By 2017, the city plans to retime approximately 60 per cent of Toronto's traffic signals, an initiative Mayor John Tory says will mean less traffic congestion across Toronto.

Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, Tory announced that the city will continue its efforts to coordinate traffic lights in Toronto to “get the city moving.”

“Probably the most frequently asked traffic-related question I get is, 'Why can’t we synchronize the traffic signals in Toronto?' To some extent, it is a function of the outdated technology. Retiming at least allows us to achieve some of the same objectives, which is to have traffic flow in a way that is consistent with reality,” he told members of media at the Consolidated Communications Command Centre on Don Mills Road.

Last year, Tory said that more than 300 traffic signals were retimed along 11 key routes in Toronto.

“It has resulted in an eight per cent reduction in traffic delays, which saves a lot of hours for a lot of people, a 10 per cent reduction in stops at red lights and this leads to significant reductions in things like fuel consumption and even ties into green house gas emissions,” Tory said.

The mayor added that in 2016, the city will be retiming 357 more traffic signals along 17 corridors and by 2017, 1,500 traffic lights will be retimed, which represents about 60 per cent of the total traffic lights in the city.

Some of the corridors that will be retimed this year include Dundas Street West, from Royalavon Crescent to Keele Street, Lake Shore Boulevard West, between Palace Pier Court to 41st Street, and Eastern Avenue from Queen Street to Broadview Avenue.

“Toronto had quite frankly fallen way behind on modernizing the traffic management technology that it utilized to help keep traffic moving in the city and now we’re trying to make up for that,” Tory said.

The mayor added that the cost of retiming signals, which is pegged at about $4,000 to $5,000 for each signal, is a "fairly low-cost" way of improving traffic flow. 

Tory was quick to point out that retiming lights is only an “interim” measure.

“The real answer is to replace the 30-year technology. The 30-year-old traffic technology that is still running our traffic system belongs in a traffic museum. And we are going to send it there as soon as we possibly can,” he said, adding that brand new traffic technology is being piloted in Toronto this year.

Signal retiming is part of the mayor’s overall congestion management plan, which includes cracking down on illegal parking and implementing a pilot project that places officers at key intersections to manage the flow.

“I don’t stand here and say that I am single-handedly or anybody in my job, if we are being honest, could eliminate traffic in a big city. But I am saying there are better ways to run it by using new technology… by deploying every means at our disposal.”

 

Where intersections are being studied this year

 

Route name Segment of Route Total Intersections

Lake Shore Blvd W

Palace Pier Ct to 41st St

28

Danforth Rd / McCowan Rd

Danforth Ave to Lawrence Ave E

23

Keele St

Rogers Rd to Steeles Ave W

36

Wilson Ave

Wendell Ave to Bathurst St

23

York Mills Rd

Upper Highland Cres to Victoria Park Ave

16

Avenue Rd/Oriole Pkwy

Chaplin Cres to St Clair Ave

6

Dufferin St

Wilson Ave to Saskatchewan Rd

41

Dupont St

Davenport Rd to Dundas St W

14

Eastern Ave

Queen St E to Broadview Ave

9

Dundas St W

Royalavon Cr to Keele St

20

Ellesmere Rd

Victoria Park Ave to Kingston Rd

30

Coxwell Ave

O'Connor Dr to Lake Shore Blvd E

14

Albion Rd

Codlin Cres to Weston Rd / Walsh Ave

22

Royal York Rd

Dixon Rd to Lake Shore Blvd W

14

Martin Grove Rd

Steeles Ave W to Rathburn Rd

30

Rexdale Blvd

Humberwood Dr to Islington Ave

9

Morningside Ave

McNicoll Ave / Oasis Blvd to Coronation Dr

22