Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[H4F33Z]

Sheppard (Bayview-Consumers) will be a huge addition to cycling infrastructure in the city, plus the road is in bad shape too! I assume the road will become four lanes the whole section, which should make the road feel less of a highway. It helps that the councillor (Caroll) is quite supportive of road safety.

Sloane Bermondsey was expected, and there is many good connections. (Since no lane reductions here, DMW lets it happen.)

Bayview was quite unexpected. The only rationale I see is that road is in poor condition, but I'm surprised Jaye is supporting this, but happy. It's a significant win.

Brimley was removed, but eventually, it will regain a better raised bike lane and a longer one to STC and to Bluffers Park. But I feel like they should've kept the temporary bike lane in the meantime.

The bike lane on Kingston in Rouge has been planned for quite a while, from 2010. Councillor Mckelvie is quite supportive, and is a good place to put the lanes.

Meadowvale is quite a good pick! South of 401, it will make the road less of a highway, and north of 401, there is space in the ROW to put a raised bike lane.

Golf Club Road is interesting. I'm curious to learn about what their plan is. Nothenless it should make the road safer, and the councillor (ainslie) is generally supportive of bike infrastructure.

St. Clair Ave East from O'Connor-Vic Park. Bradford's ward. No more needs to be said.

Bloor from University-Parliament will be getting some short-term and medium-term road improvements. This should really make Bloor amazing.

Rosedale Valley is getting some improvements? I am unsure of what they could be but they could be better trails or dedicated space for cyclists rather than multi-use.

I am unsure of the status of Donway. The road reconstruction is already done, but there is still hope. but a bit doubtful considering DMW

There are a few more I haven't talked about.

But nothenless, this year and next year should be pretty good for improving connections in cycling and making cycling safer. But some wards are getting less infrastructure than others. And some councillors absolutely hate any bike lanes. Which is why most installations in their wards will not have lane reductions.

I can't wait to see this year's plan!

 

[Undead]

Glad to hear about Sheppard East. I used to live near by and can attest that whole area needs a facelift and refresh. I emailed Shelley Carroll's office to express support for protected bike lanes, more street trees and repaving Sheppard.

It would be great to get the same treatment for Sheppard between Dufferin and Bayview and east of the 404; plus Leslie and Don Mills between Steeles and Lawrence.

 

[robmausser]

I really wish that some of these bike lanes in the north of Toronto would be completely separated cycle tracks in the grass medians where possible, but I know they will just be painted lines on the street. Oh well...

 

[H4F33Z]

I really wish that some of these bike lanes in the north of Toronto would be completely separated cycle tracks in the grass medians where possible, but I know they will just be painted lines on the street. Oh well...

View attachment 292525

^^ I wish that too. City policy is that raised bike lanes are only included when combined with road reconstruction and/or watermain work. Most if not all of these installations will just be buffer painted and then protected by bollard curbs. It's not what should happen. It makes the city seem that the lack of protected bike lanes isn't a serious issue to them. Look at the dutch, they are reconstructing roads immediately just for separated bike lanes, but here, we can't even reconstruct a road to make cyclists safer unless we wait 50 years for a watermain break.

 

[robmausser]

^^ I wish that too. City policy is that raised bike lanes are only included when combined with road reconstruction and/or watermain work. Most if not all of these installations will just be buffer painted and then protected by bollard curbs. It's not what should happen. It makes the city seem that the lack of protected bike lanes isn't a serious issue to them. Look at the dutch, they are reconstructing roads immediately just for separated bike lanes, but here, we can't even reconstruct a road to make cyclists safer unless we wait 50 years for a watermain break.

The worst part about it is that not only does it set a bad precedent, but then in 10 years or whatever when road reconstruction is needed, they will be like "we already have bike lanes here, no need to invest in anything else" and the half-assing will continue.

Meanwhile, the number of cycle related deaths will continue, lanes that could be used for BRT/HOV will be unnecessarily occupied, and a strip of useless grass median will sit idle with no purpose except to look pretty.

 

[salsa]

The worst part about it is that not only does it set a bad precedent, but then in 10 years or whatever when road reconstruction is needed, they will be like "we already have bike lanes here, no need to invest in anything else" and the half-assing will continue.

Not necessarily. Look at all the existing bike lane installations that were revisited and improved on recently.

 

[Northern Light]

The worst part about it is that not only does it set a bad precedent, but then in 10 years or whatever when road reconstruction is needed, they will be like "we already have bike lanes here, no need to invest in anything else" and the half-assing will continue.

Meanwhile, the number of cycle related deaths will continue, lanes that could be used for BRT/HOV will be unnecessarily occupied, and a strip of useless grass median will sit idle with no purpose except to look pretty.

This City certainly gives us cause to be cynical from time to time; but I've been very impressed by Becky Katz thus far (the Citys Cycling Infrastructure Manager).

She's only been in the job a relatively short time; and seems to have had quite the impact.

She's also an avid cyclist herself.

So she deserves the opportunity to demonstrate that perhaps the above cynicism is more than what is needed; at least for now.

 

[MisterF]

Also contemplated for far eastern Scarborough: (Leslie to Yorkland (notably includes crossing of 404)

View attachment 292380

Over in North York, Sheppard East seems set for a Bikeway of some description:

View attachment 292381
View attachment 292382

Curious if you could clarify. Leslie to Yorkland is in North York and would presumably be along Sheppard, which would be great news since it's a pretty hostile street for cycling at the moment. But the images show Sheppard from Leslie to Parkway Forest and from Yorkland to Brian, which leaves out the critical 404 overpass. Maybe I'm missing something?

