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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

P23 said:
There were road crews patching the asphalt on Bloor near Spadina yesterday, I would say work has sort of begun already. Looking forward to the lanes, I anticipate they will be well used.
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Yeah, the construction notice actually noted that restorative roadworks are the first step, so sounds like you're right.

And, yes, I imagine they will be extremely well used - unfortunately, that may not be enough to convince Council to call them a success. There was never agreement on a strict assessment criteria for the project, which means it's up to a staunchly anti-bike safety Council to claim whatever it pleases in terms of declaring the project a failure/success.

And that's terrible both for future users of the Bloor lanes and also for cyclists all over the city, as the Mayor and many Councillors have essentially pinned the hopes for additional protected cycle infrastructure all over the city on the success of this one pilot. Which is stupid in the extreme.
 
the lemur said:
Apparently someone's been scattering tacks in the Adelaide lane. I know we have a few hardcore bike haters in this city but that's some UK/Australia-level bullshit.
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I Slime the tires on my motorcycle and bicycles. Once had a nail on the motorcycle and only noticed it because the bright green goo had sealed the hole around the nail. Slime your tires and you can ride over a bed of tacks.


Or just buy the Slime tubes http://www.slime.com/us/products/bike/tubes/
 
ADRM said:
Yeah, the construction notice actually noted that restorative roadworks are the first step, so sounds like you're right.

And, yes, I imagine they will be extremely well used - unfortunately, that may not be enough to convince Council to call them a success. There was never agreement on a strict assessment criteria for the project, which means it's up to a staunchly anti-bike safety Council to claim whatever it pleases in terms of declaring the project a failure/success.

And that's terrible both for future users of the Bloor lanes and also for cyclists all over the city, as the Mayor and many Councillors have essentially pinned the hopes for additional protected cycle infrastructure all over the city on the success of this one pilot. Which is stupid in the extreme.
Click to expand...

What is one objective criterion that could be used to evaluate such a project?
 
One thing that should be a rule is no more bike lanes to nowhere. On Gerrard the bike lane runs only over the DVP bridge, but the stops dead at either end. It's as is there's some bureaucrat at city hall who's measured solely on the total linear feet of bike paths they've put in, regardless of their utility or contribution to an overall system.
 
Admiral Beez said:
One thing that should be a rule is no more bike lanes to nowhere. On Gerrard the bike lane runs only over the DVP bridge, but the stops dead at either end. It's as is there's some bureaucrat at city hall who's measured solely on the total linear feet of bike paths they've put in, regardless of their utility or contribution to an overall system.
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That bike lane is there specifically because traffic speeds up over the bridge. Kind of similar to how Bloor has a bike lane to Broadview because of the traffic on the bridge. Better than having no bike lane at all.
 
A lot of bike lanes exist where they can "fit" without effecting existing traffic configurations. This usually happens on bridges as the car lanes are usually much wider than normal.

It's a case of "we can fit the lanes in so we should put them in, even if they don't have much utility, it's better then leaving it as unused space"
 
LNahid2000 said:
That bike lane is there specifically because traffic speeds up over the bridge. Kind of similar to how Bloor has a bike lane to Broadview because of the traffic on the bridge. Better than having no bike lane at all.
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IIRC, the speed on the Gerrard St. DVP bridge is 40 kph, but increases to 50 kph once you exit the bridge.
 
LNahid2000 said:
As if people ever pay attention to speed limits in this city. From my experience biking on Gerrard, traffic moves faster on the bridge than east or west of it, regardless of speed limits.
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That bridge has to be one of the most used speed traps, I often see TPS waiting at either end. It's well known on speedtrap.org from current and going back over 10 years.

http://www.speedtrap.org/view/Ontario/121159
http://www.speedtrap.org/view/Ontario/68134
http://www.speedtrap.org/view/Ontario/41214

Chicken and egg of course, as the TPS may see the need (or revenue opp) because of the speeding you refer too.
 
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Traffic certainly speeds up on that bridge - it's a wide, straight run from River St., usually to Broadview (the lights at St. Matthews more often that not being green). While I don't doubt the cops are there on occasion, I go by there almost every weekday, in the a.m. and p.m., and have never seen a speed trap. At least not that I can recall. I have often wondered why a bridge that actually has signs on it saying "radar patrolled" seems to have so very little speed enforcement on it (as compared to, say, the Bloor viaduct to the north).

While I understand the frustration of seeing bike lanes on a bridge without connections on either side, I also am pleased to see bike lanes installed where they can be. I see them more as a foot in the door rather than bike lanes to nowhere. But I certainly can appreciate how some people are likely tired of waiting for them to be connected to something.
 
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