Chair: Victoria Masnyk

Present: Robin Sorys (HPCAC – Ellis & Queensway), Jim Bloom (MTCC #797 – South Kingsway Village), Mary-Ann George (TTC), Nigel Tahair (Transportation Planning, City of Toronto), Chris Middlebro (BA Group – REON traffic consultant), Don Richardson (TeleCommons), Heidi Clark (TeleCommons)

Purpose of Committee:
Identify issues and methods to help the Swansea Community at large understand the Stelco Development in terms of traffic design and impact

Ingress & Egress and Traffic Volume
Chris Middlebro was asked to describe current plans for traffic ingress and egress for the site. Chris provided a map with some early sketches of traffic ingress and egress. He described his perspective:

• Both the east and west sides of the site would have right turn entrances and right turn exits.
• On Windermere there would be right and left turn portals that would be supported, pending City collaboration, by widening of the pavement and road allowance to create center left turn lanes in both directions on Windermere
• Traffic outflow would be distributed via four exit points to reduce the possibility of "pressure points"

Jim Bloom recommended right turn deceleration lanes for the Windermere portals. There was some discussion of this, with Nigel Tahair stating that this might be an overdesign for this kind of site – and the right turn deceleration lanes might actually increase speed on Windermere. Nigel asked Chris to look at two options for the entrance portals at Windermere, one with the left turn lanes and one without. Nigel also noted that the City Works Department would also have to review the traffic analysis and plan. Chris said that the left turn out of the west side of the site would have to be looked at more carefully as his analysis continues, noting that there could be the possibility of banning a left turn out of the west side if necessary. Nigel noted that the traffic cue backup in both directions on Windermere needs to be part of the traffic analysis.

Chris said that he has some preliminary numbers from data gathered so far and that he does not anticipate there being any significant traffic congestion issues for vehicles or the TTC.

Nigel said that there will likely be a dispersed traffic impact from a site like the Stelco site - with perhaps a maximum of 350 vehicles at peak hour in the morning leaving from four outlets would mean that vehicles would not all be filtering out of only a couple of portals.

Reconstruction of Windermere
Jim asked if there was a possibility of widening the Queensway. Nigel said that possibilities for improving the overall traffic situation around the site would be assisted by the City’s scheduled complete reconstruction of the Queensway – scheduled for 2002. Nigel noted that this would provide the opportunity to create a well treed boulevard and eliminate additional pavement to narrow the road where to a consistent two lanes. Part of the objective would be to not encourage high speed traffic, and also to improve the sightlines along the Queensway.

Streetcar Issues

There was a question about the current street car fence along the Queensway – Nigel said that this was probably a legacy piece of history that was probably put up when the Stelco site was in operation in order to prevent people from running across the Queensway. Mary-Ann said that the track was re-done in 1997 and that there might be a possibility of improving the design of the interface between the track and the road during the City’s reconstruction of Windermere. Nigel suggested that this is an opportunity for the City and the TTC to work together to redesign and beautify the streetcar line in parallel with a concept plan to beautify Windermere.

Traffic Volume
There was keen interest in seeing numbers on traffic volume. Chris explained how he goes about measuring and predicting peak time traffic patterns, and that this will be an important part of his report for the City. Chris and his colleagues will be conducting their analysis with meters and observations over the next few weeks. Robin noted that the intersection of the Queensway and Ellis is center of congestion in the PM rush hour in the westbound direction, and that this is a real concern for people between Ellis and Coe – the people who have to turn right to enter their properties. Nigel said that the reconstruction could change the whole character of the fast moving Windermere.

Transit – General Issues
Victoria wanted to know if it was possible to encourage the TTC and GO Transit to add additional service, perhaps with a stop on the site itself as part of the old office building. Nigel spoke with GO earlier and was told that they are not looking at any bus stations in this area and do not plan to make any changes on their tracks. He did note that they said that REON would have to address standard noise, vibration, etc. issues via CN and that GO would review these issues as well.

Mary-Ann explained that the TTC conducts passenger counts all the time. They look at peak points along their routes about every 6 weeks and adjust schedules as vehicles get more loaded. She noted that they plan for peak periods to have a certain number of people standing on the vehicles. Queen is a long route through mixed traffic and a delay in the east will be felt along the whole route. The TTC had looked at options to shorten the route but a lot of people who ride through the downtown area, going east and west, did not want to see this. She said that there is certainly capacity to add more service and that they are looking closely at the "motel strip" as it develops. There was also discussion about "short-turning" street cars before they reach the end of routes and Mary-Ann explained that this was to get the cars back to downtown during peak hours. She said the problem is a congested downtown with no priority for streetcars – no dedicated advantage for them. She again stated that if there is a need to add more service, they have the mechanisms to add capacity.

On the question of streetcar platform width, Mary-Ann said that the TTC does not have a specific standard but that the trend is going toward a wider platform. It was suggested that the TTC incorporate wider stops during the Queensway reconstruction. It was also suggested that a shelter on the Queensway and Windermere was a possibility.

Victoria asked if there was the potential to move stops. Mary-Ann explained that the TTC would have to look at what the impacts are and that the time to do that is when the street reconstruction is being done.

Mary-Ann noted that the TTC prefers higher densities along transit corridors and that it is usually supportive of intensified property uses because they bring more ridership. The TTC is cautionary if vehicle traffic impacts signal timings and TTC vehicles are forced to slow down – the TTC will look closely at the traffic analysis and is usually very aggressive in protecting the streetcar from traffic delays. Chris noted that when impacts are significant, the TTC normally looks for financial mitigation or other tools, but he said that he believes that there is not much potential to impact the TTC in terms of delay.

The TTC is also cautious about greenery being added along a route – they need to make sure that trees to not encroach along the track because leaves in the fall can make the tracks slippery and dangerous for stopping. The TTC will be happy to look at any plans involving additional trees near the tracks.

Chris also noted that his analysis will include looking at ridership potential for the TTC.

Pedestrian Issues
It was agreed that the site design and traffic analysis will need to include pedestrian flow. Regarding the TTC and safety of passengers getting to the streetcar, one design option would be to have a concrete pad to clearly designate the walking areas so that drivers would be more aware that these areas are meant for pedestrians

Other Items
Nigel noted that it is important to get a perspective on density and he referred the group to the new development on Blue Jays Way which will have about the same density as the Stelco site, but would only occupy 3 acres – the equivalent to only the east side of the Stelco property. This development will have 1,000 units, with just over 1 to 1.5 parking spaces per unit, but only two portals for traffic ingress and egress.

Nigel noted that there are examples of development related shuttle buses (in reference to Victoria’s question about additional transit service), but that this is usually because there is no reasonable service being provided. He noted that with the streetcar, and with the Windermere bus providing a high capacity feeder to the subway that this was probably not a concern with the Stelco site.

Need for Another Meeting & Receipt of Preliminary Information from Chris Middlebro
The group agreed that there is no need for another meeting of this committee before the next general meeting of interested parties on November 22^nd. Chris agreed to circulate some sketches and preliminary analysis – about 4-5 pages – so that community members could see this before the meeting on November 22^nd. The preliminary analysis can be reviewed at the meeting on November 22^nd. Chris will provide this to TeleCommons by the 15^th and TeleCommons will circulate. Community members expressed their satisfaction with the meeting and Victoria noted that we had learned a lot.