Ontario Construction News staff writer
A key recommendation in the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s latest congestion report calls for major changes to how lane closures are managed on provincial construction projects, arguing that poor coaordination is significantly worsening gridlock across the region.
The report finds Toronto sees more than 2,000 active lane closures each year, many of them overlapping and poorly coordinated. Closures are often scheduled during peak travel times, set up well before work begins, or left in place when no construction is underway. In some cases, lanes are also used to store materials that could be located elsewhere, further reducing available road capacity.
The board says the issue stems in part from how infrastructure projects are planned and procured in Ontario. While large-scale projects such as the Ontario Line, Gardiner Expressway, Queen Elizabeth Way and GO Expansion are provincially led, contracts typically prioritize cost and technical requirements without factoring in the broader economic impact of traffic disruptions.
Permit approvals also rarely account for socioeconomic costs or include incentives for contractors to minimize lane closures, the report says.
That gap is significant. While the City of Toronto charges roughly $37,000 per month for a lane closure, research cited in the report suggests the true economic impact of closing a major arterial lane is closer to $1.7 million per month.
The board is urging the province to require socioeconomic impact assessments for all lane closures tied to provincially managed projects, including impacts on commuters, transit users and freight movement. It also recommends embedding mobility performance targets into construction contracts, with incentives for off-peak and continuous work.
Among the proposed solutions is expanding 24/7 construction schedules — similar to those used on recent work along the Gardiner Expressway — to become standard practice on major corridors.
The report also calls for better coordination between the province and municipalities to avoid overlapping projects, as well as the use of new technologies such as movable concrete barriers and automated cone placement systems to allow lanes to reopen during peak periods.
According to the board, these changes would shorten closure durations, reduce unpredictability and improve overall reliability for commuters and goods movement, while encouraging a stronger focus on minimizing disruption in project delivery.
