After a two-year investigation into curbing non-residential traffic on the community’s streets, the North Leaside Traffic Committee (NLTC) has recommended a year-long trial measure of placing concrete barriers at the Bayview Avenue entrances of Glenvale Boulevard, Broadway Avenue and Craig Crescent.

“The committee has found a solution that is both fair and effective,” said local councillor Jon Burnside, who has commissioned a survey for residents to fill out, with results expected by the end of June.

During a town hall meeting in May, NLTC chairperson Jon Gaitanakis raised the proposal aimed at easing the community’s traffic woes, which have worsened with the construction of the Laird light rail transit (LRT) station on Eglinton Avenue East. 

If survey results indicate public approval, an official poll will be taken and brought before city officials.

“Ninety-nine per cent of us agree traffic is a problem,” said Gaitanakis, citing a 2015 survey. “Ninety-five per cent of us are concerned about our safety, and 84 per cent [say] it affects our quality of life.” 

Although the proposal has been warmly received by most Leasiders, one is holding off on her applause. Carol Burton Fripp, co-president of the Leaside Property Owners’ Association, who has been campaigning for traffic-calming measures since the 1970s, knows the best-laid plans often have unintended outcomes.

“It is important to take the whole community into account. We don’t want to just move the problem elsewhere,” said Burton Fripp.

Although the LRT construction will continue until 2021 and will leave Eglinton thinner by one lane, Burnside said that the concrete slabs, called Jersey barriers, will not last beyond the trial period.