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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

The Esplanade bike lanes went in overnight, and it’s now one way between Berkeley and Princess, and bus only between Princess and Sherbourne. It’s been fun watching drivers slowly realize the change this morning.
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Next, I want to look at Scarborough Centre.

This area is roughly Victoria Park to McCowan and Eglinton to the 401.

Here, I would prioritize off-road infrastructure initially.
The reason is straight-forward. Lack of political support for on-road work; plus lack of on-road connections further west in the adjacent area of North York.
Here, the key project to date is the Gatineau Hydro Corridor, something I would propose to build off.

I would prioritize the Warden Hydro Corridor, south of the CP Rail line (crossing it is a significant investment and regulatory issue) to the Gatineau Corridor

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This project is in the Toronto Trails Strategy, it connects with the Gatineau Hydro Corridor (Meadoway) therefore helps create a network.

There is no political opportunity in the near-term for investments on the parallel sections of VP, Pharmacy or Warden.

Lawrence is also an opportunity, but I have not highlighted it here. The key to Lawrence will be removing the 7th lane (turning lane mid-road, and making some boulevard adjustments.
I believe this can be achieved, and should be, when this section of road is reviewed for Transit-priority, which can provide political cover for the cycling enhancement.

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I would also prioritize Bikeshare expansion as low-hanging fruit to which there is no serious opposition.

Its crazy that the Warden hydro corridor trail hasnt been completed yet. It seems like a no brainer and I cant imagine what the hold up is. The hydro lines are disused and the city owns the property AFAIK.
 
I was disappointed to see the Bloor lane between Yonge and Bay fairly quiet last week during rush hour. Compared to other downtown bike lanes, is the Bloor lane less dependent on commuters than others?
 
A letter from Councillor Paul Ainslie is on the agenda for the October 26 meeting of the Infrastructure and Environment Ctte.

He is requesting that the signed bike route along Galloway Road in his area of Scarborough be upgraded to a bike lane and/or cycle track, preferable in concert
with enhanced pedestrian infrastructure as well, narrowing the road, and reducing motorist speed.

 
Ya know......as much as we need to do more work on our cycling infrastructure (lots)...........its interesting to note that other places are trying to emulate our better efforts. This is Seattle, WA

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The above picture was posted with this Tweet:

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I picked it up off a re-tweet by Becky Katz.


FYI by 'Toronto Style' they mean raising the bike lane to the curb/bus stop height.
 
Ya know......as much as we need to do more work on our cycling infrastructure (lots)...........its interesting to note that other places are trying to emulate our better efforts. This is Seattle, WA

View attachment 357053

The above picture was posted with this Tweet:

View attachment 357054

I picked it up off a re-tweet by Becky Katz.


FYI by 'Toronto Style' they mean raising the bike lane to the curb/bus stop height.

Personally, I think this inferior to having the bike lane divert to further away from the street, with a zebra crossing across the bike path to a narrow loading/unloading platform. This design above is less safe and prone to congestion.
 
Personally, I think this inferior to having the bike lane divert to further away from the street, with a zebra crossing across the bike path to a narrow loading/unloading platform. This design above is less safe and prone to congestion.

Do you have any examples of the above? I'd be interested to see how that works in practice and or/would work in practice in our examples. (Roncy is the obvious one, but we've started doing this on Christie, and I think a couple of other spots as well)

I would add, w/o judging your idea in the least, that I think its important to compare this design w/the baseline alternative, which is a bus pulling over and blocking the bike lane, or more challenging vehicle boarding/alighting for passengers from transit vehicles away from the curb, w/passengers stepping down into the curb/bike lane.
 

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