.DON MILLS CROSSING TRANSPORTATION STUDY

Don Mills Crossing Transportation Study: Phase 1
Etobicoke, Scarborough and North York (both north of Highway 401) in Toronto represent 14%
of total trips.
On the other hand, the study area attracts many trips from within a relatively short distance.
Roughly three quarters (75%) of total trips stays within a 10kmx10km area (Bayview-Bloor-
Vitoria Park-Highway 401), while the percentage of internal trips within the Don Mills Crossing
transportation area of influence is nearly 16%. These are relatively higher proportion given the
suburban context. However, most of the trips (60%) are completed by vehicle, including local
school trips, which contributes roughly 29% of trips in the morning peak period. Similarly, the
majority of commercial trips (52~54%) originated from this 10kmx10km area. The local nature of
travel indicates long distance transportation options are not as necessary to address local
transportation issues as trip lengths are in the shorter "urban" range (approximately 5-6
kilometers). Making walking, cycling and transit attractive options and providing a broader range
of land uses will be important areas to explore as part of Don Mills Crossing's transportation
work. Additional travel pattern information is provided in Appendix A.
4.4 Existing Traffic Conditions
The street condition for both boundary and internal roadways were investigated to assess
current deficiencies and identify network challenges. Instead of assessing only vehicular
capacity which generally ignores other transportation modes, the street assessment includes
“person demand and capacity” to add a multimodal perspective in existing and potential future
street infrastructure evaluations. A number of site visits were conducted between May and
October 2016 to verify existing transportation conditions, traffic controls devices, signs and other
geometric characteristics within the study area street network.
4.4.1 Existing Traffic Volumes
To provide the baseline roadway conditions, the most recent weekday morning and afternoon
peak hour turning movement (TMC) and link volume counts (Automatic Traffic Recorder – ATR)
were obtained from the City's database. TMC surveys were extracted at 33 intersections and
ATR data was collected for 48 major arterial street segments. TMC counts reflect eight-hour and
peak hour volumes (8.00am to 9.00am and 4.00pm to 5.00pm) and ATR counts capture traffic
volumes during a 24-hour period (year 2011~2015).
4.4.2 Existing Traffic Conditions
Daily and peak hour traffic volumes with are summarized in Exhibit 4-9 to 4-11. Heavy arterial
usage and a lack of collectors or local streets is the dominant pattern of vehicular usage and
source of transportation challenges in the study area. Lack of east-west streets results in heavy
use of Eglinton Avenue East and Lawrence Avenue East corridors. Discontinution of Leslie
Street placed additional burden on the Don Mills corridor. Lack of basic street network leads to
high traffic volumes at several intersections along Eglinton Avenue East and Don Mills Road.
The intersection Don Mill Road and Eglinton Avenue East carries over 90,000 vehicles daily,
making it one of the top five intersections in the City of toronto. Ramps of Don Valley Parkway
also attract significant traffic during peak hours.
City Planning, Transportation
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