If you think getting around the Toronto area by car is bad now, you may want to start planning a future elsewhere, as newly revealed documents from the Province of Ontario predict gridlock to worsen to a point where drivers will be crawling at under 20 km/h on local highways — even if new arteries are built.

The internal documents from 2022, sourced by The Trillium over the weekend, say that rush hour commuters on the 400, 401, QEW and other 400-series roadways will end up regularly travelling at speeds between the teens and 40 km/h by 2041.

Ironically, it's the people who live outside of the city who are the source of most of the vehicular traffic in it.
More people who need to be in the city for work, etc, who move away are just going to be the source of even more traffic.
Enjoy your commute!

— 𝘾𝙝𝙪𝙘𝙠 (@Easy_To_Slip) July 16, 2024

This is based on the Greater Golden Horseshoe Model, the government's primary tool for planning the future of transportation in the the region that can account for any and all variables, including the forthcoming Highway 413.

The controversial addition has been touted as a key step in helping to relieve the province's congestion amid bonkers population growth. Still, many worry it will only worsen gridlock, along with the environmental, cost and other concerns associated with the project.

Based on the Ministry of Transportation's own estimates, the 413 won't end our traffic woes as promised, as the aforementioned speed figures depend on whether the freeway has four, six, or eight lanes (though other documents show it could expand to as many as 10, a separate issue in its own right).

blogTO did not have direct access to the damning records, but maps leaked from them do show anticipated speeds of 0-50 km/h on large chunks of Highways 413, 401, 410, 427, 403 and the QEW in and around Toronto.

Big celebrities are constantly complaining about Toronto's brutal traffic (can you blame them?!)https://t.co/HL3x7kLO9j

— blogTO (@blogTO) July 23, 2024

As the political outlet notes, there is no comparable map included in the memos that would show speeds if the 413 was not constructed, though the Ministry has said jams would only be worse.

"However, the government's official transportation plan describes what will happen if nothing is done, and it is strikingly similar to what the model predicts will occur with the 413," their coverage states.