Wake-up call on gridlock costs

As Toronto anxiously waits to learn whether it has been chosen from 238 competing proposals to attract a second North American headquarters for the giant U.S.-based company Amazon, city officials may want to consider one of the downsides to locating here that could kill this bid. Gridlock. The latest study on this ongoing headache from the Toronto Region Board of Trade finds that congestion on GTA highways is costing the average household $125 a year in higher prices.

That’s because gridlock is slowing down deliveries on the $3billion worth of goods that are trucked through the region every day, resulting in expensive fixes. And in the end, those get passed on to the consumer.

Worse, the $125-a-year household figure is just the beginning of the costs of congestion that could deter Amazon — or any company — from wanting to locate here.

Importantly, politicians at the local, provincial and federal levels must wake up to this reality and work together to reduce traffic gridlock. If they fail to do so, then Toronto will fail to become a true globally competitive city, never mind a livable one.

Right now based on congestion alone, it is neither. Consider that, at 66 minutes, Toronto has the longest round-trip commuting times of any North American city outside of New York.

Or that a seminal 2006 Metrolinx study estimated the cost of congestion to the GTA and Hamilton region was $6 billion a year. And that was the good news. The C.D. Howe Institute estimated in 2013 that the figure was closer to $11 billion. How is that possible? Let us count the ways. First, congestion leads to more collisions. That drives up insurance, police, medical and property damage costs, not to mention adding to lost time at work.

Second, Toronto Public Health reported in 2007 that greenhouse gas emissions from idling cars caught in stop-and-go traffic were linked to 440 premature deaths and 1,700 hospitalizations a year.

Third, increased commuting times have long been associated with an uptick in obesity, which is linked to diabetes and other serious illnesses. Other studies have found links between long commute times and higher blood pressure, higher divorce rates and increased loneliness.

Despite these dramatic costs, politicians continue to focus on pieces of the puzzle that can gain them votes rather than looking at the big picture. For example, a multi-stop $6.8-billion downtown subway relief line is clearly needed to reduce congestion. But Toronto city council has clearly favoured suburban voters by prioritizing a single-stop extension of the Scarborough subway at a cost of $3.35 billion.

Similarly, Premier Kathleen Wynne played to suburban voters when she refused to approve a request from Toronto Mayor John Tory to place tolls on city-run highways to pay for infrastructure that would ease gridlock.

It’s time all politicians woke up and played together. Without collaboration, congestion will continue to be a major impediment to the economy — and to the region’s livability. If that’s the case, we all lose.

At 66 minutes, Toronto has the longest round-trip commuting times of any North American city outside of New York