Latest news with #OntarioMinistryofTransportation
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Mimico residents vow to keep pressure on Metrolinx to make local GO station accessible
South Etobicoke residents are vowing to continue the pressure on Metrolinx to make the GO station in their area more accessible, despite reassurances from the provincial transit agency that improvements are coming. On Tuesday, residents gathered near the Mimico GO station to demand that Metrolinx begin work as soon as possible. A Metrolinx representative told residents at the demonstration that the Ontario government has awarded a contract to begin the design phase of planned accessibility upgrades at the station. There is no start date for construction. Rozhen Asrani, president of the Mimico Residents Association, said Tuesday that residents have been waiting for Metrolinx to break ground on accessibility updates to the station for about a decade. Previous projects to make the station more accessible were linked to larger developments of the area that included housing. Two projects collapsed, one in 2023 and one in 2012. "The community is very frustrated. Patience has run out. It's been a decade of a lack of accessibility and multiple failed promises by Metrolinx," Asrani said. There is no elevator at the station. "It's difficult to get to," said Asrani. "There are all kinds of issues for people who use strollers, have mobility constraints, bicycles they are trying to get up and down the stairs. There are lots of barriers." Asrani said residents were promised by Metrolinx that the station would be fully accessible by 2023 but that did not happen. Now, she said, there are no new project completion dates and no clear timelines. Asrani said that's unacceptable and is violation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The community is growing and residents deserve to have an accessible transit station, she added. "An announcement of a contract is great, but what we really need is shovels in the ground and actual timelines," Asrani said. Contract awarded to begin planning, Metrolinx says In a statement on Tuesday, Metrolinx noted that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation announced on May 14 that a contract was awarded for "design development and construction management services to support accessibility upgrades and other enhancements at Mimico GO." Metrolinx added: "The station improvement project will provide better connections and improved amenities to ensure a seamless and barrier-free experience for customers travelling across the GO network. When the development phase is complete, Metrolinx said the contractor will submit a proposed construction schedule and associated costs. If approved, a construction contract will be awarded, at which point project timelines will be more clearly defined, Metrolinx said. Metrolinx said it is "fully committed" to meeting its obligations under the AODA and the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation. 'People are feeling a bit disappointed,' MPP says Lee Fairclough, MPP for Etobicoke Lakeshore, said the community is concerned because accessibility upgrades have been delayed for years. A person who arrives at the station in a wheelchair would not be able to get down from the platform, she said. Someone using a walker or crutches would have to navigate steep stairs, she said. "People are feeling a bit disappointed," Fairclough said. "Glad that we're moving ahead... But as a community and as a representative, we're going to keep on making sure there is pressure to make it happen." Fairclough said Metrolinx is taking full responsibility for ensuring that the station will be accessible. "I think that gives some encouragement to the community that this is going to happen," she said. The residents association has gathered nearly 1,000 signatures on a petition to have Metrolinx start construction this year, and Fairclough says she plans to table the petition formally at Queen's Park on Wednesday. Improvements overdue, says councillor Coun. Amber Morley, who represents Etobicoke-Lakeshore, said collaboration is needed and the accessibility improvements are overdue. In the past three years, Morley said she has told Metrolinx repeatedly that the community is frustrated and pointed out that previous agreements with private developers have been ineffective. "We've all come to a space where we understand and appreciate those challenges but are very focused on moving forward and delivering for community," she said. In its statement, Metrolinx said the proposed improvements at the station include: A new east connection with elevator and stair access to the platform level, with customer access from both sides of the rail corridor. A new south entrance at Manchester Street and Blue Goose Street with elevator and stair connections to the platforms. Platform upgrades, including "tactile walking surface indicators" at the edge of the platform. Accessibility and customer experience upgrades to platforms and shelters.
