Managing traffic during construction

Building 19 kilometres of brand new transit through a busy and densely populated area has its challenges. Traffic disruptions near the construction sites, while frustrating, are unfortunately unavoidable. The project team works with our many community partners to manage traffic during construction and minimize the impacts as much as possible.

Traffic management planning is a complex process. It includes balancing the interests of various users – TTC, local residents, commuters, pedestrians and businesses – as well as construction requirements and existing rules and regulations. First, we need to study and review existing local traffic patterns and conditions. Then, we develop a plan to meet our construction requirements and review it with local elected officials, TTC, Emergency Services & Toronto Fire, and City of Toronto Transporation to identify impacts and finalize the plan.

“Traffic at the intersection of Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue West is currently reduced to one lane in each direction to accommodate construction of Fairbank Station. To minimize congestion, we have implemented turn prohibitions in all directions,” explains Maritza Sanchez, Traffic Coordinator at Fairbank Station. “In addition to changes at the intersection, we’ve implemented some changes to nearby side streets to address obstructed sightlines due to proximity to work zone, as well as insufficient turn radiuses for large vehicles.”

The project team also looks for opportunities to offset impacts where possible. For instance, various temporary relaxations of turn prohibitions on some local roads are in place to provide alternative route options for local traffic. For example, for Fairbank and Oakwood Stations, a plan to temporarily convert Northcliffe Avenue from a one-way to a two-way street between Eglinton Avenue West and Vaughan Road has been approved, which will facilitate traffic flows throughout the neighbourhood.

Once the traffic management plans are implemented, the team regularly reviews the configurations, continuously addresses feedback from local stakeholders, and makes adjustments wherever possible.

You can download the aCrosstown mobile app to get real-time traffic information for the Eglinton Crosstown corridor.