Traffic Chokepoints That Affect Transit

[TransitFan88]

It’s a given that rush hour traffic isn’t evenly distributed across the city. That being said, some intersections and stretches of roadway are much worse during peak hours than others. It isn’t just passenger car traffic that snarls to a crawl but surface transit as well, disrupting service and prompting short turns and sometimes even detours. Are there any intersections or stretches of arterial roadway in your area or an area you frequent that act as chokepoints or experience huge bottlenecks in traffic during rush hours? What might be the cause(s) and what effects do they have on transit? Are there any alternate transit routes or driving directions that can be taken to bypass the lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic?

[Guest]

Steeles westbound between Petrolia Rd and Keele and between Murrary Ross Parkway to Rossdean Dr during afternoon rush hour.

Also, Dufferin St northbound from Glencairn to Yorkdale, always bumper to bumper and Dufferin between Supertest and Steeles.

[Ed T.]

Southbound Yonge to Lake Shore Blvd is a parking log in the evening rush hour. Every bus pulling out of the GO Union bus terminal winds up in this mess. And there's no alternative.

King St. is a mess in evening rush hour, westbound from Yonge to University, and again westbound to Spadina (and that's without a Queen car diversion). No diversion available because Wellington and Richmond are equally backed up. Queen is actually pretty good westbound in the evening....

[D. DeLarge]

The Don Valley Parkway. Any GO bus taking it between 3pm to at least 7pm, add another 15-30 minutes.

[BBfellow]

Yonge and Steeles

[TransitFan88]

The Don Valley Parkway. Any GO bus taking it between 3pm to at least 7pm, add another 15-30 minutes.

Yeah it's quite unfortunate how there just isn't any expansion room to extend the dedicated GO Transit lane on the DVP further south...

Leslie northbound from York Mills down to about Southwell Drive is bumper-to-bumper between 3:30 and 6:30 PM as most of the traffic is looking to hop onto the eastbound 401. The traffic eases slightly once you pass York Mills but can still be heavy up to the 401. The 51 falls 10 to 15 minutes behind along this stretch and occasionally gets short turned at Leslie Station. Bypassing the traffic between York Mills and Southwell by car is possible via Bond Avenue and Scarsdale Road; on transit, you're sitting duck.

[andyman]

Keele is brutal this week between Wilson and Lawrence due to paving.

Eglinton-numerous spots.

Weston at St.Phillips due to long term construction.

[Guest]

The Don Valley Parkway. Any GO bus taking it between 3pm to at least 7pm, add another 15-30 minutes.

This is why I love watching the DVP from Lawrence. You see this.

My chokepoint is during the PM, going eastbound on York Mills near Don Mills. Mostly people heading to the DVP, or turning on to Don Mills. Takes forever to get to the bus stop there, and then getting from it (in the right turn lane) back into traffic can be sketchy sometimes, luckily people stop and let the bus in 4/5 times. Not sure you can fix it without a dedicated ROW. And no reasonable alternatives, a lot of people take the 95E to get between areas east of the DVP and the Yonge line.

[vivablue5215]

Yonge and Steeles

Unless you're riding a bus.

[BBC 9197]

King St between Spadina and Bathurst after 9pm most nights, traffic is horrendous because of the nightclubs there. Pedestrians, cabs and autos block up the street preventing streetcars and other traffic from passing through.

No parking would help to keep the cabs out of the streetcar lane, a bit.

[6688]

Carlton eastbound between Sherbourne and Parliament in PM rush is brutal. Why they don't have a dedicated left turn phase at Parliament is just baffling. Streetcars are stuck behind cars trying to turn left, and you are lucky if you can get 5-10 cars though a cycle due to the amount of pedestrians crossing. Of course most of this traffic is headed to the DVP via Bloor. 10-20 minutes to go that one block is not uncommon.

[leylandvictory2]

1)Eglinton and Don Mills. 100 sometimes have to wait up to 3 minutes before it is able to make the turn on to Don Mills.

2) The left turn on Woodbine and OConnor. It takes forever to make that turn. Also the traffic light on OConnor is pretty bad. You basically have to stop at every single light unless youa re speeding.

3) The left turn on to OConnor on Eglinton. The duration of the left turn light is based on how many cars are waiting on the east bound. Sometimes it gives you like 3 seconds to clear the intersection. Given how slow the Orion 7 is, you will have to wait for another light if you are the 3rd vehicle behind the white line.

[Airbus A320]

Left Turn from Eglinton to Martin Grove. The 111 sometimes has to wait 10 minutes to make that left turn.

[TransitFan88]

This is why I love watching the DVP from Lawrence. You see this.

My chokepoint is during the PM, going eastbound on York Mills near Don Mills. Mostly people heading to the DVP, or turning on to Don Mills. Takes forever to get to the bus stop there, and then getting from it (in the right turn lane) back into traffic can be sketchy sometimes, luckily people stop and let the bus in 4/5 times. Not sure you can fix it without a dedicated ROW. And no reasonable alternatives, a lot of people take the 95E to get between areas east of the DVP and the Yonge line.