That interchange, as you can imagine, is kind of a nightmare to navigate on a bike. Addressing it would be great news for people working in the Consumers business park and living in the numerous buildings popping up in the area.

 

[sche]

Curious if you could clarify. Leslie to Yorkland is in North York and would presumably be along Sheppard, which would be great news since it's a pretty hostile street for cycling at the moment. But the images show Sheppard from Leslie to Parkway Forest and from Yorkland to Brian, which leaves out the critical 404 overpass. Maybe I'm missing something?

That interchange, as you can imagine, is kind of a nightmare to navigate on a bike. Addressing it would be great news for people working in the Consumers business park and living in the numerous buildings popping up in the area.

Think Northern Light just forgot to post a screenshot:

 

[Northern Light]

Curious if you could clarify. Leslie to Yorkland is in North York and would presumably be along Sheppard, which would be great news since it's a pretty hostile street for cycling at the moment. But the images show Sheppard from Leslie to Parkway Forest and from Yorkland to Brian, which leaves out the critical 404 overpass. Maybe I'm missing something?

That interchange, as you can imagine, is kind of a nightmare to navigate on a bike. Addressing it would be great news for people working in the Consumers business park and living in the numerous buildings popping up in the area.

There's a limit on how many attachments you can put in a post, I reached mine!

The missing bit is here:

I also omitted the Bayview to Leslie Section:

The way the whole thing appears on Inview is this:

The line along Sheppard represents the length of the project.

There are proposed linkages in some form, up Bayview in the west to Hillcrest, then westward; and up Brian to Old Sheppard, then eastward to Huntingwood.

 

[MisterF]

There's a limit on how many attachments you can put in a post, I reached mine!

The missing bit is here:

View attachment 292577

I also omitted the Bayview to Leslie Section:

View attachment 292579

The way the whole thing appears on Inview is this:

View attachment 292578

The line along Sheppard represents the length of the project.

There are proposed linkages in some form, up Bayview in the west to Hillcrest, then westward; and up Brian to Old Sheppard, then eastward to Huntingwood.

That makes a lot more sense, thanks. And the route continuing along Hollywood Ave completes the cycling corridor into NYCC. Good news all around. A city-wide cycling network is slowly emerging.

 

[mickael]

Just emailed KWT about improving Parliament and Bloor. I keep seeing posts about how shit it is to ride there, and when it rains the bike lanes flood.

You can look on Google Maps to see the difference, but reducing the mixed-vehicle lanes from 6 to 5 drastically increases the bicycle lane space, who'd have thought? Also shortened the crosswalk. This intersection is a nightmare, eh?

EDIT: Should have also added a crosswalk on the E side, as well as reducing that weird median space on the W side.

 

[Northern Light]

Just emailed KWT about improving Parliament and Bloor. I keep seeing posts about how shit it is to ride there, and when it rains the bike lanes flood. View attachment 292796
You can look on Google Maps to see the difference, but reducing the mixed-vehicle lanes from 6 to 5 drastically increases the bicycle lane space, who'd have thought? Also shortened the crosswalk. This intersection is a nightmare, eh?

EDIT: Should have also added a crosswalk on the E side, as well as reducing that weird median space on the W side.

Bloor east of Sherbourne, and the Bloor + Parliament intersection are scheduled to be overhauled in 2022.

The changes include elimination of the channelized turn at the intersection.

Streetscape proposal, west of Sherbourne, from 2016:

Note that bike lanes are now part of this proposal, but we're not then.


East of Sherbourne:

 

[ADRM]

Just emailed KWT about improving Parliament and Bloor. I keep seeing posts about how shit it is to ride there, and when it rains the bike lanes flood. View attachment 292796
You can look on Google Maps to see the difference, but reducing the mixed-vehicle lanes from 6 to 5 drastically increases the bicycle lane space, who'd have thought? Also shortened the crosswalk. This intersection is a nightmare, eh?

EDIT: Should have also added a crosswalk on the E side, as well as reducing that weird median space on the W side.

Thanks for doing that; I've also emailed KWT. I bristle everytime I hear folks now saying that with the Bloor W extension and Danforth ActiveTO lanes there's now (or will soon be) a continuous 15km bike lane across Bloor-Danforth, because it includes this section, which is just terrifying and super dangerous.

 

[smably]

Just emailed KWT about improving Parliament and Bloor. I keep seeing posts about how shit it is to ride there, and when it rains the bike lanes flood. View attachment 292796
You can look on Google Maps to see the difference, but reducing the mixed-vehicle lanes from 6 to 5 drastically increases the bicycle lane space, who'd have thought? Also shortened the crosswalk. This intersection is a nightmare, eh?

EDIT: Should have also added a crosswalk on the E side, as well as reducing that weird median space on the W side.

My understanding from having talked to someone in the know is that beyond a certain daily traffic volume, any reduction to car lanes triggers an environmental assessment. This section of Bloor is above that threshold, so it would be a long and expensive process to reconfigure the road and widen the bike lanes. The cycling department is aware of the issue, but given the amount of work required by staff to go through the process, they are focusing on other priorities for now with a better bang for their buck and more immediate payoff.

Another issue with the Bloor/Parliament intersection is that there is a high curb at the north end of the crosswalk, rendering that crossing inaccessible. The accessible route from Parliament to Castle Frank Station involves crossing at the far side of Castle Frank Road, which requires three crossings with long signal timings. Unfortunately, adding a curb cut at Parliament would require cutting into the concrete of the bridge deck, which I've been told would have structural engineering implications.

This section of Bloor is a walkability and bikeability disaster, but the solutions won't be easy or cheap, unfortunately.