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With heavy congestion, slow traffic speeds, and a streetcar that averages about 65,000 daily riders per weekday, King Street is known to be one of the busiest surface transit routes in the city. However, while about 64 Percent of space is used by cars, they only make up 16 percent of the traffic. By contrast, transit takes up 32 percent of space, while accounting for 33 percent of the traffic.
To address the street's inefficiency, the City of Toronto is moving forward with an ambitious Pilot Project to redesign Downtown King Street. Following two public consultations, a new online survey provides a further opportunity for Torontonians to offer their input.
Following January's announcement of a pilot project to re-make Downtown King Street—between Bathurst and Jarvis—into a "transit first" corridor, May's public meeting revealed the City's preferred solution. Our recent article provides a description:
The proposed pilot section between Bathurst and Jarvis would see only local traffic access King, with private vehicles being restricted to right-turn loops. With vehicles also restricted to one lane each way, the curb lane will be dedicated to streetcar stops, outdoor patio space, limited delivery space, and enough space for cars to turn right at the end of the block. Left turns will be eliminated, while certain intersections will no longer have any east-west through traffic. According to the transportation department, the parallel east-west corridors do have sufficient capacity to handle the rerouted traffic. To the displeasure of some cyclists at the meeting, there will be no newly dedicated infrastructure to that need, however they will be allowed to ride the length of King Street.
Now, the City of Toronto is seeking additional public input through an online survey that encourages residents to voice in their opinions on the effectiveness of the pilot project's preferred vision. This will help guide the project towards 'Phase Three' design an implementation, which is set to begin this Summer. The 10-15 minute survey covers the Pilot Project's three objectives: moving people on transit more efficiently, improving public space, and supporting business and economic prosperity.
A direct link to the survey can be found here, and will be live until June 10th. More information on the project can be found via the City of Toronto's official site, and via UrbanToronto's previous article, linked here.
