Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[ADRM]

To add to this very fine breakdown of otherwise very fine new infrastructure, this is case and point of a mistake that the Cycling unit keeps making and really has to fix: wide bike lanes are great once you’re in them, but also readily invite drivers to enter unless/until they put bollards in the middle of each entrance. I’ve not yet ridden the Wellington bike lanes when there has not been a driver parked in them.

View attachment 507951

Tweet won't embed, but here's a nice clip of a POS Purolator driver just driving the length of the Dundas bike lane, giving a nice sarcastic "what's going on buddy" as he cruises on by the person filming. Bollards at bike lane entrances, now.

https://x.com/jtolkamp/status/1691865826754785665?s=20

 

[Undead]

Commercial drivers are often shit. When I come across one like that, I note their vehicle ID (often commercial vehicles will have a numerical ID on the body), the time and place, and send a nasty email to the company.

 

[FullMetalEngineer]

Some suburban cycling infra got its 'grand opening' on Friday Sept 15th.

The Clairville North multi-use path in Brampton was officially opened adding 3.7km of new trail.

The news post from the TRCA is here:

City of Brampton and TRCA Celebrate Official Opening of the Claireville North Multi-Use Trail

City of Brampton and TRCA announce the official opening of the new 3.7 kilometre Claireville North Multi-Use Trail.

trca.ca

This is great news and a big step in helping us link the Brampton Cycling network to Toronto.
Some of the Bike Brampton folks have been pushing TRCA to pave over this new gravel trail with asphalt in the future for winter cycling and a better ride.
There are plans (no idea on timeline) from the TRCA to develop the trail further east past Wet 'n Wild Waterpark and Clareville Reservoir/Dam linking up to the West Humber River trail which is a Gateway into the Toronto Ravine system.

Interesting note that Clareville is a major spot for filming studios needing natural scenes as it's the largest Conservation area near Toronto.

 

[robmausser]

This is technically part of the Under Gardiner Project but I think deserves to be here too:

Part of the Under Gardiner project is a MUT (Multi Use Trail) extending from Exhibition Place to Yonge street. Some of the trail already exists in pieces but this will link all of it together, including a bridge at some points. Currently that is the entire scope of the project but there are plans to continue this along Gardiner East (pending if that project still continues to exist!)

The thick yellow line is the trail (from the EX travelling east)

 

[crs1026]

I had my first look at the new bike lane configuration on Bloor Street in Etobicoke today - I had been passionately looking forward to this change. As it happens, I mostly came away mad.

The line painting as it exists is hugely incomplete, with many transitions left ambiguous and very poor signage, and only a minimum of paint.

I saw lots of drivers doing things they were not supposed to do, but I could hardly blame them as the road markings are so incomplete. Especially bad was the ambiguity over which lane to be in when making right turns, and use of the bike lane as an entry/merge lane when turning onto Bloor.

The cost in this is, there are many local drivers with long-established habits who are now completely baffled, or who could be training to use the roadway in its new form. There seems to be an absence of change management.

Some people may respond - hey, just chill and be patient, it will be great when it is done. And that will be true. But it still infuriates me how it is impossible in this city for City Department A and City Department B to coordinate their activities - let alone painting crew A and painting crew B - such that work happens tic-tac-toe without huge intervals where the work sits incomplete waiting for the next crew to arrive. This morning, there was not a single worker advancing this project.

Maybe pylons are still needed until the next phase can be executed.

- Paul

 

[Towered]

I had my first look at the new bike lane configuration on Bloor Street in Etobicoke today - I had been passionately looking forward to this change. As it happens, I mostly came away mad.

The line painting as it exists is hugely incomplete, with many transitions left ambiguous and very poor signage, and only a minimum of paint.

I saw lots of drivers doing things they were not supposed to do, but I could hardly blame them as the road markings are so incomplete. Especially bad was the ambiguity over which lane to be in when making right turns, and use of the bike lane as an entry/merge lane when turning onto Bloor.

The cost in this is, there are many local drivers with long-established habits who are now completely baffled, or who could be training to use the roadway in its new form. There seems to be an absence of change management.

