Raise the Hammer

I studied the alternatives presented for Longwood road and they are all absolutely unacceptable.

Longwood has been a problem for pedestrians and cyclists for a very long time. With the announcement of the 7 phase plan for the innovation park, we were finally promised a new Longwood road with a balanced transportation infrastructure. Now it is being ripped away again.

It is time that we stop treating road engineering as a project solely meant to move cars faster. There are several problems with this new plan - one of which is the traffic circle. Traffic circles are one of the worst control means for cyclists to navigate. In addition, we already treat all of the off ramps from the 403 as uncontrolled on ramps at city streets (403->main, 403->york). All of the entrances to the city from the highway should be signalized in order to slow cars down and give the drivers a hint that they are no longer on the highway. These principles are fundamental to traffic engineering but we violate them without a second thought. Removing a signal at the entrance to the city is the absolute wrong move.

May I recommend that we get a little more creative with this project? If the MTO will not co operate with a ramp at Columbia college, we could solve this problem in other ways. If Paradise was made two way, and the King Street bridge was made two way, we could install a light on the King Street bridge where the 403 ramps intersect it. This would allow traffic to enter the 403 in either direction from the east and from the west. It would also solve problems with access to homes and businesses on King between Dundurn and Paradise and would relieve pressure at Dundurn/King and Dundurn/Main - two intersections that have been identified by the city as problematic for all users.

A solution like this would allow us to proceed with the multi-mode friendly design for Longwood, and would increase usability and access for many more people in the surrounding area.

I would like you to record my response to your PIC: I do not support the plan as outlined.