Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[thepatrickblack]

This is really great. Nothing happens all at once and this downtown perimiter route is a start.

 

[CDL.TO]

Riding down Jarvis Street this morning (which I never usually do), those vehicle-counting tubes were set up in the bike lane just north of Dundas.

There was a vehicle counter in the bike lane on Sherbourne today. However, there was a Range Rover illegally parked on top of it, so I wasn't able to ride over the tubes and be counted.

 

[k10ery]

The staff report to PWIC on Denzil's separated bike plan is now available at http://t.co/0iGzVls

Generally it is not too supportive. Although it does propose separated lanes on Sherbourne and maybe Wellesley it says that this would require a separate traffic light cycle for bikes which would delay other traffic. I predict nothing will come of it. Or less than that!

 

[grey]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/06/16/toronto-could-get-first-separated-bike-lanes/

Montreal has had separated bike lanes for two decades. They’re fixtures — and flashpoints — in New York and Vancouver, and coming soon to Ottawa.

Now Toronto is taking a tiny step in that direction, with staff proposing to convert an existing lane across the Bloor Viaduct to one that is separated from traffic with painted buffers and delineator posts.

A report at the public works and infrastructure committee meeting also recommends pressing ahead with installing physically separated lanes on Sherbourne and Wellesley Streets, which both have painted lanes, next year. It’s the beginning of a continuous separated downtown network, extending 14 kilometres that could include a link down to the waterfront. At least one part of the plan is sure to stir debate: where to put an east-west corridor? Staff are nixing a lane on Bloor-Danforth because of how it would snarl traffic and are eying Richmond or Adelaide streets, neither of which have dedicated space for cyclists.

“I think it’s important that we’re actually getting started,” said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the public works committee who is championing the separated network. “So they’re taking baby steps. I would like them to act with a little bit more enthusiasm.”

The report also calls on councillors to approve Mayor Rob Ford’s election campaign Bike Plan, which includes 100 kilometres of off-street bike trails, and and “completion of critical on-street bike lane connections where the community supports them and where they do not impede traffic flow.”

 

[GraphicMatt]

The staff report to PWIC on Denzil's separated bike plan is now available at http://t.co/0iGzVls

Generally it is not too supportive. Although it does propose separated lanes on Sherbourne and maybe Wellesley it says that this would require a separate traffic light cycle for bikes which would delay other traffic. I predict nothing will come of it. Or less than that!

Yeah, this doesn't look very promising. All it seems to really recommend for the near-term is protected lanes for the Bloor Viaduct. Which are nice, I guess, but hardly necessary.

 

[CDL.TO]

I've been seeing these portable signs on recent trips to the US.

The real value of these signs that they are ON the road.

It wouldn't cost much money to have hundreds of these produced but pertaining to bike lanes. "Law - No stopping in bike lanes". Sure, it hardly compares to fully separated bike lanes, but it's cheap and would not only help keep autos out of the bike lane, but also away from the bike lane as drivers tend to instinctively give good clearance to fixed objects on the roadway.

The portable nature would make it easy to collect them all off the streets before the snow starts to fall so they don't get in the way of snow plows.

 

[nfitz]

The staff report to PWIC on Denzil's separated bike plan is now available at http://t.co/0iGzVls

Wow. Looks like another broken campaign promise from Ford.

One of the few bright spots in his platform, was his proposed bike network, which had connections across both the Eastern and Western Gaps to the Toronto Islands.

The figure here showing future connections doesn't show this.

 

[k10ery]

Wow. Looks like another broken campaign promise from Ford.

One of the few bright spots in his platform, was his proposed bike network, which had connections across both the Eastern and Western Gaps to the Toronto Islands.

The figure here showing future connections doesn't show this.

Yes, If we could get a bike lane connection to his proposed red light district on the Island, it would be like living in Amsterdam!

 

[grey]

Torontoist coverage of this half-assed plan: http://torontoist.com/2011/06/a_look_at_rob_fords_bike_plan.php

 

[nfitz]

Yes, If we could get a bike lane connection to his proposed red light district on the Island, it would be like living in Amsterdam!

Ford never proposed a red light district on the Island - that was one of the other candidates!

 

[k10ery]

Yeah, this doesn't look very promising. All it seems to really recommend for the near-term is protected lanes for the Bloor Viaduct. Which are nice, I guess, but hardly necessary.

Well it does recommend proceeding on Sherbourne (where road work is going to happen anyway which makes it seem real). But then it adds all the caveats about why it is a bad idea. It's kind of like Denzil asked for this and now they're calling his bluff.

Could PWIC use this report as an excuse to take out the Jarvis lane? And then cancel the Sherbourne separated lane later, of course!

 

[k10ery]

Ford never proposed a red light district on the Island - that was one of the other candidates!

It's an influential member of the mayor's executive committee.

Who has apparently never been to the Islands.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The staff report to PWIC on Denzil's separated bike plan is now available at http://t.co/0iGzVls

Generally it is not too supportive. Although it does propose separated lanes on Sherbourne and maybe Wellesley it says that this would require a separate traffic light cycle for bikes which would delay other traffic. I predict nothing will come of it. Or less than that!

I would like to see separated bike lanes along the suburban arterial roads. With speed limits at 60 km/h, bicyclists can't normally reach those speeds, otherwise it is dangerous for bicyclists to share the roads with cars out there.

 

[k10ery]

Torontoist coverage of this half-assed plan: http://torontoist.com/2011/06/a_look_at_rob_fords_bike_plan.php

I'm not arguing with you but I think this particular document is not half-assd itself. It's a pretty sensible response to a half-assed direction from the chair of PWIC.

I particularly like how they remind the mayor of his promises re the off-road bike path. Among other things it talks about a Black Creek trail, which I remember somebody on this thread pushing for a few months past. (nfitz?)

 

[Dan416]

I love the physically separated bike lanes. I really hope they move forward with these for Toronto. Drivers prefer them. Cyclists prefer them. Win-win.