Trucking Association Releases Discussion Paper on Gridlock Relief

OTA wants to work with municipal, provincial & federal politicians over the summer to reach consensus on practical action

June 13, 2001

Relieving Traffic Congestion: A Discussion Paper (size: 537kb/13 pages)

According to David Bradley, president of the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA), “an efficient and viable transportation system is integral to the social, economic and environmental health of all Ontario communities. In the more populated areas, gridlock is costing all of us billions of dollars a year. It’s choking our economy, wasting fuel, adding to smog, and generally making people’s lives miserable.”

So, in an attempt to find consensus on practical solutions to the problem of gridlock, OTA is releasing a discussion paper during a speech this morning at the Canadian Urban Institute Conference: Understanding Smart Growth: Impact on Gridlock, Sprawl & Economic Growth. The conference, being held today in Toronto, is attended by Ontario policy makers and stakeholders interested in the province’s Smart Growth initiative.

The OTA discussion paper entitled Relieving Traffic Congestion tries to include the broad range of possible solutions and asks a number of questions:

• Who should be responsible for transportation planning?
• How will we pay for expansion of the system’s capacity?
• How can we maintain the free flow of traffic?
• How can we support the municipal road system?
• How do we reduce demand by expanding mass transportation systems?
• What else can we do to reduce demand?
• What can we do to reduce congestion due to truck traffic?

The paper discusses a number of possible solutions to gridlock. OTA will be seeking input from municipal, provincial, federal leaders as well as interested stakeholders and the public over the coming months. The results of the consultation will be published in a final report this fall.

"We have more questions than solutions right now,” says Bradley. "But, as a major road user group, the trucking industry wants to be a part of solutions developed to address to gridlock."