I've seen this too as I live just down the street. The 122 bypasses this intersection but by the time it gets to the next closest bus stop to York Mills (at Lynedock and Fenside), the 95s that were stuck in traffic at Don Mills would have caught up to it. The route is less crowded but its endpoint is within walking distance of Victoria Park, so if you need to go further east you'd need to hop onto the 95 at Fenside. If you're driving and need to head northbound on Don Mills, take Lesmill, Valleybrook, and Duncan Mill.

Left Turn from Eglinton to Martin Grove. The 111 sometimes has to wait 10 minutes to make that left turn.

Spillover effect off the eastbound 401. I've been through it once at the height of rush hour and it took 20 or so long minutes to get from the 401 offramp to making the left onto Martin Grove.

[wil9402]

A couple slow spots I often run into on the highways:

- WB 401 between Morningside and Kennedy (and probably beyond) every weekday morning. I usually use Sheppard to avoid getting stuck in that traffic jam.

- EB 401 between Victoria Park (sometime from the DVP/404) and Kennedy in the afternoon. It hasn't been that bad the last few times I've driven through there though.

- WB 401 between Bayview and Yonge, often stretching back to Leslie or even the DVP during peak periods. The reduced lanes at Yonge (goes from 4 lanes to 3) is partially to blame.

- SB Allen Rd off ramps at Lawrence and at Eglinton, on any day. If the Lawrence off ramp is not too bad and the slow traffic signs are flashing I get off and use Marlee to get down to Eglinton.

On the local roads:

- The left turn lane from WB Eglinton to SB Oakwood often takes a light cycles to make the turn. A way around it if you're really in a rush is Eglinton-Glenholme and then any of the side streets back to Oakwood.

- EB Lawrence Ave from at least Dufferin to Allen Rd in the afternoon. This use to be brutal riding a fishbowl in that traffic in the heat of the summer. It once took me about 35-40 minutes in a hot fishbowl to make it from Calidonia to Lawrence West Station.

- NB Weston Rd approaching Rogers Rd in the afternoon. I haven't been through there in a while but all the times I have in the past there has been heavy traffic approaching Rogers Rd.

- NB Bayview approaching York Mills has always been pretty bad every time I've been through there in the afternoon. Once past York Mills is is smooth sailing.

- SB Spadina between Front (sometimes King) and the Gardiner in the afternoon, Everyone is turning off of WB Front St to get on the WB Gardiner or Lake Shore Blvd West.

[D. DeLarge]

Hwy 400 southbound getting onto Hwy 401 eastbound during rush hour. Backed up and crawling a lot of the time. I had one GO bus driver who often skipped the lineup to that whole ramp: he just went down the 400 past the 401, got off at the Jane exit, turned left and got back on Hwy 400 northbound, then took the 400N>401E ramp and "butted in line" closer to the 401 merge.

[902]

Westbound Dupont approaching the junction from before Lansdowne is bad too. Take one of the good alternate east west roads in/out of downtown and put a bike lane in. Stupid city!

[BBC 9197]

Westbound Dupont approaching the junction from before Lansdowne is bad too. Take one of the good alternate east west roads in/out of downtown and put a bike lane in. Stupid city!

Agreed, that bike lane destroyed traffic flow in the area and made the Dupont service a waste of time. There are bike lanes on Davenport, Dupont should be restored to a four lane road.

Almost all of the worst bottlenecks in this city relate to the expressways.

[TTCNLFBT]

Sb on Yonge between Shuter and Richmond is jammed during the afternoon hour. Streetcars on Queen were having a hard time getting across at Yonge street due to vehicles blocking the tracks.

[lip]

Hmmm ive got a whole bunch for ya:

-Eastbound Gardiner virtually at all times Monday-Friday due to the endless amounts of people coming into Toronto from Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, Brantford and sometimes even as far as London (im really not kidding, people do commute from that far for reasons i dont understand). Add another 15-20mins if you take the 16 Hamilton-Union Express

-Lakeshore Blvd.W at Etobicoke Creek Bridge. The evening rush hour is terrible. Cars get backed up for blocks due to construction on the bridge and the 501 is delayed even more then it normally is.

-Dundas Street W beyond East Mall Crescent, westbound is another congested point at rush hour. MiWay and TTC buses get caught in this.

-Kipling and Queensway during morning and evening rush hour is cloggeed due to the endless amount of cars streaming from the Gardiner.

[andyman]

Pretty tough to stay on time on Rogers during peak times.

Bay was pure grid lock today from Queen all the down to the bottom.

[leylandvictory2]

Bay is always mess up during the rush hour and any special event that takes place in downtown (i.e. Marthon or street festival).

[andyman]

Bay is always mess up during the rush hour and any special event that takes place in downtown (i.e. Marthon or street festival).

Yes but more so lately.......

[TransitFan88]

Northbound Victoria Park at Sheppard, Ellesmere, Lawrence, and Eglinton is absolute chaos starting at around 3 PM every weekday. Bunching is frequent on the 24 at this time, and the 70A will often lose a lot of time making the left turn onto Victoria Park and on the short stretch up to Eglinton. Pharmacy is a great alternative up to just past Ellesmere (it ends just before the 401 and continues on the other side of it), but the time it takes to reach it varies greatly by the route taken.