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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)
- Thread starter MetroMan
- Start date
vic
Senior Member
Look at the traffic chaos caused by these new Bloor bike lanes. Totally slowed down my morning commute.
Towered
Superstar
I'm surprised you're heading west!
Just to confirm - the lanes will be getting concrete blocks and flexi posts for protection, yes?
Just to confirm - the lanes will be getting concrete blocks and flexi posts for protection, yes?
vic
Senior Member
Yeah, I'm one of those "reverse commuters". Lately I've been Bikesharing to Royal York (westernmost Bikeshare station), and then walking to Islington to catch MiWay.
Yes, the renderings/plans show concrete barriers.
Towered
Superstar
elcorrerador
Active Member
Absolutely. It doesn't make sense that their is no station West of Royal York and Bloor. Last Spring, I was on the Subway heading to Islington and the Subway service stopped at Royal York for emergency. I thought I could bike it to my destination with bikeshares but there was nowhere to dock it close to Islington station. So I ended up walking it after being stuck in the subway for 15mins.
Northern Light
Superstar
Plans do show new stations in Etobicoke on Bloor West, this year.
That said, the rollout of expansion thus far this year has not strictly followed the previously published plans.
They're also way behind.
They've been adding 2-4 stations per week.
By my count, they're something close to 90 stations short of this year's goal so far, which would take you into February/March to complete the rollout at the current pace.
Hopefully they can ramp the pace up a bit.
UntitledCyclist
New Member
Agreed on those low maintenance covers. A real scandal that it wasn't addressed.
I rode the whole shebang a few times, most recently Westbound from BJW to King.
I really like it.
A few thoughts and pics:
The eastern terminus at Blue Jays Way sucks, and there is no safe bike route to/from there from the north. Peter street bike lanes don't start until north of King and the entire street is a disaster now anyway. BJW south of Wellington has basic painted bike lanes, but no specific infrastructure to get you to or from the Wellington lanes. A similar situation exists at the western end at King.
The lanes themselves are great, well-paved and almost comically wide at points, which could (and apparently has) lead cars to "accidentally" drive in them. Some improved bollards are probably needed to prevent this.
The permanent curb separation is poured on site and is higher-than-typical road-edge curbs, but much lower than jersey barriers. They have a squared-off form, which should keep most vehicles out. I do feel like a cyclist could get badly hurt smacking into one of the many breaks, if distracted.
One stretch along Victoria Memorial Square has a lower, rounded curb style. One theory is that the narrower roadway here necessitated this for EMS vehicles to get around traffic.
The cross-ride (bike signal crossing) at Spadina is up and running and the streetcar ROW curb-cuts and paint has been expanded for cyclists. Cars blocking this crossing continue to be a problem for pedestrians and cyclists.
The little dog-leg segment west of the Spadina crossing is functional, but gets verrun by cars entering/exiting the gas station. I don't see a solution here other than better signage.
Bike signals were not activated yet at Bathurst, as of Wednesday, but were activated at Strachan.
The Douro leg west of Strachan is also now open with paint and lower "temporary" curbs with bollards instead of the poured-on-site design seen on Wellington.
As mentioned the western end of the lanes at King poses problems, not least because west-turning cyclists will cross paths with west-turning cars on to King. There are some plans afoor for bi-directional lanes along King W to Sudbury but it's part of a new development at 1071 King that won't exist for a while.
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Northern Light
Superstar
A quick note to @UntitledCyclist :
One, thanks for the above post, its great.
***
Two, on the eastern terminus, that will be changing, plans call for extending the cycle path the length of Wellington pretty much, to either Scott or Front.
One, thanks for the above post, its great.
***
Two, on the eastern terminus, that will be changing, plans call for extending the cycle path the length of Wellington pretty much, to either Scott or Front.
Towered
Superstar
Good news - the Bloor bike lanes have been installed all the way to Aberfoyle (near Islington) as of tonight! The only gap that remains is from Runnymede (the previous terminus) to Jane, because of this weekend's Ukrainian street festival. In less than a week, the Bloor lanes were extended by a significant, meaningful distance. Amazing how quickly this can be done when the city actually bothers. It really makes you wonder why it takes years for lanes to be added to streets when it's so simple.
Northern Light
Superstar
There's nothing to wonder about.
There's preliminary design.
There's consultation.
There may be appeasing the ward councillor
There's refined design, post consultation.
There's coordination (hydro, water, the rest of Transportation etc.)
Finally, there's budget, tendering, and construction.
The work is not generally done in house {the design is); but tendering is a laborious process in Toronto.
***
No one wishes the process would move faster more than the City's own cycling/pedestrian staff.
Northern Light
Superstar
Some suburban cycling infra got its 'grand opening' on Friday Sept 15th.
The Clairville North multi-use path in Brampton was officially opened adding 3.7km of new trail.
The news post from the TRCA is here:
trca.ca
From the above:
This is the new trail segment:
The Clairville North multi-use path in Brampton was officially opened adding 3.7km of new trail.
The news post from the TRCA is here:
City of Brampton and TRCA Celebrate Official Opening of the Claireville North Multi-Use Trail
City of Brampton and TRCA announce the official opening of the new 3.7 kilometre Claireville North Multi-Use Trail.
trca.ca
From the above:
This is the new trail segment:
UntitledCyclist
New Member
That is great news, and the first I've heard of it. If you have anything official on that I'd love to share it!
Northern Light
Superstar
Nothing official, for public consumption at this stage.
Might be next big short term cycling report when will go to Committee later this fall; not sure on that.
ADRM
Senior Member
To add to this very fine breakdown of otherwise very fine new infrastructure, this is case and point of a mistake that the Cycling unit keeps making and really has to fix: wide bike lanes are great once you’re in them, but also readily invite drivers to enter unless/until they put bollards in the middle of each entrance. I’ve not yet ridden the Wellington bike lanes when there has not been a driver parked in them.
