News   Nov 18, 2024
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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

Bloor bike lane extension is now fully painted from Aberfoyle westward to Kipling. Barriers and planters to follow.
I rode it yesterday and believe it ends at Resurrection Rd. (great name), so not quite to Kipling. I thought it would stop at Islington, so I was kind of stoked!
 
I rode it yesterday and believe it ends at Resurrection Rd. (great name), so not quite to Kipling. I thought it would stop at Islington, so I was kind of stoked!
It connects to the previously existing cycle tracks in the reconfigured Six Points area.
 
This is probably not the place to mention it, but I had to do advance voting for the mayoral election in Mississauga, and I was having a hard time making a decision.

CBC showed a summary of their platforms, and I noticed only one candidate actually had anything close to a decent cycling platform, which happens to be Carolyn Parrish.

This section of her platform is what sold me:


Source: https://www.carolynparrish.ca/

When cycling I much, much prefer bike lanes with actual curbs and there's a real scarcity of proper bike lanes in Mississauga. Someone on her campaign must be a cyclist.
It was kind of a weak endorsement of "thinking about" bike infra. I may end up voting for her as well. The other candidates seem to be completely in fantasyland with their transit promises (a chicken in every pot).

Mississauga/Peel has been going ham putting in MUPs on major arterials, including bike signals/crossrides. There's even a quasi-protected intersection at Argentia and Winston Churchill (could use better paint and hardening of the median to dissuade cutting the corner). I would almost say Mississauga is giving Toronto a run for its money on cycling infra in its comparable outer suburbs. Road diets and decent buffered cycle lanes going in lots of places. I feel MUPs are a better solution than any sort of cycle path/cycle track on high speed arterials.
 
I received this in my mailbox today from the City.

I assume it was distributed to all the communities along the Danforth Kingston route. :)

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I took some photos today. They've largely removed the islands from Millwood to Pape and between Pape and Donlands. Photos are from the northeast side.
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Holy hell, this is a yet another brutal work zone. As of this week, Millwood southbound goes from 3 lanes to 1 lane just before the Donlands/Pape split. Traffic has been backed up to Overlea in the pm rush. It took 15 min to traverse that by bus today. Islands are all gone. I'll try to get photos tomorrow, depending on TTC strike and how long it takes me to bike to/from work!
 
Continued from above:

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I'm mostly saving my comments for a separate post............ but I'm going to put out there right now that I'm having none of this 'advisory' bike lane business.......

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Here's an explainer:

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I think this is a recipe for confusion and collision.

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Continued from above:

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I'm mostly saving my comments for a separate post............ but I'm going to put out there right now that I'm having none of this 'advisory' bike lane business.......

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Here's an explainer:

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I think this is a recipe for confusion and collision.

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Agreed, I definitely do not like those "Advisory Bike Lanes"....
 
I received this in my mailbox today from the City.

I assume it was distributed to all the communities along the Danforth Kingston route. :)

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Gotta love this part:

"This 10-kilometre route is a critical part of Toronto's transportation network. In the near term, road resurfacing is planned on Kingston Road between St. Clair Avenue East and Markham Road. This presents an opportunity that comes only once every 25 years to incorporate changes and take a complete street approach to the street design that accommodates pedestrians, people cycling, using transit, and driving, which can improve safety for all." (my bold)
 
I'm mostly saving my comments for a separate post............ but I'm going to put out there right now that I'm having none of this 'advisory' bike lane business.......

View attachment 570567

Here's an explainer:

View attachment 570568

I think this is a recipe for confusion and collision.
I've ridden a similar style of bike lane in the Netherlands and it worked well, but drivers there tend to be much more deferential to people on bikes and this only really works if a) it's a low-traffic street and b) drivers yield properly.

I also saw a similar design in Victoria when I visited recently. Not sure how they're working out there.
 
I've ridden a similar style of bike lane in the Netherlands and it worked well, but drivers there tend to be much more deferential to people on bikes and this only really works if a) it's a low-traffic street and b) drivers yield properly.

I also saw a similar design in Victoria when I visited recently. Not sure how they're working out there.

This short street segment sees a surprising amount of traffic, it may be used for purposes of accessing Variety Village (off Danforth), Scarborough Gardens Arena, the Community Centre, the Catholic school, houses fronting the street, flow-through from Birchmount/access to Danforth/access to Kingston Rd; as well as traffic coming off Hollis (the extension of Gerrard/Clonmore)

You've got a lot of of pick-up/drop-off activity, lots of turning movements.

I just think drivers here would find this design confusing/challenging.
 
I've ridden a similar style of bike lane in the Netherlands and it worked well, but drivers there tend to be much more deferential to people on bikes and this only really works if a) it's a low-traffic street and b) drivers yield properly.

I also saw a similar design in Victoria when I visited recently. Not sure how they're working out there.
I think the confusion will be that based on the citiy’s studies, speeds on birchmount exceed the speed limit(they’re more akin to an arterial as opposed to a local street). So it’s unlikely this treatment will work as expected unless there are additional methods of calming traffic.
 

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