Car-free King Street could be considered in proposed pilot project

By News staff

The City of Toronto could be looking to revamp a portion of King Street and make it a car-free zone.

On Wednesday, the city launched the King Street Pilot Study website that will look at various options for a six-kilometre stretch of the road from River Street in the east to Dufferin Street in the west.

 

According to a report, the city’s chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat told the Green Cities conference on Wednesday that the city is looking at whether King should be solely dedicated to transit, pedestrians and cyclists.

One of the ideas that could be explored is to make a portion of King car-free. Keesmaat has not elaborated on the options being considered for the pilot projects. They will be unveiled and discussed at a public meeting being held on Feb. 13.

Re-working King has been on the top of mind for Keesmaat. Last summer, she wrote a commentary in the Toronto Star in which she said “King Street needs to change.”

“We need a new, more holistic approach to thinking about our downtown streets: how we allocate space, how we prioritize different users and uses and how we design the street.”

According to the city, King is the busiest surface transit route in Toronto, carrying more than 65,000 riders each weekday. However, with the traffic congestion on King, streetcars are not able to move along their route in a timely fashion, leading to overcrowded vehicles.

“This often results in bunching and gapping of vehicles, uneven utilization of capacity, and overcrowded vehicles. During rush hour, people are often unable to board the first streetcar that arrives,” the city states on its website.

The study is being led by the city’s planning department, the TTC, and Transportation Services, and will be receiving input from a consulting team that includes international experts.

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