Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[smably]

But I don't like Spadina crossing, have to merge with pedestrians and it's very busy sometimes, not great.

Agreed on this. When I rode Wellington westbound a few weeks ago, traffic was backed up right across the crosswalk on Spadina and I barely made it across before the light changed. Once I made it across, I had to dodge a driver in an SUV who was trying to exit the gas station by driving over the bikeway and sidewalk.

Once I made it west of Spadina, the lanes were great, aside from a missing connection at King and Douro that must be on the city's radar at this point.

When the railpath is extended down to Sudbury, Douro and Wellington will become the de facto extension connecting it to the downtown core, so I hope they get the intersections right.

 

[dimonpc]

Once I made it west of Spadina, the lanes were great, aside from a missing connection at King and Douro that must be on the city's radar at this point.

The bike path was planned behind a new development on King and Douro - https://urbantoronto.ca/database/projects/1071-king-west.40226

In my understanding bike lanes supposed to be behind the building (first rendering) and connect to the railpath directly. But it looks like this building is not coming up for years ahead. Which is Ok since the railpath is not there yet. But what would be nice is to make a temporary cheap bike lanes through this empty field to connect to Sudbury traffic light.

I'm wondering if the railpath extension will be constructed at the same time as King-Liberty Station, but this station won't be done before 2028 if no delays occur.

 

[smably]

The bike path was planned behind a new development on King and Douro - https://urbantoronto.ca/database/projects/1071-king-west.40226

Unfortunately, even with this connection, there are no plans for a connection north from King to 99 Sudbury. The King/Liberty platforms will push the rail corridor out right to the back corner of the parking lot between the Sudbury townhouse complex. Any connection will likely require property acquisition. I expect that we'll be connecting from Douro to Sudbury for a while yet.

 

[Northern Light]

For both of you above, @dimonpc and @smably ; the thread on 1071 King W has just been updated.

I have posted the Site Plans, which show the intended cycling connections, both smaller, so you can see the context, and larger for the details.

 

[generalcanada]

i was at the portland dan leckie bike way meeting.

cant believe i actually heard "im trapped in my neighborhood"

sigh

 

[jmi22]

i was at the portland dan leckie bike way meeting.

cant believe i actually heard "im trapped in my neighborhood"

sigh

It was pretty funny, my favorite was "i paid $2 million for my condo and now this happens??"

Will someone please consider the millionaires.

The complaints of having to make two turns instead of one to get to Bathurst due to the new one way made me question the state of these peoples steering wheels.

 

[DSC]

It was pretty funny, my favorite was "i paid $2 million for my condo and now this happens??"

Will someone please consider the millionaires.

The complaints of having to make two turns instead of one to get to Bathurst due to the new one way made me question the state of these peoples steering wheels.

Yes, we heard the same thing in St Lawrence when the one-way system was implemented on The Esplanade last year.

 

[Northern Light]

i was at the portland dan leckie bike way meeting.

cant believe i actually heard "im trapped in my neighborhood"

sigh

It was pretty funny, my favorite was "i paid $2 million for my condo and now this happens??"

Will someone please consider the millionaires.

The complaints of having to make two turns instead of one to get to Bathurst due to the new one way made me question the state of these peoples steering wheels.

The above (the complaints) merit a large sigh.

I don't particularly care about the wealth of the people making the complaints, but certainly as described, they are, to put it charitably extreme hypebole.

Obviously (I think) I come down in favour of the cycling infra here.

But I think there's always room for varying opinions and also nuanced details (should it be done this way or that)

However, 'trapped in my neighbourhood' is so over the top silly as to merit completely ignoring the speaker.

I'm not sure why more people can't speak thoughtfully, even to their own pet causes.

 

[PinkLucy]

I was recently in Barcelona. All one way streets Safer for bikes as cars are held back at stop lines, avoiding the right hook. Toronto could learn a thing or two.

 

[Northern Light]

I was recently in Barcelona. All one way streets Safer for bikes as cars are held back at stop lines, avoiding the right hook. Toronto could learn a thing or two.

In general, I prefer 2-way streets, as a pedestrian, as a cyclist, as a transit user and as a motorist.

I understand the desire for greater convenience in coming/going to a residence or business or for that matter a school or a park.

But I also think that needs to be tempered by competing needs for safety, for dedicated infra for cycling, and/or pedestrians, for beautification; as well, and the trade-offs need to be thought through and discussed reasonably on a case by case basis. But hyperbole, as seen above is simply unhelpful and unreasonable in the extreme.

 

[jmi22]

I filled out the survey and suggested dropping more of the parking, and the highest quality cycle track separation plausible given that its temporary infra.

But I also suggested that while reconstructing all of Avenue Road may not be on right now, considering doing the sidewalks on one or two blocks where high quality widenings would make a real difference (ie. west side, south of Davenport) that should be given consideration.

*****

On a side note.......the proposed reduction in Avenue Road vehicle volumes is an essential prerequisite for University Park...........

This is pure observation, but compared to Spadina/Jarvis/Yonge, Univeristy has always seemed mostly empty of cars even during rush hours. I don't know if its just so over built that even major quantities of cars still don't 'fill it'. The intense opposition to University promenade by some always seemed over blown due to this.

 

[jmi22]

Yes, we heard the same thing in St Lawrence when the one-way system was implemented on The Esplanade last year.

They pay such a premium to live in a neighbourhood that they think is literally trying to cage them. One of the women at the consultation complained about how long it takes her to drive to Scarborough for work. Imagine paying millions for housing to live within spitting distance from the largest employment hub in Canada just to still work in... Scarborough lol

 

[jmi22]

The above (the complaints) merit a large sigh.

I don't particularly care about the wealth of the people making the complaints, but certainly as described, they are, to put it charitably extreme hypebole.

Obviously (I think) I come down in favour of the cycling infra here.

But I think there's always room for varying opinions and also nuanced details (should it be done this way or that)

However, 'trapped in my neighbourhood' is so over the top silly as to merit completely ignoring the speaker.

I'm not sure why more people can't speak thoughtfully, even to their own pet causes.

Hard to ignore the wealth factor when these people are playing worlds biggest victim while reminding you of their million dollar home and 100k car

 

[Northern Light]

This is pure observation, but compared to Spadina/Jarvis/Yonge, Univeristy has always seemed mostly empty of cars even during rush hours. I don't know if its just so over built that even major quantities of cars still don't 'fill it'. The intense opposition to University promenade by some always seemed over blown due to this.

Traffic volume varies by direction and time of day.

As someone who attended U of T almost 3 decades ago now, I can tell you that crossing Queen's Park Circle (when there was no traffic light) from Queen's Park to Hart House getting from one class to another was sometimes quite harrying!

That said, traffic volumes in the northern portion are generally lighter; you do tend to see the section south Richmond is the one more likely to get backed up in the evening rush.

***

The University Park proposal would require removing most of Queen's Park Crescent West, and consolidating that on the east side, by adding a single lane.

A reduction of ~ 33% in vehicle capacity.

That would be very challenging to do if you did not narrow Avenue Road to the north.

So by narrowing it, as this proposal does, cutting its capacity approaching Bloor/QPC by 33%, it serves to remove that potential obstacle to the UP proposal.

 

[Northern Light]

Hard to ignore the wealth factor when these people are playing worlds biggest victim while reminding you of their million dollar home and 100k car

Not really. I believe in judging the merits (or lack thereof) of arguments w/o considering extraneous factors.

The wealth of the person is irrelevant to the quality of the argument.

It neither makes it better nor worse.

In this case the argument made is a poor one, and it fails on its merits.