Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[rbt]

National cycling infrastructure funding? That's the only thing I can imagine.

Likely an extension of the below announcement from early February. Perhaps they've firmed up a list of qualified ready-to-go projects for 2021 construction season.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the $14.9-billion announcement on Wednesday as he prepared for a virtual meeting with mayors from Canada’s largest cities, many of them struggling to make ends meet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They will also be used to meet the growing demand for walkways and paths for cycling and help rural and remote communities deliver projects to meet their mobility challenges.
...
About $6 billion will be made available to municipalities right away for projects that are ready to go, according to the government,

$14.9B promised to Canadian cities for ‘major public transit projects’ | Globalnews.ca

The new money will not be specifically divided up between provinces, but instead put into a pot that can be accessed whenever a project is ready.

globalnews.ca

 

[Northern Light]

Ottawa dedicates $400-million to first-ever federal fund for active transportation

The National Active Transportation Fund will nearly quadruple the amount of money Canada spent over the last five years building and upgrading bike paths, pedestrian walkways and bridges, and nature trails

www.theglobeandmail.com

400M over 5 years for building and upgrading bike paths, pedestrian walkways and bridges, and nature trails.

Toronto's share, if the money were doled out on a per capita basis would be a bit over 31M;

 

[allengeorge]

It’s a carve-out of the 14.9B public transit financing plan the Federal government rolled out, just like the bus electrification.

At least this I can support. I was more annoyed at the bus electrification because it’s gonna force an immediate round of capital upgrades when there are other transit lines that could have been funded out of the pot.

 

[innsertnamehere]

my understanding was that bus electrification was still going to be more or less phased in as the gas buses reach end of life, no? You need capital investment in infrastructure to support these buses, but they won't be retiring diesel buses early.

Electric buses are overdue IMO anyway and will be a huge upgrade in so many ways for transit with lower operating costs, faster speeds, a more pleasant transit experience, and much quieter city streets.

 

[DSC]

A new (or recycled?? - pun intended) Federal Fund for active transportation. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...illion-to-first-ever-federal-fund-for-active/

 

[allengeorge]

my understanding was that bus electrification was still going to be more or less phased in as the gas buses reach end of life, no? You need capital investment in infrastructure to support these buses, but they won't be retiring diesel buses early.

My understanding was that this had to be done fairly ‘soon’.

From the release (https://www.newswire.ca/news-releas...sit-systems-across-the-country-895599052.html) the money is only available for five years.

 

[innsertnamehere]

My understanding was that this had to be done fairly ‘soon’.

From the release (https://www.newswire.ca/news-releas...sit-systems-across-the-country-895599052.html) the money is only available for five years.

Given that buses have a 12-15 year lifespan, that would be enough time to replace 30-40% of the fleet on a regular replacement schedule.

5,000 buses across Canada is probably well within that range. Toronto has about 2,000 buses in the TTC alone.

 

[Northern Light]

Report on new/enhanced bike lanes going to next week's Infrastructure & Environment Committee on March 23rd, 2021:

Link here: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-164828.pdf

In respect of the small improvement on Danforth, by the DVP on-ramp, they have a render in the report:

 

[Northern Light]

The Yonge Street bikelane proposal is over in the separate ActiveTO report, found here:

https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-164864.pdf

It is indeed Bloor to Davisville, and like Danforth is being billed essentially as a pilot to run through 2022.
Though as the paragraph below indicates, with a clear eye to making it permanent at a later date.

Looking at other tidbits in this report:

Here's the answer as to why they don't want to go north of Davisville:

On the Don Trail:

 

[Northern Light]

My thoughts on all of the above:

Some good and much needed projects there.

Clearly the program for total km bike lanes is a big disappointment for this year.

Though not mentioned above, Eglinton will see several km of bike lanes this year as Crosstown begins to wrap-up.

For me, the disappointing omissions:

Donlands from Danforth to Cosburn.

I just don't see this as politically controversial or complex.

North of Cosburn is needed, but I do understand it will require the removal of angled parking and some other more involved changed and I could wait a bit longer for that one.

