robmausser
Senior Member
Will be huge once its connected to the Meadoway
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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)
- Thread starter MetroMan
- Start date
W. K. Lis
Superstar
CC (carbon copy) also to Councillor and Mayor. (These days may have to include a CC to the MPP and Premier, based upon their interference with Toronto).
Voltz
Senior Member
Which is also taking its time.
robmausser
Senior Member
has the portion from Eglinton Ave to Bermondsey and then Bermondsey to the East Don trail been finalized?
sche
Active Member
Wow, what Nanaimo is doing is actually quite commendable. The project seen in that link is proabably the closest to Dutch road design of any road I've seen so far in North America.The cycling lanes (and pedestrian sidewalk) in front of driveways should be raised, forcing the motorists to slow down, with yield signs and "sharks teeth". Signs and paint could be ignored, but the raised cycling lanes and sidewalk will give them a jolt, telling them to slow down next time.
From link.
Ticks most of the boxes:
- Protected cycle tracks beside the sidewalk, and with buffer and trees between cycle track and road
- Continuity of sidewalk and cycle tracks through minor side streets and driveways
- Straight cycle tracks (Too many of the Toronto ones zigzag around trees)
- Bus stops correctly located between cycle track and road, and cyclists not required to stop behind buses
- Refuge island for pedestrian crossings
- Pedestrian/Cyclist scale lighting
- Treed medians
- Protected intersections
Most importantly, they're starting to get the most important bits, which is a huge step.
Plans:
Attachments
W. K. Lis
Superstar
just east of the creek
Active Member
nd yues
And, if you envision or can see that these lanes will be or are being used year around, then all of this needs to be designed with the snow clearing and water drainage elements fully allowed for, as well as ongoing maintenance. Having spent several weeks over the past two months in a variety of Quebec Cities, I would say (in comparison) that the average GTA resident has very little to complain about in the areas of snow clearance and road /sidewalk maintenance, and in fact may be in better shape. Allowing for the fact that Quebeckers see much more winter and all of the complexities that winter brings, I would also say that Quebeckers are far more prepared and ready for winter then the average Ontarian - be it on foot or in a car. I saw very few people on two wheels.
I guess you could set some minimal standards based on vehicular and bicycle traffic that might progress from visual barriers (paint), to soft barriers (Cones, reflective lane channel markers, parking curbs), to permeant physical barriers (fixed curbs and other separations). Some standardization would be useful (as would the treatments of crosswalks, corners etc)
And, if you envision or can see that these lanes will be or are being used year around, then all of this needs to be designed with the snow clearing and water drainage elements fully allowed for, as well as ongoing maintenance. Having spent several weeks over the past two months in a variety of Quebec Cities, I would say (in comparison) that the average GTA resident has very little to complain about in the areas of snow clearance and road /sidewalk maintenance, and in fact may be in better shape. Allowing for the fact that Quebeckers see much more winter and all of the complexities that winter brings, I would also say that Quebeckers are far more prepared and ready for winter then the average Ontarian - be it on foot or in a car. I saw very few people on two wheels.
Northern Light
Superstar
Missed this from Becky Katz back on March 6th:
Admiral Beez
Superstar
If NYC can have an app that fines idling trucks and financially rewards those that report them. I don’t see why we can’t do that for Toronto bike lane infractions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/19/nyregion/clean-air-idle-car.html?referringSource=articleShare
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Admiral Beez
Superstar
We had Tow It, but it was not supported by the city.
www.fastcompany.com
This New App Lets You Report Cars Parked In Bike Lanes So They Can Be Towed Like They Deserve
In a perfect world, cities would step up their own enforcement. But for now, the concerned public will have to help.
www.fastcompany.com
allengeorge
Senior Member
NYC buses also have the ability to take pictures of any cars in the bus lanes, and for fines to be levied against them.
Toronto barely enforces traffic rules, has a tepid speed camera rollout (heck: the latest ‘expansion’ was 25 cameras; NYC’s last proposed expansion in 2021 was for 960) , didn’t bother turning on some cameras, didn’t bother sending tickets in some cases… The city talks, but really, no one wants to enforce any rules against cars.
It’s always the same in Toronto: do absolutely the minimum half-assed job so that you can’t be accused of inaction, but not enough to actually solve the problem. It’s practically written into the city’s institutional and political DNA - and as citizens we’re ok with it generally, as long as our taxes are low.
Rant mode: off.
Towered
Superstar
You're absolutely right. And whenever someone with a degree of authority steps outside those unspoken local cultural rules, they get punished. Remember several years ago the famous bike cop who patrolled Queens Quay who gleefully doled out tickets to asshole drivers blocking bike lanes, and continuously voiced his frustration over them on Twitter, becoming a local hero in the process because he actually did something about the problem? TPS fired him.
afransen
Senior Member
I think the instinct behind speed cameras is wrong. You only succeed in making drivers angry when they get dinged for driving the design speed of a road rather than the (lower) posted speed. I can see how we might be tempted to use speed cameras as a bandaid to calm streets that are designed for too high a speed, but I fear that we will implement speed cameras and rest easy that we solved the problem. We need to systematically redesign streets to match their posted speeds. I especially don't want the city to get accustomed to the revenue and fail to actually make streets better.
allengeorge
Senior Member
It’s generally agreed that enforcement alone is insufficient. You’ll see me (and other posters) here repeatedly saying that changes to road design are necessary. It’s here again, that Toronto’s bureaucratic DNA steps in: it’s expensive so it gets delayed until it’s absolutely necessary, the process still prioritizes traffic flow, and many Councillors don’t advocate hard for it (deferring to Staff, who aren’t incentivized to do more than follow the status quo.)
Heck - look at Parkside Drive - it took years of high-profile crashes, and now we’re just barely into the “Let’s see if we can put together an updated design for this street”. In the meantime we get signage and a reduced speed limit. Oh, and maybe a couple of sidewalks (I wager that won’t be done until late 2023).
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Caledonia Road, north of Lawrence Avenue West, is another example. The roadway is designed for the "safety" of speeders doing 60+ km/h or more. However, the posted speed limit is 40 km/h. It is almost impossible to keep at 40 km/h, unless the driver turned on the "cruise control" of the car to stay at 40 km/h.
From link.