The City of Toronto plans to go ahead with a pilot project that would see a portion of Church Street closed to vehicles to create a pedestrian-only area for part of the summer, including during the World Cup.
Under the motion put forth by Coun. Chris Moise, Church Street between Wellesley Street East and Alexander Street, would be closed to traffic from June 19 to August 21, leaving all east-west corridors open to vehicular traffic.
Coun. Brad Bradford proposed adding an “escape hatch,” noting that congestion is already a massive problem and the arrival of the World Cup will make it “a nightmare” for anyone to get around the city.
“We all know there’s a lot going on in the city this summer. It’s a time when we’ve actually cast moratorium’s on construction and development and road repair because of the congestion issues that we’re anticipating over the next couple of months,” explained Bradford. “When we’re limiting road closures due to FIFA and other related congestion concerns, I think it’s a bit of a risk right now to shut down a street in its entirety.”
Moise urged fellow councillors to reject Bradford’s motion, noting there were already contingencies in the pedestrianization plan to deal with any potential issues.
“I’m sure there are people out there who are going to want to complain, as they always do, and that will determine if it’s successful or not,” he said while citing similar examples of pedestrian-only streets in cities such as Montreal.
“When I first got elected, I spoke to pedestrianizing Market Street, and I had pushback then, too. And now it is a destination, everybody wants to go there, and everybody wants it to be permanent. It has really helped build the mood and vibrancy of the community, and I suspect it will happen here too on Church Street.”
In the end, councillors voted 20-4 in favour of approving the pilot project along with Bradford’s amendment, which was approved 16-8.