Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[ADRM]

Update on the Beverly-to-Peter cycle route connection in Joe Cressy's John St. corridor update:

Just last year, we also installed brand new separated bike lanes on Peter Street, to connect with the heavily used Richmond-Adelaide cycle tracks. Over the past two years, we've been working hard to address safety at the jogged intersection at Queen and Soho, to provide a safe connection between the new Peter St. lanes, and the Soho-Phoebe-Beverley route. We're happy to announce the design for a two-stage southbound crossing, and that it will be installed next year. We're working hard with City staff to finalize the northbound solution at the same intersection, and will continue to communicate updates as we finish this work.

 

[Avenue]

On a completely random note: Got my bike stolen in January. If anyone is selling a hybrid/upright bike that'll fit a 5-10 male, I'm potentially interested.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I

Spring update - much more (cycle) traffic in the lanes this week. Yesterday I was in a bunch of 10+ on Richmond around 8:00am. Strength in numbers; it feels good.

The redesigned Yonge/ARichmond junction is much better for pedestrians, however this is where I turn left to head south each day and it seems a though there's always some sort of conflict here. A left turn box through the intersection would be a welcome addition.

I've returned to my bike in March after only haphazard use over the winter (didn't buy March metropass). Even the difference between this week and the first week of March / the rest of winter has been noticable in terms of traffic.

Now if only they could actually build that bike path they were planning at Adelaide and Bathurst so the through movement along Adelaide would be legal.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Render of the bike box going in at Queen and Soho. Good to see these little physical infrastructure improvements being made, makes a big difference in network safety.

 

[steveintoronto]

Render of the bike box going in at Queen and Soho. Good to see these little physical infrastructure improvements being made, makes a big difference in network safety.

I'm confused on what you mean by "bike boxes".

What I see in that rendering and the City's definition don't appear to align:

What is a bike box?
Bike boxes are a new kind of on-street marking that help motorists and cyclists share the road.

Bike boxes are used at intersections to designate a space for cyclists to wait in front of cars at the red light, and to proceed first when the light turns green. At red lights, the drivers must stop at the stop line, behind the bike box.

http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/c...a983970aa08c1410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD#a001

It's a very important point, as I have very mixed feelings on "bike boxes" as I understand them. They can and do work *in a perfect world*, but when most motorists and cyclists alike know what they are and how they are supposed to work and are viewed in law, I'll have more faith in using one. Meantime, I'll stick to my wits.

Make no mistake, I favour fully segregated auto and cycle lanes, precisely because both parties are in many cases incapable of sharing and respecting each other's space. That rendering dilutes the pedestrian's RoW, and under the HTA, that cyclist appearing to be ready to mount his bike to cycle across the intersection would not be in compliance with the Act if he did mount and prcoeed. Cycling across a pedestrian/road intersection *is* permissible under one of the clauses if the intersection is "signalled". Otherwise that cyclist must dismount and walk across.

Discuss...because what I see in that rendering is all sorts of accidents waiting to happen.

Edit to Add: Soho/Peter and Queen intersection is presently signalled. It has been problematic for years, cops used to catch drivers entering into the intersection on a red on Queen, and not stopping at the solid white line marked, as the intersection at present includes the jog of Peter to Soho.

For that rendering (source: http://www.joecressy.com/john_street_cultural_corridor_update ) to make even half sense, the intersection must be shown signalled. It isn't.There's only one way to legally navigate that intersection on a bike or motor-vehicle unless dismounting and walking the bike across, and that's to attain the outer lane to turn, tricky, as the street-car tracks are there. There is a way within the confines of the HTA to address that, and that's to make it a double lane turn, and it's not going to happen in that context.

As it stands, the rendering shown *as is* is not only dangerous, it indicates the counselling of crossing illegally on a bike.

 

[andrewpmk]

Has the City retimed the traffic signals along the Bloor bike lane?

The traffic along Bloor Street has gotten marginally better (though it is still awful) but the traffic on Avenue Road and Queen's Park Crescent seems to have gotten a lot worse.

