Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[reaperexpress]

There are Vision Zero & cycling elements available, but the city powers-that-be refuse to implement them because they didn't think of it first. They have to study it for years and years before choosing the cheapest and easiest to do.

[citation needed]

 

[W. K. Lis]

[citation needed]

The Deadly Inequality of Toronto’s Vision Zero Rollout​

See link.

Toronto adopted its own Vision Zero approach in 2016 under Mayor John Tory, and the policy was immediately criticized for not going far enough. Toronto’s Vision Zero focused on trying to slow down cars through automated speed enforcement and signage and improving existing signals and crosswalks (through head-start signals for pedestrians, which reduces the likelihood of collisions with turning cars, longer crossing times for seniors, and improved markings). It focused less on the strategies proven to be most effective—built infrastructure changes to reduce speed and severity of collisions.

If a resident wants a speed hump, stop sign, or some other safety measure installed in their neighbourhood, they start by calling 311 or getting in touch with their city councillor, either individually or with a petition from their neighbourhood. The councillor then follows a winding, sometimes year-long bureaucratic process. They have to request a review from transportation services, which assesses whether the change is warranted. After the review, the city mails out a poll to residents to see whether they’re open to this change. Councillors can waive this part of the process if they want. In fact, if a review finds that a safety measure isn’t required, councillors can waive the criteria and have one installed anyway. For some councillors, this is an indication of whether they think the criteria for safety improvements are too strict; others say it’s a matter of playing politics.

The inner suburbs, particularly Scarborough and North York, are suffering because of their councillors’ lack of advocacy on road safety. A Toronto Star analysis of collisions in the city found that 98 of the 100 most dangerous intersections in the city are in the inner suburbs, on arterial roads. At Kennedy Road and Lawrence Avenue East, the intersection near the site of Don Bates’ death, there were 138 collisions between 2014 and 2021. As the analysis pointed out, the design of these arterial streets is such that risks are higher: lanes are wider, crosswalks are longer, and there are more opportunities to speed than on a smaller downtown street. But these are solvable problems—if councillors are willing to have those conversations.

For Etobicoke Centre councillor Stephen Holyday, it’s not that black and white. Holyday is the councillor with one of the lowest rates of requests for road safety measures and the highest rate of voting “no” to them on community council, voting down nearly 10 percent of the traffic calming motions seen by Etobicoke York community council between 2018 and 2022. These were mostly motions in which a councillor waives the city’s review results or criteria—but Holyday argues that criteria is necessary in order to prioritize the areas most in need.

“Interventions like traffic calming, speed humps, stop signs—it’s not practical or advisable to install them anywhere and everywhere. You have to have a methodology on how you prioritize where they need to go,” he says.

When it comes to the disparities between the inner suburbs and downtown Toronto, Holyday points out that councillors will bring to the table what their constituents report to them, and road safety implementation needs to be evidence-based and backed by both the city’s transportation services reviews and public will.

When so much of the city’s road safety response is left to the discretion of councillors and citizens, you get a profoundly unequal landscape of road safety improvements in the city. A 2020 study of the distribution of traffic calming measures in Toronto revealed not only disparities in the number of measures implemented in low-income versus higher-income neighborhoods, but also in the rate of collisions involving children, which is more than five times higher in poorer areas.

“We talked to the City about why this is happening, why richer areas are getting the speed humps and poorer areas aren’t,” says Linda Rothman, author of the study, who teaches at Toronto Metropolitan University and is a senior researcher at SickKids Hospital.

 

[DSC]

Over the last few weeks, someone has been doing work at Cherry and Unwin and it appears to be a NEW BIKE TRACK linking the Martin Goodman Trail to the Cherry Street Sports Field. Working west (Unwin & Cherry)

East (Sports Fields)

NOTE TO MODS: This thread seems to be used for any bike track talk - maybe change thread title to Cycling Infrastructure Bike Lanes - general ????

 

[Natika33]

Over the last few weeks, someone has been doing work at Cherry and Unwin and it appears to be a NEW BIKE TRACK linking the Martin Goodman Trail to the Cherry Street Sports Field. Working west (Unwin & Cherry)

East (Sports Fields)

NOTE TO MODS: This thread seems to be used for any bike track talk - maybe change thread title to Cycling Infrastructure Bike Lanes - general ????

View attachment 437065
View attachment 437067

NOTE TO MODS: This thread seems to be used for any bike track talk - maybe change thread title to Cycling Infrastructure Bike Lanes - general ????

I second DSC's motion to change the thread title.

 

[Undead]

Barrie waterfront:

 

[robmausser]

So in my spare time for fun, I edit Google Maps bike trails when they are incorrect or missing in Toronto.

But for some reason, Google keeps denying my edit to add Gus Harris Trail through the Warden Woods.

Does anyone know why that area Google refuses to allow it on the bicycle layer? Are bikes banned from it? I didn't think so...

 

[Northern Light]

So in my spare time for fun, I edit Google Maps bike trails when they are incorrect or missing in Toronto.

But for some reason, Google keeps denying my edit to add Gus Harris Trail through the Warden Woods.

View attachment 437632

Does anyone know why that area Google refuses to allow it on the bicycle layer? Are bikes banned from it? I didn't think so...

There are no restrictions on bikes on the trail of which I'm aware.

Though, I don't think I walked the trail this year, the northern 1/2 has been unpaved gravel since 2009, I believe.

 

[DSC]

There are no restrictions on bikes on the trail of which I'm aware.

Though, I don't think I walked the trail this year, the northern 1/2 has been unpaved gravel since 2009, I believe.

Nice though it is, I have not been there this year but it is listed on the City's Cycling Map as a Multi Use Trail. THAT ought to suffice! I would send Google the City map! https://www.toronto.ca/services-pay...ation/cycling-in-toronto/cycling-network-map/

 

[robmausser]

There are no restrictions on bikes on the trail of which I'm aware.

Though, I don't think I walked the trail this year, the northern 1/2 has been unpaved gravel since 2009, I believe.

It is gravel. Google Maps should show it as dotted green line.

But they mess that up everywhere too.

 

[DSC]

 

[Coolibop]

It is gravel. Google Maps should show it as dotted green line.

But they mess that up everywhere too.

I've been using Komoot as my primary nav for cycling which seems to work well. Curious what others have been using (I've tried trail forks, strava, city mapper) as the big problem with all of these is piecemeal updates, especially this time of year with temporary construction closures.

 

[Northern Light]

The Woodfield connection from Eastern Ave to Lakeshore Blvd E was paved last week:

 

[PL1]

"Join our team to help create a more livable city and keep Torontonians moving safely! We're hiring for two Project Leads within the Cycling and Pedestrian Projects unit to deliver accessible trail improvement projects and sidewalks. Apply by Nov 28. jobs.toronto.ca/jobsatcity/job…"

https://twitter.com/x/status/1590061527029383168

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Apologies if this has already been shared; the city has posted a November update on the Rosedale Valley Road Multi-Use Trail Reconstruction project. Not much new information compared to the original project overview from last year, although they've updated the timeline for tender and construction to begin in 2023.

 

[Undead]