, events).
In Ontario, this service is considered illegal because it contravenes the Public Vehicle Act.
Despite the huge success of PickupPal around the world, authorities in Ontario are trying to shut it down.
Even if our leaders were to find a workable solution to the gridlock problem, we’re still years away from putting a plan into action. A solution of this magnitude will take years, and traffic gridlock requires solutions today.
The negative effects of traffic congestion are well documented. Consider the loss in productivity across Canada. In 2004, the CBC reported that traffic gridlock in the GTA costs the city an estimated $3 billion per year in lost productivity.
Since 2004, it’s safe to assume that that figure has only increased.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has even gone on record as saying “tackling gridlock is one of the most important things we can do to build a strong and prosperous economy.”
Not only is traffic congestion hurting business and industry in monetary terms. The longer cars sit idling in traffic, the more CO2 emissions are pumped into the atmosphere.
Unfortunately, for most motorists in the GTA, cars are not an option – they’re a necessity. People need cars to live and work.
By the way, I include myself among the thousands of motorists who drive a vehicle to work. Could I be doing more to reduce the amount of time I sit in traffic? Could I be car-pooling instead of driving alone?
Yes, of course.
But that’s where true leadership comes in.
The longer our business and political leaders sit on the sidelines on the bigger gridlock issue, the more damage it’s doing to the economy and to the atmosphere.
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