What Burlington is Doing to Manage Traffic Congestion in the City

Managing traffic across our City is a top priority for me and this Council.During our Planning and Development Committee meeting on Sept. 10, staff followed up to our request back in March asking the Director of Transportation Services to update us in September on the ongoing and planned traffic management strategies aimed at improving traffic congestion on Burlington's roads.As populations continue to grow both in Burlington and in our surrounding municipalities, the demands on the City’s roads is going to keep increasing. We need to find ways and strategies to make sure our existing roads as effective and efficient as possible, as well as ways to improve the flow of traffic through our streets.The staff report submitted at committee provides an overview of the initiatives aimed at improving traffic management and reducing the impacts of congestion on our roads.For the full staff report, please click the link: TS-16-19 - Traffic Management Strategies.Highlights from the report:Staff informed us there have been technological advancements involving traffic signals that can help improve traffic management and make the flow of traffic more efficient. As a result, they have developed a strategy involving four key areas:

• Implementing adaptive traffic control systems;
• Utilizing traffic signal performance measures;
• Procuring and implementing a Bluetooth travel time system; and
• Constructing a traffic management centre.

Please read the report for more details on each staff-proposed initiative. The costs of each initiative and its funding source is provided below:

Initiative	Estimated Cost	Funding Source
Adaptive Traffic Signals System	$70,000	TS0088 - Traffic Signal System Upgrade
Traffic Signal Performance Measures	Included with above
Bluetooth Travel Time System	$75,000	TS0107 – Traffic Signal Minor Improvements and Modifications
Traffic Management Centre	$75,000	TS0088 - Traffic Signal System Upgrade

Staff reported they anticipate the initiatives they presented in the report to significantly improve our City’s ability to manage traffic wherever possible, while leveraging existing systems and new technology to change the traditional way of managing traffic and reducing the negative impacts of congestion on Burlington roads.MY TAKE:I thank our transportation staff for staying on top of advances in technologies in traffic management and finding the best ways to implement them in our City to ensure we keep our residents moving so that they spend less time on the road, idling in traffic (which helps our environment), and more time with loved ones and doing the activities they enjoy.