 

[ADRM]

*periodic reminder that traffic was bad along Bloor before the bike lanes*

 

[LNahid2000]

I'm still hating the Bloor bike lanes. Yesterday I rode from Islington to Yonge on Bloor. The portion between Islington and Shaw was great...I took the lane most of the time and had lots of space to manouvre. But once I got into the bike lanes, I had two close calls.

The first was at Bloor and Crawford, where there's clearly a sign that motorists must yield to cyclists. Driver in front of me waiting to turn had his window open and I rang my bell to let them know I was passing on his right. And of course he cut me off right as I was about to pass him. Luckily I had my hands on my brakes (as I always do in this section) because I expect motorists to cut me off in this section.

I also had a close call at Bloor and Brunswick where a lady getting out of her car crossed the bike lane without checking for bikes.

Still felt safer before these bike lanes were put into place.

 

[ADRM]

I'm still hating the Bloor bike lanes. Yesterday I rode from Islington to Yonge on Bloor. The portion between Islington and Shaw was great...I took the lane most of the time and had lots of space to manouvre. But once I got into the bike lanes, I had two close calls.

The first was at Bloor and Crawford, where there's clearly a sign that motorists must yield to cyclists. Driver in front of me waiting to turn had his window open and I rang my bell to let them know I was passing on his right. And of course he cut me off right as I was about to pass him. Luckily I had my hands on my brakes (as I always do in this section) because I expect motorists to cut me off in this section.

I also had a close call at Bloor and Brunswick where a lady getting out of her car crossed the bike lane without checking for bikes.

Still felt safer before these bike lanes were put into place.

Fair enough, though surely you recognize that puts you in the minority.

 

[salsa]

Fair enough, though surely you recognize that puts you in the minority.

That doesn't mean the bike lanes are actually safe or well designed. I also find that I'm constantly having to watch out for car doors and jaywalkers who I often can't see until the last second because of the parked cars. The sight lines are just terrible. Yet no matter how slow or carefully I ride, I still encounter close calls. If this "puts me in the minority", then what that really tells me is most cyclists don't care enough about their own safety (which all of us know already).

The best possible outcome would be to get rid of all the street parking. In fact not only would the lanes be safer and wider, it would also help the traffic flow since you don't have to be stuck behind anyone as they try to parallel park. Some of the traffic wouldn't even be there in the first place if there was nowhere to park. So if people like councillor Holyday want Bloor to be an aerial road, than just get rid of the parking.

 

[ADRM]

That doesn't mean the bike lanes are actually safe or well designed. I also find that I'm constantly having to watch out for car doors and jaywalkers who I often can't see until the last second because of the parked cars. The sight lines are just terrible. Yet no matter how slow or carefully I ride, I still encounter close calls. If this "puts me in the minority", then what that really tells me is most cyclists don't care enough about their own safety (which all of us know already).

The best possible outcome would be to get rid of all the street parking. In fact not only would the lanes be safer and wider, it would also help the traffic flow since you don't have to be stuck behind anyone as they try to parallel park. Some of the traffic wouldn't even be there in the first place if there was nowhere to park. So if people like councillor Holyday want Bloor to be an aerial road, than just get rid of the parking.

I don't disagree for a second with the assertion that the current iteration of the bike lanes aren't safe or well designed. I actually don't disagree with anything in the first paragraph here (other than the profoundly weird point about cyclists not caring for their own safety).

But it's really important to remember that this is only the pilot design - staff and pro-safety councillors have made quite clear that there will be significant design changes if Council, at some point, votes to make the Bloor bike lanes permanent. The pilot was constructed and designed in such a way that it could be completely dismantled if the bike lanes aren't made permanent. This is one of the really unfortunate things about our city's newfound obsession for pilot projects.

I further agree that street parking is irrelevant along this stretch, but any councillor - including the biggest boosters of this project - will tell you that removing street parking is one of the easiest way to piss off Torontonians, as dumb as it is in many cases (including here).

 

[steveintoronto]

I'm still hating the Bloor bike lanes. Yesterday I rode from Islington to Yonge on Bloor. The portion between Islington and Shaw was great...I took the lane most of the time and had lots of space to manouvre. But once I got into the bike lanes, I had two close calls.

