Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[Northern Light]

Eglinton - Complete Street just passed unanimously at Ctte, with the support of Councillor Colle whose ward this goes through. Matlow will be backing it.

I've counted heads, barring a shocker, this passes at Council.

 

[chrisw]

Creating more places to walk or ride your bike! | City of Vaughan

The City of Vaughan’s active transportation network is expansive – it includes sidewalks, cycle tracks, multi-use pathways and recreational trails – and it continues to grow. In fact, more than 125 kilometres of active transportation infrastructure at different stages of study, design and...

www.vaughan.ca

Passed by New Westminster in Vaughan and there's lots of work being done for cycle tracks.

And many other projects are underway in 2024! This year, we are constructing additional cycle tracks, multi-use pathways and sidewalks, including the following:

Jane Street Uptown Link: 8 kilometres of new cycle tracks, 4 kilometres of new sidewalk and streetlight enhancements are coming to Jane Street, from Highway 7 to Teston Road. These additions will offer connections to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, Vaughan Mills, Canada’s Wonderland and more than 500 businesses along Jane Street.

New Westminster Drive Cycle Tracks: 2 kilometres of new cycle tracks on both sides of New Westminster Drive are coming to New Westminster Drive, between Clark Avenue and Bathurst Street, and work for the new pedestrian crossover at St. Elizabeth Catholic High School has begun.

York Region is also advancing active transportation infrastructure in Vaughan, including the following projects:

Rutherford Road Sidewalk and Cycle Tracks: 5.4 kilometres of new cycle tracks are being added to both sides of Rutherford Road, as well as 3.7 kilometres of new sidewalks that are also being added to Rutherford Road, from Jane Street to Westburne Drive, and from Peter Rupert Avenue to Bathurst Street.

Teston Road Sidewalk and Cycle Tracks: 2 kilometres of new cycle tracks and sidewalks are under construction along Teston Road, between Pine Valley Drive and Weston Road, as part of York Region’s Teston Road Widening and Reconstruction Project.

 

[Toronto1834]

Avenue Road Study
"May 2024 update: City staff are continuing to work with the local councillors and community interest groups to ensure all community feedback is considered before the final staff recommendations are presented at a future Infrastructure & Environment Committee meeting."

Avenue Road Study

May 2024 update: City staff are continuing to work with the local councillors and community interest groups to ensure all community feedback is considered before the final staff recommendations are presented at a future Infrastructure & Environment Committee meeting. The Avenue Road Study is...

www.toronto.ca

 

[chrisw]

And here's Vaughan's Active Transportation Network Progress Map.

Seems quite substantial. Currently, there's some Sharrows on parts of Jane Street. Canada's Wonderland could also use better bike parking.

 

[Coolibop]

And here's Vaughan's Active Transportation Network Progress Map.

Seems quite substantial. Currently, there's some Sharrows on parts of Jane Street. Canada's Wonderland could also use better bike parking.

View attachment 560817

I decided to transit to the cineplex at 7 and 400 the other day and had to cross the 400... Boy that centre bike and pedestrian path was not obvious...I didn't realize until my return trip that there was a path in the middle of both lanes. I ended up walking along the shoulder and figured it was typical suburban hellscape lol. Looking at the satellite image it looks impossible to miss...but somehow I did. Certainly a design I had not seen anywhere else before...

 

[chrisw]

@Coolibop I had the exact same experience going to the Cineplex. You can miss the turnoff sign, and if you're also not looking for the bike lane in the median. Even if there's a red light, you're waiting past the turn off signs, so you won't see them. And it's quite normal for bike lanes to end at highway interchanges.

Trying to ride hwy 7 without a bike lane is really quite the hellscape. There's the first offramp, and then it goes to 4 lanes, with another offramp.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

Creating more places to walk or ride your bike! | City of Vaughan

The City of Vaughan’s active transportation network is expansive – it includes sidewalks, cycle tracks, multi-use pathways and recreational trails – and it continues to grow. In fact, more than 125 kilometres of active transportation infrastructure at different stages of study, design and...

www.vaughan.ca

Passed by New Westminster in Vaughan and there's lots of work being done for cycle tracks.

New Westminster:

It’s a simple design.

 

[Undead]

It's everyone's favourite contractor (Sanscon) on the Westminster lanes.

 

[chrisw]

It’s a simple design.

And they get a lot of experience building these. From the March Report, generally it's a 5-7 year process to study, budget, design, and construction. 61 km in the design phase. 15 km in the study phase.
Generally, the detailed design phase takes 2 years from procurement to completion (completion of design phase?). Currently, there's 51.5 km in the detailed design phase.
27 km are anticipated to commence construction by 2025.

Personally, it's exciting to see in Detailed Design a 0.9km section of Hwy 7 from Bowes Road to Centre Street. The plan is for a MUP on the south side. It's quite the missing link, between two sections of cycle tracks. There's a railway underbridge, a big chokepoint. The current underbridge configuration is a 7 lane roadway, middle lane is doing nothing, and there might be only 1.5 ft for walking on both sides. So that can possibly be rejiggered to have a MUP on the south side. Past the bridge, the sidewalk is also currently quite unusable for biking, there's 5 industrial driveways, and no curb cuts.

Some interesting quotes,

Through this report, Council reaffirmed its support of separate pedestrian and cycling facilities to minimize conflicts between people walking and those riding bikes or micro-mobility devices.

The expansion of the City’s recreational trails system is a joint effort between the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). Most recently the City partnered with TRCA to develop a feasibility study for the 7 km Humber Trail, spanning from Steeles Avenue to the Boyd Conservation Area Trail.

They also talk about winter maintenance and the coordination with the region. Sidewalks are a municipal responsibility. Painted bike lanes on regional roads are under regional jurisdiction. However, MUPs and cycle tracks ownership and maintenance responsibilities are not clearly defined.

On-road painted bike lanes for roadways with operating speeds exceeding 50 km/h are no longer considered best practice. Furthermore, in some locations, limited space available for snow storage between the Regional road and the sidewalk, multi-use pathway or cycle track can create difficulties for winter maintenance. Operations and maintenance practices for multi-use pathways and cycle tracks as well as snow storage requirements within Regional boulevards need to be formalized.

Active Transportation Programs - Fourth Annual Update https://pub-vaughan.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=167442

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

It's everyone's favourite contractor (Sanscon) on the Westminster lanes.

I find it interesting how Sanscon seems to be diligently attentive for this project. They only started contraction around the beginning of April for this segment of the bike lanes.

My hunch is that the City of Vaughan has much more stringent oversight and on-site visitations than say the City of Toronto.


Not related to the Vaughan bike lanes but here are some pics of the intersecting York Region Viva corridor bike lane on Centre St and New Westminster:

 

[Northern Light]

I find it interesting how Sanscon seems to be diligently attentive for this project. They only started contraction around the beginning of April for this segment of the bike lanes.

My hunch is that the City of Vaughan has much more stringent oversight and on-site visitations than say the City of Toront

I might have a different hunch............

Ever wonder where the principle of Sanscon lives?

 

[DSC]

Work on the new watermain on The Esplanade from Market to Berkeley has started. When it's done the bike track will be raised above road and they will continue the track west to Yonge (not raised. I think).

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

Update, looks much nicer with grass:

 

[Undead]

Will they be replanting the mature trees chopped down for the Westminster lanes?

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

Will they be replanting the mature trees chopped down for the Westminster lanes?

I’m not sure if trees were removed for the bike lanes. Supposedly there is funding for replanting trees that were chopped down due to fungal disease though.