Toronto’s traffic, recently noted as being the 2nd worst in the developed world, has had a string of one-off events recently to slow down our already sclerotic commutes:
Toronto, are you crying uncle yet?
First, the G20 Summit ground the downtown core to a halt, landing hundreds of people in jail and crippling all kinds of business.
And then came the Queen, laden with her dainty hats, her fancy BlackBerry, her 3D glasses and her entourage, stopping traffic wherever she goes. She brought with her the heat, the hot, hot heat so hot that even the sidewalks are sweating. And then a power outage plunged our beleaguered city into darkness.
And now: Bring on the Shriners.
Both the Queen and the Shriners will converge on Queen’s Park today, shutting down traffic all around the provincial legislature. More than 10,000 well-meaning men in their little red hats and teeny-weeny cars will parade down University Avenue at 1 p.m. Road closures are expected to last until 7 p.m., meaning they will still be in effect during the nightly commute.
Knowing that my usual parking lot would be inaccessible by the time I got downtown, I took the GO train in to Toronto’s Union Station. Last summer, when I took the train in, I just walked up University Avenue . . . which was swarming with Shriners today. I risked getting totally lost in the PATH underground system instead. Fortunately, I had a guide: I met my accountant walking into the Whitby GO station, so I just followed him up as far as Adelaide before venturing out into the muggy air. In the couple of blocks I walked north, I felt I was nearing the end of a marathon — I’m not a hot weather fan.
The latest set of disruptions to Toronto traffic…
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Trackback by World Wide News Flash — July 6, 2010 @ 18:23