Blocked lane makes traffic even worse
Jarvis St. is bad enough for rush hour traffic, without leaving a hole in the street that only adds to the backups.
Too often, there seems to be a lack of concern about the side effects of lane reductions on traffic, not just by developers but also the city, which sets the rules and has authority to crack the whip.
Some politicians have figured out that the public is losing patience with the relentless demand to cede road and sidewalk space to development and are finally making a bit of noise about it.
So far, they are like cowboys with pop guns and 10-gallon hats; all talk, no action. As for cracking the whip? Hah.
But not all of the problems can be blamed on development. The approach to road issues that slow down traffic seems to be no less leisurely.
Humza Hussain emailed us about a bunch of pylons in the inner lane of Jarvis St., just north of the intersection at Richmond St., surrounding what he describes as “a giant pothole.”
“It’s surrounded by warning barrels and the lane has been closed, reducing southbound Jarvis to one lane,” Hussain said.
“It’s been like this for at least three weeks and is creating a huge bottleneck. It’s pretty frustrating.”
Anybody familiar with Jarvis St. knows it’s a key route to and from the Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Blvd., and is always choked with traffic during rush hours.
We went there Wednesday during the afternoon rush and watched traffic squeeze into the curb lane to get around the barricade, which takes up no more than 10 metres or so of the lane.
But it’s just enough to make an already bad situation even worse. Status: Trevor Tenn, who’s in charge of road operations in that area, emailed to stay staff investigated and determined it’s a sinkhole that has to do with Toronto Water infrastructure under the road. He asked Toronto Water to get back to him about what they intend to do about it. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Send an email to jlakey@thestar.ca. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.