Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes headed downtown)

[afransen]

This guy is such a european fetishist I cant watch his videos. Hes like guys who love Japanese culture.

I share his videos with my dutch relatives and we laugh at them, everything he points out is like a single example of a specific area that has one or two of these things, and claims its the "norm" in the Nederlands, and its absolutely not.

Not sure there is anything he talks about that exists in only one place. It may not be applicable everywhere but it is something you see in at least parts of multiple cities. Closest is when he talked about having no garbage day. There are new developments all over NL that have those central waste drop-offs embedded in the ground. It's really not so different to a highrise having central waste collection, just designed for a low-rise neighbourhood.

 

[robmausser]

Not sure there is anything he talks about that exists in only one place. It may not be applicable everywhere but it is something you see in at least parts of multiple cities. Closest is when he talked about having no garbage day. There are new developments all over NL that have those central waste drop-offs embedded in the ground. It's really not so different to a highrise having central waste collection, just designed for a low-rise neighbourhood.

Yes that specifically made us laugh. Its more like a test pilot project there, its very rare, and he talks like its the norm.

 

[afransen]

It's not wide-spread, but it's not unique. There are developments/neighbourhoods all over NL that have those waste drop-off stations. I think it's actually not a bad solution compared to the wheely bin blight we have in Canada. My new house came with a wheely green bin big enough to dispose of a corpse. I feel foolish putting my one or two small kitchen size bags in that on the curb. Townhouse complexes etc. I think would be well-served to consider them as an alternative.

 

[robmausser]

Make Eglinton West in Etobicoke Toronto's "single" example.

True but no one is trying to sell it like its anything but.

That being said, I think this concept does need to be repeated around the suburbs of Toronto. There are tons of areas like York Mills, Don Mills etc that have super wide grassy shoulders and could benefit from a bike path like this.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Since they will be digging up Eglinton Avenue West in Etobicoke, why not improve the right-of-way for pedestrians and cyclists at the same time?

 

[robmausser]

Some updates I got from an email about the Finch corridor extension between Birchmount Road to Pharmacy Avenue which was supposed to be finished in 2019, and work has yet to start:

Thanks for your e-mail and your interest in the project.

The City is still in the process of finalizing legal agreements with utility providers that have infrastructure in the area around the trail. There have been some recent changes to the legislation regarding the crossing of pipelines that has slowed things down.

At this point, we don’t have a clear picture of how long it will take to finalize the agreements. But once they are finalized, the City will provide an update on the project website and by mail with a revised construction timeline. We appreciate your patience!

I wonder if this is why the northern portion of the Warden Hydro Corridor bike path is now proceeding on Warden Ave instead of on the Enbridge pipeline ROW.

 

[Northern Light]

Some updates I got from an email about the Finch corridor extension between Birchmount Road to Pharmacy Avenue which was supposed to be finished in 2019, and work has yet to start:



I wonder if this is why the northern portion of the Warden Hydro Corridor bike path is now proceeding on Warden Ave instead of on the Enbridge pipeline ROW.

TY for following up! I always appreciate the info; and that someone took the time!

 

[W. K. Lis]

It is more difficult to do this with automobiles...

 

[SFO-YYZ]

Montreal's REV ("Cycling Highway Network") under construction on Rue St. Denis, which will be an 8.7 km long north-south axis, fully separated from traffic (St. Denis is one of the busiest streets in Montreal and is probably equivalent to Yonge St. in Toronto). The REV will be taking away 2 lanes of traffic, turning St. Denis into bi-directional single-traffic lane street.

Similar to Toronto, there's been lots of vocal opposition against the St. Denis REV, mostly from local businesses and "BIA"s (surprise surprise). It's interesting how these opposition voices suddenly came up when construction is more than half way complete, saying how they have not been properly consulted (even though the REV is more than 3 years in the making and is Mayor Plante's central election platform in 2017). I'm just glad that these changes appear to be permanent, as it's a lot harder getting rid of concrete curbs when the dust settles in 4 weeks

 

[Northern Light]

A video of the new Shaw Street cycling infrastructure in action.

Compressed to 18 seconds, it represents 3 minutes of real-time.

By my count, slightly more than 1 cyclist every 7 seconds on average.

Progress!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1305995143397474306

 

[SFO-YYZ]

A video of the new Shaw Street cycling infrastructure in action.

Compressed to 18 seconds, it represents 3 minutes of real-time.

By my count, slightly more than 1 cyclist every 7 seconds on average.

Progress!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1305995143397474306

I have a question. For the lanes on Shaw that are placed at the middle of the road, is that road entirely closed off to auto traffic? Or is it a shared space with priority given to cyclists? Just looking at the video it looks somewhat confusing from a driver standpoint. I like the Dutch example featured below, less cluttered and more easy to navigate. I think this is a great design, by creating a bike "highway" on a side street instead of trying to squeeze everything on a main arterial - much more pleasant for cyclists as well because there's less cars and less noise.

 

[ADRM]

I have a question. For the lanes on Shaw that are placed at the middle of the road, is that road entirely closed off to auto traffic? Or is it a shared space with priority given to cyclists? Just looking at the video it looks somewhat confusing from a driver standpoint. I like the Dutch example featured below, less cluttered and more easy to navigate. I think this is a great design, by creating a bike "highway" on a side street instead of trying to squeeze everything on a main arterial - much more pleasant for cyclists as well because there's less cars and less noise.

The area with the green paint is open to cyclists only; it is a very short stretch of a block that splits the one-way directions for cars. It's really not at all confusing for drivers in reality (and there is signage everywhere), but I can see how one would think that having only seen the vantage from which that video was taken.

 

[robmausser]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1305995143397474306

The only way I can see this working is if the city put these things at every intersection

To only allow bikes through and force cars to go back to the main road.

Because if the shared spaces that were implemented taught me anything its that the cars in this city are hellbent on using side streets to drive around.

 

[ADRM]

The only way I can see this working is if the city put these things at every intersection
View attachment 269803

To only allow bikes through and force cars to go back to the main road.

Because if the shared spaces that were implemented taught me anything its that the cars in this city are hellbent on using side streets to drive around.

Conceptually, I agree -- generally, unless you make it physically impossible for drivers to break the law, a significant contingent will do so -- but they've actually more or less adhered to that principle here on Shaw, you just can't see it from that video; take a look at this pic from a few pages back:

And the orange pylons are slated to be replaced with planters.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The only way I can see this working is if the city put these things at every intersection
View attachment 269803

To only allow bikes through and force cars to go back to the main road.

Because if the shared spaces that were implemented taught me anything its that the cars in this city are hellbent on using side streets to drive around.

That chain hanging between the two yellow posts doesn't help cyclists.