TOLL TALK GETS REAL
City report foresees car drivers paying up to $3.25 per trip along Gardiner and DVP,
Tolls are being proposed for motorists using the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway — the first serious suggestion of GTA road tolls since Hwy. 407 opened to controversy in the late 1990s.
Stephen Buckley, Toronto’s transportation manager, says in a new report that tolling on city freeways could pay all their costs, including rebuilding the “hybrid” Gardiner, potentially with money left over to help build new transit lines.
The city staff report envisions car drivers paying a flat fee of between $1.25 and $3.25 for a single trip along one or both highways, and trucks paying double that. If city council opted for a 407-style distance-based system, car drivers would pay10 to 35 cents a kilometre, with truck drivers paying double.
In June, while narrowly approving the hybrid proposal for the east Gardiner, city council asked staff to report back this month on tolling as a possible revenue source.
Buckley says a full study was not possible in that time frame. He wants city council to order his department to report back next year on “in-depth impacts on the network and partic- ularly on parallel adjacent roads and facilities, impacts on the environment or how to address implementation issues.”
Mayor John Tory “does not support tolling existing roadways,” spokeswoman Amanda Galbraith said.
His deputy mayor, Ward 34 Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, said the tolls might not sound high, but the cost would be “substantial” for daily drivers and make Toronto uncompetitive compared to neighbouring municipalities.
Councillor Paula Fletcher said tolling the elevated section of the Gardiner is too good an opportunity for the city to pass up. Drivers can opt instead to take toll-free Lake Shore Blvd., she said.
“This is a good idea as long as it’s modest. Nobody wants a big gouge like on Hwy. 407,” said Fletcher.
The Gardiner now carries, on an average weekday, a total of 228,000 vehicles east of Hwy. 427. Some 110,000 drivers use the Don Valley Parkway north of the Bayview Ave./ Bloor St. interchange.
Staff peg the 30-year cost of the Gardiner at $3.8 billion. Costs for the at-grade Don Valley Parkway are $200 million. The 30-year cost of the toll system is estimated at $1.7 billion, for a grand total of $5.7 billion.
That could be recouped with a flatfee toll of $1.25 for cars, and $2.50 for trucks, or 10 cents per kilometre for cars and 20 cents for trucks.
To recoup the costs in only 10 years, the flat fee would be $3.25 per car trip and $6.50 for trucks, or 35 cents per kilometre for cars and 70 cents per kilometre for trucks.
“Revenue from toll rates higher than what is required to cover all (costs) . . . could be directed to other transportation alternatives for the city, for example transit,” the report states. “A reserve fund could be established by council to set aside the toll revenues.”
Tolling would reduce gridlock on the highways, the report suggests, predicting a $3 flat fee would reduce average trip times by three to five minutes.
Even if city council agrees to order the further studies, Toronto can’t implement tolling until the Ontario government passes two enabling regulations.
Council also asked city staff to look at the possibility of replacing the Gardiner with a tunnel, rather than the hybrid option of rebuilding the elevated link to the DVP and replacing the ramps down to Leslie St. with a boulevard.
In a report, staff said the cost of a tunnel was previously pegged at $2.5 billion but could go as high as $10 billion, with no connectivity to streets to the north and south.
“Notwithstanding the allure of Gardiner tunnelling proposals over the years, this report concludes that the opportunity to undertake a tunnel for all or portions of the Gardiner Expressway has passed.”