Toronto-Danforth councillor’s motion for monitoring of Metrolinx trucks and additional safety measures approved by city
By MATTHEW STEPHENS
Toronto Council unanimously passed a motion by Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher to improve truck safety along hauling routes for Metrolinx Ontario Line construction in the city.
“Metrolinx is building this Ontario Line. You can actually see it being built. My main concern is the safety of the residents with all the trucking to build the portal, build the emergency stations, build all the bridges, make all the changes… it is a massive five-kilometre job, and this would make it much easier,” said Fletcher at the Thursday, Nov. 13, council meeting.
Fletcher’s motion proposed several safety measures for trucks operating at Ontario Line construction sites, including GPS tracking and reporting for all Ontario Line construction trucks, clear labelling (magnetic identification) on trucks indicating their affiliation with the Ontario Line project, and improved communication and response times by Metrolinx related to concerns and complaints regarding truck safety.
Metrolinx is the provincial transit agency building the 15.6-kilometre Ontario Line subway from Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue through East Toronto (mostly in the area of Pape Avenue heading south) and then westwards to Exhibition Place.
Fletcher’s motion to push for clearer identification of vehicles and improved truck safety comes after an incident earlier this year in which a woman was seriously injured after being struck by a sub-contractor dump truck that was connected to Ontario Line construction work in the Pape and Mortimer avenues area.
In a statement to Beach Metro Community News this week, Metrolinx said “strict safety measures” are enforced at each of its construction sites, and that the Ontario Line Truck Route Safety Plan acts as a guideline to ensure Ontario Line trucks are operated with the “highest priority” of safety for pedestrians, cyclists, children and older adults.
“Since February of last year, we have worked with our construction partners at our Ontario Line sites to ensure that the agreed-upon truck haul routes are used and all safety protocols are closely followed,” Metrolinx media relations told Beach Metro Community News.
“This includes a zero-tolerance policy for non-compliance and requiring drivers to sign a Haul Route Acknowledgement Form before they are authorized to transport material to or from our sites.”
As part of the safety plan, Metrolinx said drivers are required to complete “additional education and training requirements” to ensure they are sticking to agreed-upon truck routes.
“Any driver that fails to comply with the site-specific truck routes will face strict disciplinary action,” said Metrolinx media relations.
Construction of Metrolinx’s Ontario Line began in December 2021, with the project expected to be completed by 2031.
According to the Metrolinx website, 2025 has been described as “the year of digging” for the Ontario Line, as more tunnel boring machines and trucks have been spotted across the city conducting excavation work.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, Fletcher’s office reported more than 400 trucks across 11 Metrolinx construction sites in the city.
Don Valley West Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin also commented on the “intrusive” manner in which construction is currently being carried out, and requested that Fletcher’s motion be implemented across all city wards.
City staff assured councillors the motion to implement sufficient truck tracking would be “applied broadly across the subway program” within the city.
In her Toronto-Danforth ward, Fletcher said that underground construction and subsequent road closures at the intersection of Riverdale and Pape avenues has put limitations on accessible routes for waste removal.
City staff said that haul routes for Metrolinx construction trucks are subject to change as segments of the Ontario Line project are completed.
“This is a dynamic exercise.” said a member of Toronto City Staff’s Transit Expansion Division.
“Haul routes are planned by Metrolinx in consultation with the city and taking into account the available shortest routes to and from the sites. So, as new routes become available, we will definitely be looking at changing them accordingly.”
City staff said a “significant” number of Metrolinx trucks carrying out work at the King-Bathurst and Exhibition Stations have already been fitted with magnetic identifiers, and that Metrolinx has not yet provided any timeframe for when all their trucks operating in the city will be identified.
“Metrolinx has not given us the indication. We have been pursuing this, as you are well aware, quite aggressively with them,” a member of city staff told Fletcher.
Metrolinx told Beach Metro Community News the agency is “exploring” other safety measures such as GPS tracking, geo-fencing and updated standards to improve truck monitoring and ensure trucks are staying on specific routes, but did not provide any timeline for when GPS tracking will be implemented on all their trucks operating across the city.
During last week’s council meeting, Fletcher requested Toronto’s City Manager Paul Johnson to speak directly with the CEO of Metrolinx to inform them of the city’s plans to implement proper identification and improve truck safety.
Without proper identification, Fletcher said her office has been receiving calls from residents in her ward who have been mistakenly identifying trucks not associated with Metrolinx.
“This would be a win-win for everybody, because I’m now getting calls from people that say they saw Metrolinx trucks that were nowhere near a Metrolinx route – but everything is now a Metrolinx truck,” said Fletcher.
“So, identifying who the haulers are, how they’re hauling, Metrolinx understanding if they stayed on the haul routes, I think it would be a tremendous move forward for this project.”