Some people may respond - hey, just chill and be patient, it will be great when it is done. And that will be true. But it still infuriates me how it is impossible in this city for City Department A and City Department B to coordinate their activities - let alone painting crew A and painting crew B - such that work happens tic-tac-toe without huge intervals where the work sits incomplete waiting for the next crew to arrive. This morning, there was not a single worker advancing this project.

Maybe pylons are still needed until the next phase can be executed.

- Paul

Fully agreed. I rode the lanes earlier this week and it's awful. Ironically, by yet again not seeing a project through to completion or near-completion in a single interval, the city has managed to make biking there even more dangerous than before when there were no lanes at all. I'm continually gobsmacked by the lack of common sense by the overpaid bureaucrats who oversee such projects and apparently are incapable of seamlessly coordinating the varying phases of work to eliminate time gaps and dangerous conditions. Give me the job...I'm bored with mine anyway.

 

[afransen]

I had my first look at the new bike lane configuration on Bloor Street in Etobicoke today - I had been passionately looking forward to this change. As it happens, I mostly came away mad.

The line painting as it exists is hugely incomplete, with many transitions left ambiguous and very poor signage, and only a minimum of paint.

I saw lots of drivers doing things they were not supposed to do, but I could hardly blame them as the road markings are so incomplete. Especially bad was the ambiguity over which lane to be in when making right turns, and use of the bike lane as an entry/merge lane when turning onto Bloor.

The cost in this is, there are many local drivers with long-established habits who are now completely baffled, or who could be training to use the roadway in its new form. There seems to be an absence of change management.

Some people may respond - hey, just chill and be patient, it will be great when it is done. And that will be true. But it still infuriates me how it is impossible in this city for City Department A and City Department B to coordinate their activities - let alone painting crew A and painting crew B - such that work happens tic-tac-toe without huge intervals where the work sits incomplete waiting for the next crew to arrive. This morning, there was not a single worker advancing this project.

Maybe pylons are still needed until the next phase can be executed.

- Paul

There is a reason why the Dutch converged on protected intersection design. Hardening the corners is important for safety. We are still afraid to commit.

 

[just east of the creek]

Commercial drivers are often shit. When I come across one like that, I note their vehicle ID (often commercial vehicles will have a numerical ID on the body), the time and place, and send a nasty email to the company.

Commercial Drivers are often as you describe, and often not. One argument that is often presented within the industry is not enough accommodation is made for commercial services - be it Purolater, Amazon, Gordon Foods… the list is almost endless. Moving goods and services in and around the core areas of Toronto is an endless battle of speed, convenience, cost, access, parking, equipment and regulation.

No excuses for the driver above, and a hefty ticket should be issued. Bollards yes, should they not be an automatic part of the planning process, but have we not discussed in other threads the ability of emergency services to access bicycle lanes. So, not always an easy choice.

 

[elcorrerador]

What's the best channel to report misaligned barriers?311?
There are a couple of these across Richmond.

 

[Northern Light]

What's the best channel to report misaligned barriers?311?
There are a couple of these across Richmond.

View attachment 510331

Try 311 first; if that doesn't work, we can find another option. Make sure to make note of the number, so it can be tracked.

 

[generalcanada]

is this new? sign showed up on dan leckie today

Portland - Dan Leckie Cycling Connections

Installation of the Portland Street portion of the bikeway (Queen Street to Front Street) has been delayed. Signal work is scheduled to commence in late Fall 2025 and further installation details will be shared in the coming months. The City of Toronto is proposing a new bikeway that will...

www.toronto.ca

 

[just east of the creek]

I'm in Montreal again, staying in a different part of the city for fun, and enjoying the fabulous outdoor weather when not stuck in a plant. But interestingly enough, in this very bike friendly city, there is opposition. In Saint Michel and Parc-Extension the city has decreed that 200 km's of bike lanes will be installed. (I am assuming these will be mostly painted corridors with some bollards and physical barriers at intervals and intersections. I see this in a lot of areas and they seem to work fine. Someone form Montreal will correct me if I am wrong, but I get the general feeling that bicycle's acceptance as a major mode of transportation in everyday use is more advanced in Montreal then in the Center of the Universe i.e. Toronto.)

