The city is making permanent 'quick clear squads' meant to get stopped and stalled vehicles out of the way to avoid street-clogging backlogs.
Mayor John Tory made the announcement Monday at the end of a two month long pilot.
The test run saw specialized teams respond to 330 calls on downtown streets, the Gardiner Expressway, and the Don Valley Parkway during morning and evening rush hours. The squads fielded an average of seven calls per rush hour and were able to get to a scene within 30 minutes. Tory says before the initiative it was taking as long as three hours to get a team to clear a problem.
While the morning rush squads will continue to roll, Tory says the initiative will not be made permanent in the afternoon rush or weekends until early in the new year.
"This will be a part of the 2018 budget to make sure that the transportation services department has the resources that they need, " Tory told reporters Monday.
The mayor says he would eventually like to see quick clearing squads in action on all major corridors and key roads.
During their pilot period, Tory says the squads went to 150 incidences of stalled vehicles, waiting with the driver until a tow arrived. The squad's presence allows police officers to move on to another task.
The groups laid 58 charges for blocking, mostly because of contractors leaving work materials on the road or utility vehicles parking where they shouldn't.