How can we ease congestion on Canada's roads and highways?

Every city marches to its own rhythm. But these days, whether it’s in Tokyo or Toronto, that urban cadence is, more often than not, slowed down by the crush of cars, buses, cyclists and pedestrians.

“Every major city has a problem with congestion. It’s an inevitability when you have so many people in one place,” says Rob Barrs, an urban planner and principal at Modus Planning Design & Engagement Inc., in Vancouver. “This is especially true when you’re a successful city, where you’ll have a lot of people moving about or coming to the place. And that’s a good thing, because you want a city that’s busy and vibrant.” 

Keeping people and vehicles moving requires a seamless mix of transport modes, Barrs explains. And while there is no one-size-fits-all solution, there are key principles and strategies that can make it easier to get around in today’s congested cities. Perhaps what’s most important, he points out, is to design first and foremost for pedestrians. 

“Transit users and drivers are pedestrians as well,” he says. “So you have to ensure that their entire experience is seamless — from when they drive to the train station to when they get off the transit and walk to their destination. This should feel like one smooth continuous trip.” 

In Toronto the average one-way work-trip time is 33 minutes while in Dallas-Fort Worth, workers travel only 26 minutes on average each way. (GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO)

Wendell Cox, an urban planning consultant in Belleville, Ill., says much of the congestion in Canadian cities can be attributed to travel to and from work, and in general these trips take longer in Canada than they do south of the border. To underline his point, Cox compares the Greater Toronto Area and Dallas-Fort Worth, which have similar population figures. In Toronto the average one-way work-trip time is 33 minutes while in Dallas-Fort Worth, workers travel only 26 minutes on average each way.

“There’s no question that one-way work-trip travel times in Canada are worse than in the United States,” says Cox, who is also a senior fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a Winnipeg-based think tank. “Why? Employment in the U.S. tends to be dispersed instead of concentrated in urban centres, [which] they are in Canada, and we have great freeways. You have great freeways too in Canada, but they just don’t have the capacity to handle all that demand.”

So how can Canadian cities ease congestion and the movement of people? Baher Abdulhai, a professor in the University of Toronto’s civil engineering department, recommends a three-pronged approach. “Expand the road or transit line, manage demand and implement intelligent transportation systems.”

Making roads bigger and building more transit will increase capacity, but these projects are capital-intensive and take long a time to implement. They should also be accompanied by programs that encourage people to use more sustainable modes of transport, he says. At the same time, cities can manage the demand on their transport and transit infrastructure by introducing solutions, such as high-occupancy vehicle lanes and road tolls.

Sometimes, cities introduce tolls for revenue generation, but I’m talking about this from a traffic management perspective,” says Prof. Abdulhai, who is the director of U of T’s Toronto Intelligent Transportation Systems Centre. “By raising the cost of using congested roads during peak times, we’re giving people an incentive to change their behaviour. So those who have some flexibility, for instance, might think of switching their departure to a time when there is lower or no toll, or maybe they’ll decide to switch modes or routes. We’re not talking about changing everyone, but just changing enough to shave off a portion of what is causing congestion.”

The use of intelligent transportation technologies can unclog traffic bottlenecks and standstills, he adds. Examples of these advanced systems include dynamic tolls that automatically adjust pricing based on traffic volumes, and traffic lights that adapt to demand fluctuations in real time.

“Based on what it sees, the light would give more green to certain directions of traffic,” says Prof. Abdulhai. “If cities had these lights, they could shave off half-a-minute delay at each traffic light, and that can go a long way in terms of facilitating people’s ability to travel without supressing demand or having to expand the road.”

Governments need to work more closely together to ensure their transport and transit plans don’t work against each other, says Barrs at Modus. “This is important because we so often see cities promoting active transportation ­— such as walking, cycling and transit — as their provincial governments are investing heavily in roads, highways and bridges. You could end up with major roadwork undermining the work of the cities in terms of promoting transit use. Congestion is a challenge that is best solved with collaborative solutions.”