City eyes North York’s worst intersections

Some long-suffering residents say no progress in last 20 years

Sheppard Avenue is among the roads City of Toronto: Transportation Services planners are targeting in their search for a timely fix to clogged intersections on the city’s most gridlocked roads.

Last year, the city identified four intersections on Sheppard Avenue, between Allen Road and Leslie Street, as among its 10 most difficult drives.

The problem has been exacerbated, according to city staff, by increased traffic destined for Ontario Highway 401. Transportation officials are now proposing a raft of measures in response, including changing signal timings, new signage and even installing red light cameras at intersections.

Such measures would be rolled out over the course of two to three years. Several measures, such as new signal timings and red light cameras at Allen Road, have already been implemented.

To finance the plan, the city’s transportation services is seeking an additional $10.9 million worth of funding for its 2014 budget.

However, long-suffering residents are not celebrating yet.

Mike Capotosto, president of the West Lansing Homeowners Association (WLHA) and a resident of the Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue area for 57 years, said this is the latest report in a long of line of reports he has seen.

Having lived in the area for decades, he added that he has seen little progress made in the last 20 years.

“One of the problems is the province and the city pointing at each other. The 401 is the province’s, and Yonge Street is the city’s,” he said. “In the meantime, nothing gets done.”

Dimos Zarkadas, WLHA’s resident traffic expert, agreed changing signal timings could ease traffic as a first step. But he said he felt more roads were key for the long term, and he was concerned about the “ridiculously slow” pace of the city’s traffic studies.

“ ‘Twenty years down the road, we’re going to have a mess,’ ” he said. “That was [said] 20 years ago, and no one seems to have been paying attention.”

Transportation services’ report will be considered by council June 11.

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