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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

Traffic Notice​



Lower Don Trail South of Corktown Common Closed starting January 16, 2021

As part of our plans for flood protection, we need to widen the Don River north of where it meets the Keating Channel. We’re building an area to manage sediment and debris that comes down the river in the area south of Corktown Common. As construction activities increase in this area, the potential for conflicts between cyclists and construction equipment traffic will be a safety concern. When the Port Lands Flood Protection project is complete in 2024, the trail will be ready to reopen.

Starting Sunday, January 16, the Lower Don Trail will be closed between Corktown Common and Cherry Street. This closure is in addition to the temporary closure of the multi-use trail on Lake Shore Boulevard between Don Roadway and Logan Avenue and the permanent closure of the cycling/pedestrian bridge over the Don River.

A detour route is in place along Mill Street.
 
The hill at Hogg's Hollow will become less of an issue as e-bikes get more popular. They make riding uphill feasible for those who don't want to turn an errand or commute by bike into a workout.

Admiral Beez said:
Would many be cycling downtown from above the 401? Unless Yonge St. has protected lanes all the way down it would be too dangerous for my liking.
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Protected lanes are exactly what's needed all the way down Yonge. The new lanes starting around St. Clair are a good start, which will hopefully be built to a more permanent standard in the future and extended to North York. As experience all over the world shows, interconnected networks of separated bike lanes and protected intersections have a big impact on how people can get around. Toronto is only now starting to build protected intersections so we still have a long way to go.

DSC said:
I agree that few people would commute by bike from north of 401 to downtown but I suspect there are quite a few who live north of 401 who would cycle to Eglinton & Yonge area. Bike tracks are like transit routes, not everybody (in fact very few) take a trip on the whole route. That said, Yonge DOES need lanes 'all the way' - even if not many will use all of them all the time.
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I'm one of those people. North York Centre is going to be much better for biking in the next several years but it's still highly disconnected from much of the city. The 401 and Hogg's Hollow are like a no man's land for bikes. I'd love to be able to bike to, say, a bakery at Yonge and Lawrence for example more easily. It's a trip that's not really worth it by subway with the TTC's stupid fare system but would be pretty easy by bike (especially an e-bike) if we had proper infrastructure.
 
Ok, a non-news post, my apologies for that.

But as regulars in this thread will know, I'm quite fond of the City's cycling manager, Becky Katz. Who is herself an avid cyclist and is really trying to make things better for cycling here.

At any rate, Becky had a recent thread on twitter she started, because she was looking for a less uphill route to Davenport.

This is how it started:

1642105820436.png


Then:

1642105839536.png


Pausing for a moment here, I know a couple of UT'ers who should be expert at answering this question..........go make friends w/Becky by solving her issue! LOL

*****

At any rate, what I enjoyed most in this thread was the exchange at the end:

1642105913120.png


LOL
 
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Now for a 'news' post, City Cycling unit staffer Owen McGaughey was out last week having a look at how the City's project to improve cycling safety in Downsview is going.

First a link to the whole thread, as I won't reproduce all the images here:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1480032674010050562

But now a few of his pics below:

New Trail on the west side of Keele Street linking the Finch Hydro Corridor to Finch West Stn:

1642106332545.png


Intersection of Keele and Murray Ross - new sidewalks and bikeways, and modified intersection.

1642106426277.png


New 2-way Cycle Track and sidewalk along the south side of Murray Ross:

1642106500038.png


Keele/Sheppard intersection modifications to connect trails along the east side:

1642106598522.png


There's a whole bunch more on the Twitter thread linked above.
 
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MisterF said:
The hill at Hogg's Hollow will become less of an issue as e-bikes get more popular. They make riding uphill feasible for those who don't want to turn an errand or commute by bike into a workout.


Protected lanes are exactly what's needed all the way down Yonge. The new lanes starting around St. Clair are a good start, which will hopefully be built to a more permanent standard in the future and extended to North York. As experience all over the world shows, interconnected networks of separated bike lanes and protected intersections have a big impact on how people can get around. Toronto is only now starting to build protected intersections so we still have a long way to go.


I'm one of those people. North York Centre is going to be much better for biking in the next several years but it's still highly disconnected from much of the city. The 401 and Hogg's Hollow are like a no man's land for bikes. I'd love to be able to bike to, say, a bakery at Yonge and Lawrence for example more easily. It's a trip that's not really worth it by subway with the TTC's stupid fare system but would be pretty easy by bike (especially an e-bike) if we had proper infrastructure.
Click to expand...
Until the battery power is used up or needs replacement.
 
