Toronto police say that they will have an enhanced presence downtown this weekend due to a significant number of events slated to take place and they are warning drivers to expect delays navigating the city.
Police say that there are a total of 80 events planned for Toronto this weekend, including the opening weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival which will see King Street closed between York Street and Spadina Avenue.
The authorities say that an “operational plan” is in place to control crowds and keep traffic flowing.
But they are warning drivers to pack their patience.
“Due to the amount of events we have, we do expect a large crowd and a lot of people to be attending the City of Toronto. So we just want to let everyone know that they will also see an increased police presence in the city and that’s to ensure everyone’s safety and also to help mitigate the flow of traffic,” Const. Laura Brabant told CP24 on Friday morning. “We want to make sure that the traffic keeps flowing due to a lot of these road closures that will be in place.”
TIFF is the biggest event planned for Toronto this weekend but there are also numerous concerts, charity walks and run and demonstrations planned for the city, according to police. .
As well, there will be lane closures on Lake Shore Boulevard due to the Rolling Loud music festival taking place at Ontario Place all weekend.
Three eastbound lanes and one westbound lane on Lake Shore Boulevard will be closed between British Columbia Road and Strachan Avenue during that festival.
“Usually when we do have significant events going on in the city we do increase our police presence around those events. But we have an extraordinary amount of events this weekend with 80 plus so we need to bring a lot of police officers and resources, especially into the downtown core,” Brabant warned. “We expect a lot of people to be in the area. We just want to make sure that our members represent the amount of people who will be in the city.”
For a full list of weekend road closures follow this link.
