I am an engineer in the…

I am an engineer in the Bloor/Annex area. It baffles me that proposals so contrary to current research on urban design and traffic management get proposed by the Ontario government. It is shameful to disregard the science and instead opt towards 'gut feeling' for decisions like these that will impact the life and safety of many, while also making the very congestion problem we are trying to solve worse.

The only way to reduce traffic is to get cars off the road. How do we do that? Alternative ways of transport, especially for population in this dense area. If a lane is added to the road, then people who would be biking (like myself to work every day) are now instead driving and adding vehicles to the roads instead because that is the only safe option. This is called latent demand and is why converting this infrastructure will just make the problem worse.

Please leave this decision up to municipalities, and in this case the city of Toronto. The government of Ontario should focus on transport projects helping all of Ontario move across the province - not the few streets in Toronto that are making it safer for city locals to make commutes/short trips easier.

Please read research and learn. You can start with the link on this comment.