Admiral Beez said:
Would many be cycling downtown from above the 401? Unless Yonge St. has protected lanes all the way down it would be too dangerous for my liking.
Click to expand...

I bet there would be more... Pre pandemic I would occassionally see folks commuting by bike from downtown to suburbs north of the 401 and vice versa. The North-South arterial roads I listed... Bathurst, Birchmount, Midland... have no ramps to the 401 which is why they are safer for cyclist in my opinion. Many cyclists take Birchmount to head north on long rides during weekends.

I and a couple others prefer riding our bikes to driving or even taking the TTC... Having those bike lanes crossing the 401 can only be a good thing. As they say... build it and they will come.

My regular commute to work and back pre-pandemic... I now work from home but will be commuting by bike to work again when full time wfh ends.

Ride to work:
GPS-Ride-Commute-to-Work.PNG


Ride home
GPS-Ride-Commute-Home.PNG


A video of a typical commute with a cycling buddy... this is along Leslie...

 
Northern Light said:
The Yonge Street issue (on the road itself) needs to be addressed either way, for the benefit of pedestrians accessing local homes/condos/businesses/TTC etc.

That said, I understand the notion that the grade for cycling through traffic from north of 401 to south of Hog's Hollow (or the reverse) is very arduous and a plan that mitigates that is also useful.

I'm not certain, what the N-S demand models show, in terms of prioritizing that additional investment vs say a safe crossing of Bathurst or Bayview, or an added crossing at the southern extent of Willowdale Avenue.

Eventually they should all get done, of course, but time and money being finite, some level of prioritization is required.
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At one time, cycling from south of Hog's Hollow to Yonge and Sheppard was fine. That is until the Tornto Bypass or Highway 401 was put built in 1956. Before then there was the Hog's Hollow or Yonge Boulevard Bridge. Bicycles and pedestrians cross the bridge without having to go downhill and back up. No replacement bridge since the automobile was more important than bicycles or pedestrians.

1212398726_40b7ece55e_b.jpg
From link.

The 401 bridge across Hogg's Hollow around Yonge Street is, by some estimations I've seen, the busiest highway bridge for commercial traffic in North America these days. I'd always imagined the bridge dated to the early 50s when the 401 was constructed through what was then York County. But in the 1947 shot of the area, I was surprised to find that the bridge (at least one of the central spans) actually started out as a connector for Avenue Road (and Yonge Blvd.) and Yonge Street! There was a need for it at the time, since York Mills Road and Wilson Avenue didn't meet... which you can see at the bottom; Wilson didn't even come down the hill to meet Yonge. I think it's fascinating the see the familiar bend of the 401 over the West Don appearing in images before there even was a 401.
Click to expand...
 
I asked this question a few months ago and think it remains unanswered.

Does anyone know when work will be starting on the Lower Don Trail from Lake Shore to Pottery Road (?) I know the lower end is closing on 30 November due to the Lake Shore East project (it actually closed in late December) but I see no signs of work being started further up river and I thought all was supposed to be done between September and April. That section of the trail certainly needs work but it will be too bad if it stretches too far into the 2022 'season' - though the on-street Bayview route is a pretty good alternative.
 
DSC said:
I asked this question a few months ago and think it remains unanswered.

Does anyone know when work will be starting on the Lower Don Trail from Lake Shore to Pottery Road (?) I know the lower end is closing on 30 November due to the Lake Shore East project (it actually closed in late December) but I see no signs of work being started further up river and I thought all was supposed to be done between September and April. That section of the trail certainly needs work but it will be too bad if it stretches too far into the 2022 'season' - though the on-street Bayview route is a pretty good alternative.
Click to expand...

Haven't heard anything since this:

1642788655253.png
 
DSC said:
Thanks but as no work appears to have started the hoped for summer 2022 reopening is clearly not happening. Which website did that shot come from?
Click to expand...

www.toronto.ca

Lower Don River Trail Improvements

The Lower Don River Trail is undergoing improvements to upgrade accessibility, mitigate erosion and flooding from the Don River, resolve drainage issues and enhance overall trail connections.
www.toronto.ca www.toronto.ca
 
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