innsertnamehere
Superstar
I believe northbound cyclists are actually supposed to cross over the ped crossing and queue in the green "southbound" queuing area. You really struggle to see the bike signal from the southern portion as well.
I believe northbound cyclists are actually supposed to cross over the ped crossing and queue in the green "southbound" queuing area. You really struggle to see the bike signal from the southern portion as well.
You can clearly see how slippery it is from this pic:Also, in the 15-minute span I was there, we saw two people wipe out on the green paint. City staff were there and assured us that the green paint is, in fact, no more slippery than regular asphalt, but needless to say folks were skeptical.
Bingo. As presently configured, there's a number of serious ambiguities and conflicts. I think the queuing in the channel is the better option, by far, pedestrians being blocked besides. There should be a duplicate cyclists signal, perhaps even a staggered phase one, at the intersection of the channel and the green bay space, so that one stream of cyclists goes before the other to stop directional conflict when turning east across Bathurst. That will be a problem for time allocation for stopped vehicular traffic, but so be it. Is this to be a safe crossing or not? Pedestrians need at least twice the time to cross Bathurst anyway, so a staggered flow for cyclists would be tight but sufficient.I believe northbound cyclists are actually supposed to cross over the ped crossing and queue in the green "southbound" queuing area. You really struggle to see the bike signal from the southern portion as well.
Notice the careful attention to the *FLOW* of traffic, including the all important cycle traffic and pedestrian crossing. This is light years ahead of anything in Toronto, but alas...London’s Protected Bike Lanes Move People 5 Times More Efficiently Than Car Lanes
From Streetblog USA, at this link:
[...]
A 2014 artist's rendering of Blackfriars Junction, immediately west of Upper Thames Street, after protected bike lane installation.
You can clearly see how slippery it is from this pic:
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https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/12/07/bike-lane-design-allows-for-hearse-parking.htmlBike lane design allows for hearse parking
Revamped area in front of St. Mary’s Church at Bathurst and Adelaide Sts. Is a compromise, but some cyclists say it shows a lack of commitment of the city’s Vision Zero road safety goals.
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This green area outside St. Mary's Church at Bathurst and Adelaide Sts. is supposed to offer both hearse parking and protection for cyclists. (Eduardo Lima / Metro News)
By Sarah-Joyce Battersby
Thu., Dec. 7, 2017
A new turning lane and traffic light dedicated to bikes shows cycling is alive and well in Toronto. But a lack of curb to keep cars out has some critics questioning the design.
The driving force? Hearses.
The $550,000 project at Bathurst and Adelaide Sts. sits directly in front of St. Mary’s Church, which has hosted funerals for more than a century.
Consultations with the church and the cycling community led to the concession, in part to allow hearses to park out front.
“It’s a pretty understandable consideration that we’re making, given that it’s a church and it holds funerals,” Coun. Mike Layton told Metro, adding the compromise upholds the site’s existing use while providing “significant” protection for bikes.
The open design also accommodates the large volume of bikes that can collect at the intersection, he said. (More than 500 riders clock through the spot during morning rush hour.)
Though the church has other entrances and a parking lot, Layton said other buildings and additions constructed over the years don’t allow for a direct route to the sanctuary.
“It really wasn’t feasible or realistic to think that people would walk out the front door with a casket and walk it around the building,” he said.
Cyclist Hanno Rein told Metro in an email that the decision pits the safety of some over the convenience of others and shows a lack of commitment to the city’s Vision Zero road safety goals. It’s a conflict he sees repeated in other areas, such as reducing speed limits, narrowing lanes and installing more pedestrian crossings.
“If the politicians of this city continue to run on platforms that focus on speeding up cars that move through our city, we’ll need a lot more hearses in the future,” he said.
Parked cars, including limos and hearses, have been spotted in the lane since it opened, prompting calls on Twitter to review the design.
“Classic Toronto: almost good, but not quite,” wrote @robmclarty.
“This is too common and why infrastructure can’t depend on the goodwill of drivers or 9-5 enforcement,” wrote @awkwartunity.
Hearses have been spotted in bike lanes elsewhere in the city. Just last week Twitter user @matthewdvm sent out a photo of such a scene in the Sherbourne bike lanes.
Toronto police generally use their discretion when it comes to ticketing funeral vehicles, according to a traffic services officer.
St. Mary’s declined to comment when reached by phone, but the church website published a brief statement ahead of the lane’s opening that read, in part: “Our hope is that cyclists have a safer commute by utilizing the new lanes and respecting the parish property.”
Calling the change a “major improvement,” Layton said the compromise helps preserve the city’s heritage.
“(The church) has been there longer than all of us,” he said. “It will be there longer than all of us.”
Nice increase in utilization by cyclists. That translates to 267 cyclists per hour or 4.5 bikes per minute. I wonder how the cyclists' use of the track compares with the number of cars using the remaining lanes?
I ask because you can be sure Councillors like Mammolitti will try to block progress made by cyclists. Do these stats support cyclists and the movement of people through the core or can they be co-opted by those proposing there is a war on the car?
The source is almost three years old though. The success for all major downtown routes is far beyond that now.Also worth nothing that more recent counts have shown dramatically higher cyclist traffic on Adelaide.
yup June 2016 numbers are likely way below what we will see in June 2018 - I've been a near daily user of the Richmond Adelaide lanes since they were installed in 2014, and every year cyclist traffic has noticably increased. It's to the point where the morning peak direction can feel very dutch with the ridiculous summer traffic levels. I expect this year to be even busier, winter traffic has certainly been far higher than last winter.