The first was at Bloor and Crawford, where there's clearly a sign that motorists must yield to cyclists. Driver in front of me waiting to turn had his window open and I rang my bell to let them know I was passing on his right. And of course he cut me off right as I was about to pass him. Luckily I had my hands on my brakes (as I always do in this section) because I expect motorists to cut me off in this section.

I also had a close call at Bloor and Brunswick where a lady getting out of her car crossed the bike lane without checking for bikes.

Still felt safer before these bike lanes were put into place.

With caveats, I agree. There's far too many faults in the present model, many of them glaring examples of what-not-to-do to those who study these things. The Dutch or Danes could/would use this as an example of design failures, and accidents waiting to happen.

What boggles me is how many cyclists fail to realize the danger the poor design puts them in, the atrocious sight lines are just a start.

For me, the proof of LN's point is the stretch of Bloor between Avenue and Yonge, no specific bike lanes (there are sharrows) but there's minimal parking, and that being in recessed bays into the sidewalk. Since motorized vehicles are funneled through there with generous turn-outs and well signalled and restricted intersections, a competent cyclist just has to 'go with the flow', and far better to be doing the same dance as vehicles rather than obstructing each other.

Edit to Add: Just saw Salsa's reply to the same post. Fully agreed, glad it's not just me...

other than the profoundly weird point about cyclists not caring for their own safety

You can't be serious...I'm an aggressive and seasoned cyclist, can outcycle most, albeit the years are slowing me down a bit, but time and time again I find myself reading the situation of parked cars and obstructed sight lines, and realize I'm going too fast for the road conditions. Even on the edge, reaction time for braking or avoidance can easily be a car-length...and so I slow down....only to have idiot ding-a-lingers behind me who haven't a clue of the dangers go hustling past....for them to be taken out by a door or a motorist pulling out of a side street, because idiot cyclist was totally unable to read the road.

There's no shortage of idiotic things many cyclists do oblivious of the dangers. I do a lot of distance...and my last accident is now about fifteen years ago, got doored by a cab, totally not my fault, but I could and should have avoided it, the position of the cab stopped in the road away from the curb had alarm written all over it. I learned a lesson...many cyclists don't.

And the irony? Cyclists wearing helmets lecturing those that don't while they swerve out into other lanes, don't look, signal, use lights at night....but that helmet is going to protect them from it all....

 

[salsa]

Lower Don Trail Update

From this link

With above zero temperatures now the norm, construction crews will be returning to the work site on the Lower Don Trail next week. To facilitate the construction traffic in a safe manner, the section of trail between Pottery Road and Riverdale Park Bridge will remain closed until July 2017.

We apologize for this extreme ongoing inconvenience, but unfortunately the contractors and City project team were previously overly optimistic with the date for re-opening the trail in the spring. City staff have pressed for the trail to be reopened as soon as possible, but with public safety concerns on site, July remains the projected date for reopening.

Belleville Rail Underpass tunnel in progress

On the positive side, major works have been accomplished, such as the installation of the trail bridge at Pottery Road, and more recently the main concrete work for the Belleville Rail Underpass tunnel. The next tasks will include large amounts of soil movement for grading and drainage works. After this, crews will be planting, repairing sections of trail, paving, top soil placement, grading and seeding.

The City is also looking forward to required works by Metrolinx related to their rail crossing, to allow for the connection of the trail across the new Pottery Road bridge to the new Bayview multi-use trail to Rosedale Valley Road.

 

[DSC]

Though this is clearly a very necessary project - the underpass was really very dangerous - it is taking an amazingly long time to complete and I bet that if this were a 'real road' - for cars - it would have been finished long ago and Tory would have had them working 24/7. The first announcements talked of the trail being closed for weeks, then it was months and now it will be well over a year IF it actually opens in July. The detour is dreadful and what's worse is that the next piece of the Lower Don trail to be improved is the section south of the Riverdale Park bridge to the Don Yard and undoubtedly it will all be closed again soon. If the City had thought this out better they would have been working on both sections at the same time to have only one closure.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I'll bet that Toronto's suburban councillors will not allow this: