rbt
Senior Member
Similarly for the Ride for Heart today, Lake Shore was pretty badly congested by noon or so. There is a similar effect when Lake Shore is closed for marathons, the Honda Indy, Caribana etc. There ought to be a total ban on closing any of the main roads in this city for special events, the effect on traffic congestion is totally unacceptable.
Ride for Heart put 13,000 people on Gardiner. This isn't far off it's usual Sunday load, so it's not really wasting the resource (similar number of people are carried). Economically, these events bring a bunch of money into the host cities in addition to being enjoyable for many who live here.
Aside from that, what would you close off instead? It's a 25km to 75km route (you can have them lap 3 times with wide roads) and some space around the start/finish lines. Perhaps you would close off Yonge street from Finch to Front (~26km)? It would take hundreds of cops to cover all of the intersections. No through traffic would be allowed, only bridged streets (Highway 401) would remain open.
Perhaps instead you would close off Bloor/Danforth from Birchmount to Kipling Street (26km)? DVP would be the only North/South through street.
I think giving them a chunk of the DVP/Gardiner is probably one of the least disruptive routes.
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