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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

ADRM said:
Yeah, this is a trope that is tired, ignorant, and harmful, and of course one that has been thoroughly and completely debunked. This is nothing more than a regressive -- if powerful -- BIA grasping at straws to justify their own selfish position.

To pick a couple obvious examples, the national malls in both London, UK and Washington, DC both have separated bike lanes -- two cities that of course never have big parades or gathering on those stretches...

It's funny/tragic -- when the Bloor-Yorkville BIAs opposed the bike lanes prior to the last round of streetscape improvements, they used NYC as evidence that bike lanes could not coexist in such an environment, and that no "serious city" would "take over" important thoroughfares for bike lanes. Today in NYC, there are separated bike lanes on: 1st Avenue, 2nd Avenue/Chrystie, 4th Avenue/Lafayette, 6th Avenue, 7th Avenue, *Broadway*, 8th Avenue, 9th Avenue, Avenue A, Avenue C, The East River Bikeway, and the West End Highway (that's fully *the majority* of major north-south thoroughfares in Manhattan for those counting at home).

Here is the contact information for those two BIAs -- I have emailed both of them to voice my extreme displeasure and CC'd Brad Bradford and Mike Layton's offices on each, and would encourage you all to do the same:

t: @BloorYorkville
e: info@bloor-Yorkville.com
p: 416-928-3553

t: @GreekTownBIA
e: bia@greektowntoronto.com
p: 416-469-5634
Click to expand...

In complete agreement.

Busy given'em hell.

Do have to note something amusing to me though about your list of NYC streets with bike lanes.............5th Avenue is not among them.

Michigan Ave. in Chicago doesn't either.

That's wrong; but I do see a link to our own situation here.
 
Northern Light said:
In complete agreement.

Busy given'em hell.

Do have to note something amusing to me though about your list of NYC streets with bike lanes.............5th Avenue is not among them.

Michigan Ave. in Chicago doesn't either.

That's wrong; but I do see a link to our own situation here.
Click to expand...

Yeah, 5th Ave actually does have a separated bike lane, it just doesn't run the entire stretch of it. And in terms of corollaries, there are bike lanes through other prime retail strips in NYC (like Broadway through Flatiron, Hudson through Greenwich Village, Columbus Ave, and most of the major E-W cross-streets in SoHo), some of which are way more expensive than anything in Toronto (including the Mink Mile); it's easy to forget just how less premium the Bloor retail stretch is than the international comparators it fancies itself on par with.

Paris's Ave. Champs-Elysees (avg. $1,478 psf) has separated bike lanes; Munich's Kaufingerstraße (avg. $469 psf), Barcelona's Portal de l'Angel (avg. $361 psf), and Amsterdam's Kalverstraat (avg. $301 psf) are fully pedestrianized; and Tokyo's Ginza (avg. $1,251 psf) has one of the more extensive open streets programs (which the Bloor-Yorkville BIA also opposed) I know of. The Mink Mile, by way of comparison, comes in at about an avg. of $285 psf, so if the Bloor-Yorkville BIA thinks it's generally of the same calibre as the the aforementioned global retail hotspots that *do* have more bike- and pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, perhaps they should seek to actually emulate them before claiming to be as prestigious (or whatever it is they think they are) as them.
 
Richmond Cycle Track upgrade, in progress: Say Hello to your new automotive distancing barrier!

1590611183074.png


https://twitter.com/x/status/1265735803692556294
 
The proposed ActiveTO cycle tracks and bike lanes announced on Monday have been approved by Council, 23-2. Only Holyday and Minnan-Wong were opposed.

Most motions to amend passed as well, including Councillor Matlow's motion to extend the study of the Avenue Road cycling route (originally Bloor to Davenport) up as far as Eglinton/Oriole, and McKelvie's motion to look at accelerating work on the ravine paths and the Meadoway (Gatineau Rail Trail.)

Though these are unusual times, I'm still surprised to see such unity on a major cycling motion.
 
That defeated motion from councillor Holyday was quite amazing even for his standards. He wanted to help business by scrapping the Bloor/Danforth bike lanes and replacing it with free parking!
 
Last edited:
Toronto council has greenlit a historic bike network expansion.

From link.

...
Councillors voted 23 to 2 in favour of the $6.5-million plan to create 25 kilometres of new cycling infrastructure at a special virtual council meeting Thursday as city hall continues to operate under COVID-19 restrictions.

Including projects council approved before the crisis hit, the vote means the city will install about 40 kilometres of bike lanes in 2020, which represents the largest single-year build-out of on-street cycling infrastructure in Toronto’s history.
...
Click to expand...

Meanwhile...

Paris To Create 650 Kilometers Of Post-Lockdown Cycleways

See link.

I sad about Toronto's bicycle expansion. It's pathetic.
 
Northern Light said:
I bring news via Matt Elliot on Twitter:

View attachment 248314

https://twitter.com/x/status/1266076403847610368

- Includes a motion from Matlow on extending the University Ave bike lane up to Eglinton.
Click to expand...
Today, we sip champagne in celebration. Tomorrow and for the rest of the summer. We will work on getting more routes. As a member of CycleTO Midtown, we will work on getting Yonge, Avenue, and Overlea/Don Mills and more for a potential and inevitable phase two. Honestly, I thank everyone who wanted this and have advocated for basically a decade. We deserve this and our hard work has paid off!
 
WislaHD said:
As we know it's not just about quantity but about quality as well.

Our tame expansion will include the cheapest forms of road division, I am sure.

Meanwhile the Parisian expansion will likely include actual separation from cars for cyclists.
Click to expand...

It will for the "accelerated" portions, because thats simply how you make things happen faster. Plus they all have to start as pilot projects.

But the tides are slowly changing in Toronto, dont be so pessimistic. We've seen the threads with concrete barriers, etc
 
I've seen a real turn with the cycling department so far this year it seems. A sudden willingness to do actual, high quality cycling protection as well as a massive bike lane program for this year that seemed all but impossible before. Even pre-COVID, there was a large program planned this summer. Now it's even huger. Hopefully this can continue.
 
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