This is one of the most…

This is one of the most bakwards proposals the MTO has ever come up with. If the province truly "recognizes that accidents and lane closures can worsen traffic congestion and impact the quality of life of Ontarians", it will recognize that bikes lanes REDUCE accidentsand REDUCE traffic congestion by reducing the number of cars on the street. It doesn't take a civil engineer to figure this out, and this is coming from a civil engineer.

To the point that "Ontario is looking to fight gridlock and get drivers where they need to go faster". You cannot simultaneously do these two things together, because drivers CAUSE gridlock. They are not stuck in traffic, they ARE the traffic. What will really improve overall commute time for peopel ,especially in an urban setting where gridlock is prominent, is to offer alternative transportation solutions like safe bike lanes, fast transit, etc. The solution for urban gridlock is NEVER to add more lanes and promote even more driving.

This is immensly disappointing coming from the MTO and the province. The deaths of cyclists as a result of this proposal will be on MTO's hands, the increased loss time to gridlock for all commuters, not just drivers, will be on MTO's hands. As a civil engineer it is a SHAME that zero critial thinking went into the development of this proposal, despite years of research in civil engineering proving that "one more lane will not solve traffic problems". MTO is on track to ruining safe and reliable transportation for the biggest municipalities in Ontario, in an effort to appease regions that should have no say in how another municipality constructs transportation infrastructure. Shame on MTO, shame on the province.