Latest news with #CleanAirPartnership
CBC
08-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
More lanes on the Linc? Hamilton inches closer to widening city parkways
As more traffic is expected to hit Hamilton's two-lane city-run parkways in the coming years, officials are looking at making both wider. The Lincoln Alexander Parkway (often referred to as the Linc) and Red Hill Valley Parkway (RHVP) connect local roads to provincial highways and are relied on by thousands of commuters and transportation trucks each day. A new feasibility study has found there's enough room along the inside medians of the parkways to add a third lane in both directions, said Steve Molloy, the city's transportation planning manager. Widening the eight-kilometre Linc will cost at least $81.5 million and the nine-kilometre RHVP about $56.2 million, he said. "This debate has probably going on for 10 years," Molloy told councillors. What's different now is the city has established widening can be done and roughly how much it will cost, he said. But staff are still in the early stages, so far recommending only that they begin getting feedback from the public, Indigenous communities and other stakeholders for the Linc widening. The public works committee gave staff the green light to do public consultation, with council getting the final say on that step next week. Coun. Matt Francis indicated that at council, he'll be asking staff to also get public feedback on widening the RHVP, as well. On an average day, the Linc sees about 88,000 trips and the RHVP sees 92,000, said the staff report. During morning and afternoon rush hours, both parkways are operating at or above their "design capacity," leading to congestion. With the city expected to grow by a quarter million people by 2051, traffic is expected to get worse, Molloy said. "I'm going to enthusiastically support any efforts to widen roads," said Coun. Mark Tadeson, whose Ward 11 encompasses businesses near the airport that rely on delivery trucks coming in through the parkways. Coun. Tom Jackson, who represents Ward 6, which includes the parkways, described the Linc as "a massive success story" since it opened in 1997 at reducing congestion on Mountain roads. He said he's "extremely supportive" of its widening especially as the city has, in recent years, diverted transport trucks from downtown streets, increasing the number using the parkways instead. 'Ever increasing congestion' But Gaby Kalapos, executive director of the Clean Air Partnership, told public works the "sad reality" is widening highways is not only expensive but also does not reduce congestion in the long run, as reseearch suggests. "When you build new lanes, the initial reduction in traffic that makes driving more attractive prompts individuals to take more trips and increases the reliance on single occupancy vehicles," said Kalapos, speaking as a delegate. "This results in ever increasing congestion over time." She encouraged councillors to consider alternatives strategies to "actually address congestion and admissions more effectively." Those alternatives could be adding carpooling lanes, building up public transit infrastructure, adding transit-only parkway lanes and finding ways to encourage other ways of getting around like walking, biking or riding electric scooters, she said. The staff report notes these could be alternatives to lane widening, or the city could add lanes in only some key areas. Coun. Craig Cassar (Ward 12) said he'll be requesting, at council, that staff look more closely at these alternatives. "If we step back and look at it more holistically, I think we get a better answer and determine if this is the best way to spend money to offer better transportation," he said. "No one is trying to get the car to go away. It's about giving options." The city is also waiting to hear from the province about how it may improve connections from the Linc and RHVP to Highway 403 and the Queen Elizabeth Way, respectively. Coun. Ted McMeekin (Ward 15) asked whether the Ministry of Transportation had said whether it would take over the parkways, a request staff made last year. That request has gone unanswered, said Molloy.
CBC
04-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Toronto hasn't ticketed a single driver for idling in the last 5 years. Here's why
Not a single ticket has been issued for idling in Toronto in the last five years. And it's unlikely drivers will receive the $130 fine anytime soon. The reason? There's no longer proactive enforcement of Toronto's anti-idling bylaw because of limited resources, according to a report that went before the city's infrastructure and environment committee last week. "It's outrageous," said Coun. Dianne Saxe, a member of the committee. "If we have bylaws — especially bylaws for public health — and then we don't do anything to enforce them, we make a mockery of the law and we undercut public trust in the government." Toronto was the first Canadian municipality to implement an anti-idling bylaw in 1996 to reduce unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. In 2010, the bylaw was amended to shorten the maximum idling time from three minutes to one and remove several exemptions. Back then, council also wanted to improve enforcement and directed staff to come up with a plan with police for parking officers start enforcing the bylaw. But parking officers never took on enforcement. Instead, the city now relies entirely on a complaints-based system where it's up to the public to report idling vehicles to 311. Then staff send the registered owner a warning letter with information on the harms of idling and on potential fines. System based on limited resources "Municipalities have struggled and struggled to get police to play that enforcement role," said Gaby Kalapos, executive director of Clean Air Partnership, a non-profit that supports municipalities with climate actions, including anti-idling. "They've gone to the complaints-based system just because that's the solution available to them based on the limited resources they have." CBC Toronto asked the city for details on what happened with council's 2010 direction to develop a plan for police parking officers to start enforcing the bylaw, but the city said the question would be best addressed by police. In an email, a Toronto police spokesperson said the service doesn't have information on the 2010 decision, or if any discussions were had, but confirmed that parking enforcement officers have never issued bylaw tickets for idling. Before 2011, the city ran idling enforcement blitzes in May and September each year, alongside its complaints-based system. The last proactive enforcement efforts were in 2019 when 29 tickets were issued, according to the report which responded to a council request from 2021 for details on how the city was enforcing the anti-idling bylaw. From the time of the last ticket to the end of 2023, the city received at least 2,167 complaints and issued at least 1,783 warnings. In a statement, the city said warning letters have proven to be an effective deterrent because complaints stop once they are issued and more than 2,100 anti-idling signs also contribute to compliance. The report says about 25 new signs are installed each year in high-complaint areas or in response to councillor requests. Councillor wants data on repeat offenders Saxe questioned staffers at committee on whether they were tracking repeat offenders, who the top offenders are, and which areas of the city are seeing the most idling complaints, but they didn't have answers. "The big problem is the big diesel trucks and the construction vehicles, which tend to be the most polluting," said Saxe. "What we should be doing is figuring out from this database of the 1,783 warnings that they've issued … who are the worst offenders? Get a meeting with those companies, ask them what they're doing about it and pay more attention to those." At committee, a motion from Saxe recommended that city council direct staff to report back in the fall on how to enhance enforcement and compliance when it comes to diesel trucks.