Would also have liked to see the Queensway bike lane extended to Royal York Road, even if the actual implementation waited for the big Roncy/King/Queen intersection re-do to finish, would have been nice
to get that through Council.

Best small improvements are on Danforth by DVP.

Best surprise (to me) was the proposal for bike lanes and new sidewalks on Kingsway in Etobicoke, albeit for a short stretch.

Next big battles:

Bloor/Danforth to be made permanent (report due in fall); and approval to extend that to both the east and west.

Western extension of Queensway Bike lanes to at least Royal York, ideally further.

Donlands Bike Lanes! (shouldn't be a fight.....but someone is holding these up for a reason)

Overlea Blvd Bike lanes.

 

[afransen]

In respect of the small improvement on Danforth, by the DVP on-ramp, they have a render in the report:

I think this is quite a positive change in how we think about cyclist safety at intersections. It is incredibly clunky compared to solutions used in Europe to accomplish the same thing. But perhaps that is necessary for change management with the driving culture in Ontario/Toronto.

 

[NoahB]

In a city report released Tuesday, city staff laid out their plans for this year’s edition of ActiveTO, which last year saw the city implement closures of major streets on 25 weekends between May and October as part of its pandemic response.

The report recommends opening up stretches of Lake Shore Boulevard East and Bayview Avenue to pedestrians and cyclists again this year, subject to coordination with construction projects and the resumption of large special events as pandemic restrictions hopefully ease later this year.


But staff aren’t recommending repeating the closure of Lake Shore Boulevard West because of major road work already underway at the intersection of King Street, Queen Street, and Roncesvalles Avenue.

At the end of the month, the intersection is scheduled to be mostly shut down, and there will be only limited east-west traffic access along King and Queen. If Lake Shore West was also closed to cars for ActiveTO, it could cause significant congestion, staff concluded.

In addition to the weekend closures, city staff are asking for the authority to implement a complete street pilot on a three-kilometre stretch of Yonge Street, from Bloor Street to Davisville Avenue and Chaplin Crescent. Similar to the changes made last year on Danforth Avenue, the project could include on-street patios, streetscape improvements, temporary bikeways, and road safety improvements, while reserving space for parking, loading, and deliveries.


The project would be time limited until the end of April 2022, but council would have the option of extending it.

Last year the ActiveTO program also included 65 kilometres of “quiet streets” at 30 locations across the city. Under the initiative, the city quickly implemented traffic calming measures on local roads using signage and temporary measures like traffic barrels and concrete blocks. The aim was to slow traffic and provide more space to pedestrians and cyclists.

Staff are not recommending installing quiet streets again this year. According to the report, there is less need to give pedestrians and bikers space to spread out than there was early in the pandemic, when residents had yet to establish new norms like wearing masks outdoors.

The report will be considered at next Tuesday’s meeting of the infrastructure and environment committee.

ActiveTO program to go ahead this year, but without popular Lake Shore Blvd. W. closure

Staff aren’t recommending repeating the closure of Lake Shore Boulevard West because of major road work already underway at the intersection of King Street, Queen Street, and Roncesvalles Avenue.

www.thestar.com

 

[christiesplits]

I think this is quite a positive change in how we think about cyclist safety at intersections. It is incredibly clunky compared to solutions used in Europe to accomplish the same thing. But perhaps that is necessary for change management with the driving culture in Ontario/Toronto.

This is a big improvement. I've heard from multiple novice cyclists that this is the worst spot along Bloor-Danforth.

 

[afransen]

This is a big improvement. I've heard from multiple novice cyclists that this is the worst spot along Bloor-Danforth.

Now the trick is getting cyclists to follow the signal. I imagine novice cyclists will get hassled by impatient lycra brigade for stopping at the bicycle signal. This will only work if we are not needlessly delaying cyclists. This isn't a 2-phase intersection crossing, I hope.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Now the trick is getting cyclists to follow the signal. I imagine novice cyclists will get hassled by impatient lycra brigade for stopping at the bicycle signal. This will only work if we are not needlessly delaying cyclists. This isn't a 2-phase intersection crossing, I hope.

A bicycle highway, with overpasses and underpasses, would be the answer, but opposed by the anti-cyclist councillors.