Create "Clean Air Corridors" during smog days

Toronto is suffering from an ever-increasing number of smog days where the air is dangerously polluted, in part caused by motor vehicles. Cities around the world have started to experiment with closing streets to motorized traffic on days when their air quality deteriorates.

The City of Toronto should begin a study of the feasibility and potential positive impact of instituting "clear air corridors" in Toronto on smog days to provide citizens with travel routes free of emissions. On these routes (at least one East-West, and one North-South), cars would be banned during peak traffic and air quality hours from morning to evening, providing more space for cyclists, and transit service would be increased. Possible routes would be Queen St. from Roncesvalles to the Beaches, and Yonge Street from the waterfront to Lawrence (where low-emissions buses could be run in addition to the subway to help move more people without cars).

TCAT calls on the next Council to:

19. Ask Toronto Public Health to collaborate with Transportation Services Division on a report investigating the health benefits of clean air corridors and identification of potential routes for them.