Raise the Hammer

8,000 to 10,000 is not well within normal volumes. That is reaching the point of problematic, which I would certainly say Upper James and Golf Links are approaching, and the Queen St hill certainly has become (hence it's major reworking, to level and straighten to help alleviate this issue). However, the traffic issues here are highly skewed due to their highway proximity, access proximity's, large commercial areas, turning lanes (that these stats fail to account for) and educational institutions nearby. Main and Dalewood are also conversely alleviated due to it's proximity to the 403, McMaster and Commercial areas. The measurements at these locals are skewed as they are major gateways, with massive parking and road infrastructure, meaning trips along this street are typically short, or quickly are alleviated into other roads.

King and Main however, are at a respectable 5,000 indicating neither a lack, nor excessive use in capacity per lane, as evidenced by it's approach to the average capacity of 4555. The fact these roads are handling slightly more then that without issue would indicate the success of their current one way configuration. Admitably they are skewed around the area around Dundurn due to, once again it being a large commercial area and it's proximity to the QEW. We can see that main eventually declines to a slightly bellow average number past Wellington where the numbers stop but we can assume are consistent based on the Kenilworth measurement which are marginally skewed due to the access proximity but decently higher. However alleviated by the two way traffic along King and later Queenston (which is a congestion nightmare).

This falters however around King and Catherine, which often does resemble gridlock. The fact that it's pushing the higher levels of 7,000+ shows that. The fact we also show some 4,000 going Southbound to the Clairmont (which also has excessive lanes, I agree) indicates it likely is boasting a high capacity before reaching this point. This is especially true when compared to under utilized vein in Hunter and John.

It's probably one of the biggest culprits because of the quick massive lane reduction from the vast majority of traffic travelling on King towards McMaster. We can also see that this traffic is progressing along this route (as measured by King and Bay) and further being fed by James, John and Bay (whose traffic we can see is vastly reducing after passing King by some 2000 as measured at Main, John's figures being notably absent as with James south of King). At this point, the traffic becomes high and some slowdown occurs.

The conclusions I draw from this are, yes, there are roads that have an excess capacity. Absolutely. Cannon which boasts pathetically underused lanes at around 2,000 at times and only picking up briefly around Mary (likely from bleed over from Victoria and Wellington of people actively avoiding congestion at King and Wellington). As does the majority of one way streets on this list (Wentworth, Catherine, Hunter, as well as parts of Wellington and Victoria). They do not require higher capacity, or need to be one way streets. They should certainly be converted and I advocate their change.

However King and Main, almost consistently through most of their breadth, pull in slightly above the average or at average. They should be left alone to avoid congestion. The most I would safely concede would be a single lane upon Main, which would be a good spot for an LRT and if it's benefits were realized, might advocate it's conversion at that time.