This 200 km expansion involves the removal of 250 or so on street permitted parking spots. It sounds (as part of the cities previously mandated cycling plans) that this specific neighborhood plan was announced without much process with area residents. I was told there have been demonstrations, arrests, physical intimidation, and the sprinkling of sharp objects on bike lanes. Civil disobedience rules.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, not just in the short term, but the longer term as well.

 

[Northern Light]

is this new? sign showed up on dan leckie today

Portland - Dan Leckie Cycling Connections

Installation of the Portland Street portion of the bikeway (Queen Street to Front Street) has been delayed. Signal work is scheduled to commence in late Fall 2025 and further installation details will be shared in the coming months. The City of Toronto is proposing a new bikeway that will...

www.toronto.ca

I discussed this proposal back on August 18th, here:

Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

Update from July 19th incident. Took them long enough...

urbantoronto.ca

Consultation meeting shortly.

 

[UntitledCyclist]

I'm in Montreal again, staying in a different part of the city for fun, and enjoying the fabulous outdoor weather when not stuck in a plant. But interestingly enough, in this very bike friendly city, there is opposition. In Saint Michel and Parc-Extension the city has decreed that 200 km's of bike lanes will be installed. (I am assuming these will be mostly painted corridors with some bollards and physical barriers at intervals and intersections. I see this in a lot of areas and they seem to work fine. Someone form Montreal will correct me if I am wrong, but I get the general feeling that bicycle's acceptance as a major mode of transportation in everyday use is more advanced in Montreal then in the Center of the Universe i.e. Toronto.)

This 200 km expansion involves the removal of 250 or so on street permitted parking spots. It sounds (as part of the cities previously mandated cycling plans) that this specific neighborhood plan was announced without much process with area residents. I was told there have been demonstrations, arrests, physical intimidation, and the sprinkling of sharp objects on bike lanes. Civil disobedience rules.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, not just in the short term, but the longer term as well.

Decent coverage here: https://globalnews.ca/news/10003761...frastructure-montreal-protest-new-bike-lanes/

On the bike lane thumbtacks: there is a history of people seeing bike lane sabotage when it is more often just incidental debris. Though that sounds suspicious for sure. Anyway, someone who does that is not guilty of civil disobedience but of attempting to hurt someone, possibly seriously.

It's funny to how reading the names of the opponents in the article makes it easy to transpose it to certain Toronto bike lane battles. So often it's small business people, or their BIAs, who greatly fear losing a few parking spots. Studies of the impact of bike lanes and parking reductions from places like NYC show positive if any impact on business revenues, but fear of change is always a factor when your livelihood rests on customers coming and being satisfied with your business.

The protests in the Global video above above (you have to go to the end of the newscast) might seem shocking compared to the tiny, pathetic protests we saw in Toronto around the Yonge bike lanes, say. As you suggested, I think this is less about a vociferous opposition in Montreal, and more about folks there being more prone to demonstrating publicly when they don't like something. I don't like this specific opposition, but overall I like Montreal's fiestiness.

 

[generalcanada]

I discussed this proposal back on August 18th, here:

Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

Update from July 19th incident. Took them long enough...

urbantoronto.ca

Consultation meeting shortly.

thanks NL definitely not following this thread too closely.

my thoughts on the Dan leckie to queen bike lane and those i sent to the city:
"i like all of it, except for the bridge, which kinda acts as a chokepoint. even now when crossing it you have to go very slow along the ramps and you can only go fast on the main bridge.
something better would be like a 2x2 track for pedestrians and bikes on the main bridge, something akin to the Martin goodman trail where bikes have 2 lanes beside each other than pedestrians off to 1 side. a full dismount should be required on the ramps. Unfortunately were stuck with how small the bridge is, it barely fits bikes and pedestrians going side-by-side. This effectively is the opposite of whats proposed where a so called 'bike lane' is built on the ramps and a multi-use path is setup on the main part"

as for the front to king thats very interesting, no through traffic.

I also mentioned the dan leckie way part going beside canoe landing. I think the separate bike lane on the road is better than the shared multi use pathway option.

i live at 38 Dan leckie way so this is very exciting for me.