Toronto Star
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- Toronto Star
Driverless cars in Toronto could actually make the streets safer — if city hall does the right thing
The big number 69,141 the number of reported vehicle collisions in Toronto last year I am feeling a bit conflicted about the robot uprising. My struggle stems from a report on the agenda of this week's meeting of Toronto city hall's infrastructure and environment committee. It tells city councillors that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation has given a green light to a pilot project that will see Magna International deploy a fleet of small, three-wheeled self-driving vehicles to neighbourhoods on the west side of downtown. The robot vehicles in the pilot will be tasked with delivering parcels. During the test phase, the fleet of as many as 20 vehicles will be subject to a bunch of safety limitations. They'll be limited to speeds of no more than 32 km/h. They won't travel on any streets with speed limits beyond 40 km/h. They'll avoid left turns and won't operate in heavy rain or snow. And they'll be closely followed by cars driven by humans, who will be equipped with a kill switch in case of any glitches, like, presumably, a 'Terminator'-style Skynet situation, where their computers become self-aware and try to wipe out humanity. I'm kidding about the Skynet thing. But I'm wary about the rest. Self-driving cars have been hyped up for years, perpetually presented as the next big thing right around the corner. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been promising it for more than a decade and keeps missing deadlines. (Tesla also, alarmingly, gave vehicle owners the option to enable an 'assertive' self-driving mode designed to follow other cars more closely and make rolling stops.) Given the track record of some of the Big Tech companies pushing this big tech forward, it seems entirely reasonable to be skeptical of a move to turn our public streets into a test laboratory for profit-seeking businesses. But I am not ready to reject the self-driving vehicles outright. Because, despite my misgivings, I am willing to bet these robots will still be better drivers than many of their flesh-and-bone counterparts. Seriously: How could they not be? It's not like Toronto's human drivers have been covering themselves in glory in recent years. They crash into all kinds of things all the time. There were 69,141 collisions involving automobiles last year, according to Toronto police data, a post-pandemic high. That averages out to about 189 crashes per day, or eight every hour. And drivers in this city don't just collide with other cars. They also crash into stationary objects, like hydro poles. And houses. (Sometimes repeatedly.) And, very inconveniently, into convenience stores. And transit tunnels with incredibly obvious signage telling drivers not to enter. And, tragically and too often, they crash into people. Meanwhile, the data suggests that, even in the early days of the technology, self-driving vehicles tend to crash way less. Especially when it comes to crashes that hurt people. A study from self-driving taxi business Waymo, set to be published in the peer-reviewed Traffic Injury Prevention Journal, found that over more than 91 million kilometres of driving in cities like San Francisco and Phoenix, the vehicles saw 92 per cent fewer crashes with injuries to pedestrians compared to vehicles driven by humans and 82 per cent fewer crashes with injuries to cyclists. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW That kind of potential for improved road safety is reason enough for Toronto city hall to keep an open mind about autonomous vehicles. Combined with continued investments in cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, they could help council make real progress on the Vision Zero commitment to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries. Where I think the city might run into trouble, however, is that so far it doesn't seem to matter much what anyone at city hall thinks about letting the robots roll on our roads. The report going to city hall's infrastructure committee this week is clear that this test project is being authorized solely by Premier Doug Ford's provincial government. 'The City of Toronto has no regulatory authority over this pilot,' the report notes. As a result, Mayor Olivia Chow and Toronto council aren't being asked to approve the project. They're just being told it's happening. They'll have no opportunity to establish any rules or standards beyond what the Ministry of Transportation and Magna have worked out. Toronto's transportation department will generally be a passive observer to this experiment. That strikes me as the wrong approach. City hall should demand more direct oversight. If and how self-driving vehicles operate on our local roads should be a local decision. And the decision should be part of a comprehensive plan for the movement of people and goods in the decades ahead. Gta Driverless vehicles to hit Toronto streets — but some would like to park the idea The province has approved a test program that will see up to 20 automated cars on Toronto's If self-driving tech is inevitable, how many self-driving vehicles should Toronto have? Should there be limits, to avoid scenarios where our streets are choked with delivery robots? How is tech tested? Who faces penalties when there are malfunctions? Does Toronto want to be a city with thousands of vehicles carrying individual passengers? Or is it better to be a city that encourages more space-efficient self-driving buses? If city hall does not start tackling these questions now, the danger is that tech companies peddling self-driving vehicles will follow the same basic path as Airbnb and Uber, where much-hyped new services gained a foothold in Toronto before city hall had established firm rules and regulations. That led to a messy outcome, where municipal bureaucrats and local politicians tried to rush to apply rules to already established industries. It was a costly and frustrating mistake. The rise of these robots could be an opportunity to do things better. And given their very real potential to drive better than Toronto's woeful human drivers, I'm starting to see the appeal.
Ottawa Citizen
03-05-2025
- Automotive
- Ottawa Citizen
The notorious Cavanagh Bump is back. Hold onto your steering wheel
The infamous Cavanagh Bump has made its grand return on Highway 7. And it's just as bumpy as ever. Article content Located in the eastbound highway lanes between Hazeldean Road and Dwyer Hill Road exits, the Bump has become a running joke and source of frustration for years. Article content Some drivers claimed to go airborne when they hit the Bump at speed. In 2022, it was one of the Ottawa Citizen's Newsmakers of the Year. Article content Article content Nicknamed the 'Cavanagh Bump' because of its proximity to the Cavanagh quarry sign, this stretch of highway has puzzled engineers since the early 2000s. Article content Article content The culprit? A drainage culvert buried under the road. In the winter, cold air enters through the culvert, freezes the soil above, and causes the pavement to rise higher than its surroundings. Article content Until a permanent fix is found, drivers are once again gripping their steering wheels, bracing for liftoff. The Cavanagh Bump is back, and remains undefeated. Article content In June 2022, the Bump was so large that highway maintenance crews installed speed reduction dropping the speed limit from 100 km/h to 80 km/h. Still, many drivers were caught off guard, and launched into the air when driving over it. Article content In the summer of 2022, repair crews were sent out to the Bump where they dug up 100 metres of road across all four lanes, laid down styrofoam insulation and gravel to prevent future freezing, and repaved the whole section. Article content Article content For a while it worked. But then, the Bump made its return in July 2023, although it was not as high as the peak in June 2022. Article content Article content In a statement, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation said repair work is expected to wrap up later this year, and signs are up in both east and west-bound directions to warn drivers. Article content Article content
