A new report by the Toronto Region Board of Trade (TRBT) insists that the provincial government take five actions to alleviate traffic congestion in the city.
Toronto was ranked second in Canada for worst traffic in 2025, with an estimated four days of time lost due to traffic for commuters. A report published by Cancea showed that traffic cost the city about $56.4 billion in 2024, and, if nothing is done, the annual cost of congestion could rise to $108 billion by 2044. The city even hired a traffic czar, Andrew Posluns, to tackle the issue.
The city has also accepted several recommendations from a similar report by last year, which included reducing lane closures and “unclogging” major traffic arteries.
The latest report, Breaking Gridlock: Finishing the Job through Provincial Action, published in March, says if there’s to be real progress on the issue, provincial leadership needs to step in. It breaks down five ways the province can help Toronto with its traffic troubles. Here’s what they suggest.
The Highway Traffic Act
Vehicles often enter intersections without enough space to clear them before the light changes, causing a blocked intersection, which the report says is a common cause of gridlock that can have a “ripple effect” for other commuters in Toronto.
Currently, the Highway Traffic Act limits enforcement to the driver, not the vehicle owner. Officers must be physically present to witness the violation and issue a ticket on the spot to the driver, which makes enforcement difficult and labour-intensive. So, municipalities also cannot use automated camera enforcement to issue tickets to vehicle owners for intersection-blocking violations. The TRBT’s report wants the Act to be amended to hold vehicle owners responsible when they block an intersection, which they say will help with traffic flow and road safety, especially during rush hours.
Provincial projects
The report says lane closures caused by provincial projects are also contributing to Toronto’s traffic problem. Many major provincial projects are underway in Toronto, but the project plans don’t focus on minimizing the impact of lane closures, both economically and on commuters.
The TRBT wants the province to require impact assessments for lane closures on all provincially managed infrastructure projects, quantifying their possible delays, transit impacts, and costs. They also want the province to work with municipalities where the projects will happen to create an approval system for closures. They say this will help large projects get done faster with traffic in mind.
Bottlenecks
The TRBT’s report says highways such as the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway (DVP), which are transitioning to provincial control, face severe bottlenecks that create daily congestion.
While there are generally accepted engineering solutions to the issue, the report states that progress is stalled because the ramps of the highway sit at the intersection of municipal and provincial control. Figuring out who is responsible for what improvement can slow down decision-making.
The report suggests the highway network in Ontario should be assessed to find points where it can be upgraded, and to ensure access points on the Gardiner Expressway function better.
Transit integration
Each regional transit agency (TTC, GO Transit, MiWay, YRT, etc.) plans, schedules, and operates largely independently, and the TRBT’s report says that contributes to traffic issues. This model leads to unreliability, which pushes commuters to use private vehicles, which don’t help alleviate traffic.
The report insists that the province make regional transit follow a model that maintains operational independence, but connects them to a common framework for schedule co-ordination and shared real-time data, making commutes easier for riders and reducing the likelihood of extra vehicles on the road.
Smart signals
The plan states that Toronto’s traffic system relies heavily on outdated signals that run on fixed schedules instead of reacting to real-time conditions, which leads to unnecessary stops and delays, even when roads are clear.
Although the city has tested adaptive “smart” signals that adjust to traffic in real time, they’re limited and disconnected across intersections.
A co-ordinated system is needed to help ease congestion, and the city is looking to the province for funding. The plan proposes a citywide rollout of smart signals that can communicate with each other and adapt to traffic patterns. The upgrade would improve traffic flow and prioritize transit, especially during major events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
