Toronto Transportation Services is the division of the

City of Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

which manages

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

infrastructure within public

rights of way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. With an operating budget of approximately $436.4 million in 2022 and 1,400 staff, the division maintains the city's surface streets and sidewalks,

cycling infrastructure Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of bicycle pedal, pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the ...

, the

Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it exten ...

and the Don Valley Parkway.

History

The department was created in the 1998

amalgamation of Toronto The amalgamation of Toronto was the creation of the city limits of Toronto, Ontario, Canada after amalgamation (politics), amalgamating, annexation, annexing, and merger (politics), merging with surrounding municipalities since the 18th century ...

from the merger of: *

Metropolitan Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...

Transportation Department ( Metro Toronto Roads and Transportation) *

North York North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...

Transportation Department *

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

Works Department *

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River (Ontario), Humber River, on the ...

Transportation Department *

City of York The City of York, officially simply "York", is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. ...

Transportation Department *

East York East York is a district and former municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The borough was dissolved ...

Transportation Department *

Department of Public Works and the Environment Before amalgamation, Metro Toronto Transportation was responsible for major roads across Metro, while the municipalities were responsible for collector and local roads in their respective areas.

Responsibilities and operations

Transportation Services is responsible for planning, construction, and management of the transportation infrastructure within the public right-of-way, including the public realm, sidewalks and roads. This includes: * maintenance of around 10,000 different streets totaling 5,397 kilometers * over 2,400

traffic signal Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order t ...

s * 7,100 km of

sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English, South African English), or footpath (Hiberno-English, Irish English, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English) is a path along the side of a road. Usually constr ...

s * 530

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

s * over one million signs * 4,100 bus shelters

Snow removal

The division is responsible for snow removal on public roads, sidewalks and other public areas: * Total kilometers of ploughed sidewalks: 6,000 * Total number of opened driveways: 262,000 A variety of city and contract staff/equipment are used for snow removal: * 592

snowplow A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to ref ...

grader A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, motor grader, or simply blade, is a form of heavy equipment with a long blade used to create a flat surface during Grading (engineering), grading. Although the earliest models were towed b ...

s * 5

Metromelt A Metromelt is a self-propelled snowmelter machine. History They were first built in 1974 for the then Toronto Metro Roads and Works department to remove major snow accumulations from roads managed by Metro Toronto. Built by Trecan Combusti ...

melting machines * PD-350 snow melting trailer units * 296 sidewalk ploughs * 211 salt trucks * City staff: 536 * Contracted staff: 1,068 Average snowfall in the city is 130 cm per year with 40 to 50 days of de-icing events per year. An average of 146,275 tons of salt is used each year (based on a ten-year average). The city's snow removal budget is over $60 million a year. Transportation Services is also responsible for a wide variety of activities including: * Road and sidewalk maintenance * Street cleaning * Permits for on-street parking, construction and street events * Traffic signs and pavement markings * Traffic signals and traffic safety * Red light camera operations * Construction planning and policies

Traffic Management Centre

The Traffic Management Centre consists of the Traffic Safety, Traffic Plant Installations and Maintenance, and Urban Traffic Control Systems units. These units are responsible for: *

Red light camera A red light camera (short for red light running camera ) is a type of traffic enforcement camera that photographs a vehicle that has entered an intersection after the traffic signal controlling the intersection has turned red. By automatically pho ...

s * Central traffic signal systems * Priority for

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the primary public transport agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operating the majority of the city's transit bus, bus and rail services. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers ...

and emergency vehicles ( Toronto Fire Services, Toronto Paramedic Services,

Toronto Police Service The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police se ...

) * Traffic Safety Unit providing traffic data and collision analysis * Deployment of intelligent transportation systems to manage congestion * Road Emergency Services Communications Unit expansion * Pedestrian crossing signals

Sections

Transportation Services is divided into seven sections: * Policy & Innovation * Planning & Capital Programs * Project Design & Management * Business Performance * Operations & Maintenance * Traffic Management * Permits & Enforcement

References

{{Toronto Transportation Services City of Toronto departments