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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

DSC said:
The MGT along the lake is not perfect and a few spots need to be resurfaced as tree roots are breaking through but it is not ever supposed to be a 401 for cyclists and pedestrians and, personally, I like its twists and turns. There currently ARE STOP signs for vehicles @ Regatta Road and in my experience most vehicles stop but it is obviously good to look before cycling across. If anything, the City should paint some lines on the street to reinforce the signage. (I have just sent in a request for lines to 311, we will see if any appear in summer!)
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In my recent rides there the surface quality was terrible and needs to be redone. I don't know what a "401 for cyclists" means but you should be able to ride within the normal speed limits safely, without coming around corners and almost hitting other cyclists and pedestrians which has happened many times. I'm simply suggesting improvements. Nothing that would compromise your experience there in any way. If you're looking for narrow, windy trails there is lots of single track in the Don Valley. This is meant to be THE primary multi-use trail along the lake in Toronto, and I don't think it's accessible or up to snuff for that purpose right now.
 
I think everyone agrees about the surface in parts. I think the normal speed limit on the trail is 20 km/h, which is slow enough that you should have no problem anticipating the bends and taking them at a safe speed.
 
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evandyk said:
I think everyone agrees about the surface in parts. I think the normal speed limit on the trail is 20 km/h, which is slow enough that you should have no problem anticipating the bends and taking them at a safe speed.
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I know the speed limits, and disagree. Not everyone is a savvy cyclist (or pedestrian). And my suggestions are aimed at making it a better trail for all users. Not sure really why you made it into a debate, but I guess we can leave it there!
 
UntitledCyclist said:
In my recent rides there the surface quality was terrible and needs to be redone. I don't know what a "401 for cyclists" means but you should be able to ride within the normal speed limits safely, without coming around corners and almost hitting other cyclists and pedestrians which has happened many times. I'm simply suggesting improvements. Nothing that would compromise your experience there in any way. If you're looking for narrow, windy trails there is lots of single track in the Don Valley. This is meant to be THE primary multi-use trail along the lake in Toronto, and I don't think it's accessible or up to snuff for that purpose right now.
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The surface quality is dangerous for runners, too.
 
UntitledCyclist said:
The old MUPs are great, but are not the same as on-street protected lanes. They are basically wide sidewalks along 2 or 3 major east-west thoroughfares, and some patchier north-south ones. Writ large, cycling in Missisauga if you need to get anywhere that's not on those aforementioned MUPs, or along the waterfront is a scary stroad-filled mess.
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Maybe you're out of date. There's certainly more than 2 or 3.

The biggest gap of the arterials is Dundas. I imagine we might be holding off because of Dundas BRT which calls for cycle track/MUPs. Mavis and Cawthra also are notable gaps. Other big issues are highway crossings for 401, 403 and QEW.

For what it's worth, I have a 25km circuit that is about 80-90% on MUP, off street paths, or cycle track. The rest is on low volume residential streets.


In addition to the Argentia cycle tracks NL pointed out (I can report they are substantially complete), a 4 to 2/3 road diet of Aquitaine in Meadowvale, including flexipost protected bike lanes, was recently completed.

I have to say, I think Mississauga does as good or better job of creating a quality cycling infrastructure network than the suburban parts of Toronto.
 
Some improvements are contemplated for cyclings infra along Silverthorn:

These are not separated cycle tracks, for the most part, but contra-flow bike lanes, but there are some additional proposed works and some 'options' from which to choose.

www.toronto.ca

Silverthorn Cycling Connections

Attend the public drop-in meeting on January 30, 2024. View meeting materials in the Public Consultation tab below. Take a short survey by February 13 to provide your feedback on the proposed changes. Take the Survey The City of Toronto is seeking public feedback on the Silverthorn Cycling...
www.toronto.ca www.toronto.ca

The above will take you through the options, which I won't bring forward here.

There is also a survey, which can be taken here:

Silverthorn Cycling Connections

s.cotsurvey.chkmkt.com s.cotsurvey.chkmkt.com
 
afransen said:
Maybe you're out of date. There's certainly more than 2 or 3.

The biggest gap of the arterials is Dundas. I imagine we might be holding off because of Dundas BRT which calls for cycle track/MUPs. Mavis and Cawthra also are notable gaps. Other big issues are highway crossings for 401, 403 and QEW.

For what it's worth, I have a 25km circuit that is about 80-90% on MUP, off street paths, or cycle track. The rest is on low volume residential streets.


In addition to the Argentia cycle tracks NL pointed out (I can report they are substantially complete), a 4 to 2/3 road diet of Aquitaine in Meadowvale, including flexipost protected bike lanes, was recently completed.

I have to say, I think Mississauga does as good or better job of creating a quality cycling infrastructure network than the suburban parts of Toronto.
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Thanks for updates, I haven't biked out that way in a while.

The major MUPs I am referring to are the older sidewalk level ones along major "east-west" arteries, which would include Eglinton, Burnamthorpe, Britannia, Queensway, and maybe one or two others? Don't get me wrong these are significant and long routes, and very useful for making distances in those directions. Their main flaw is that they are basically sidewalks with multiple stops and starts at intersections and potentials for right hooks. There should be better intersection design and raised crossings to make it smoother and consistent for cycling, but those are just potential improvements.

I find the north-south equivalents to be wholly lacking in Mississauga, where they do exist. Many are barely sidewalks or stop and start at odd places.

There are also a few lovely rails along rivers or creeks, which cannot be sneezed at. My experience with smaller road painted lane infra is more lacking in Mississauga, though I have done the Mississauga road lanes a few times and found them narrow-to-terrifying in parts. Still worth the trip but not an option for less bold or experienced riders, imo.

I'm glad you are enjoying the infra, and that Mississauga is doing some things right. It may be better than the Toronto suburbs, though Mississauga is basically all suburbs to it's tough to compare to Toronto.
 
UntitledCyclist said:
Thanks for updates, I haven't biked out that way in a while.

The major MUPs I am referring to are the older sidewalk level ones along major "east-west" arteries, which would include Eglinton, Burnamthorpe, Britannia, Queensway, and maybe one or two others? Don't get me wrong these are significant and long routes, and very useful for making distances in those directions. Their main flaw is that they are basically sidewalks with multiple stops and starts at intersections and potentials for right hooks. There should be better intersection design and raised crossings to make it smoother and consistent for cycling, but those are just potential improvements.

I find the north-south equivalents to be wholly lacking in Mississauga, where they do exist. Many are barely sidewalks or stop and start at odd places.

There are also a few lovely rails along rivers or creeks, which cannot be sneezed at. My experience with smaller road painted lane infra is more lacking in Mississauga, though I have done the Mississauga road lanes a few times and found them narrow-to-terrifying in parts. Still worth the trip but not an option for less bold or experienced riders, imo.

I'm glad you are enjoying the infra, and that Mississauga is doing some things right. It may be better than the Toronto suburbs, though Mississauga is basically all suburbs to it's tough to compare to Toronto.
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Frankly, I find painted bicycle gutters to be worse than MUPs. Nevermind the insane mixing zone bicycle gutters where the car right turn lane crosses over the bike lane.

Erin Mills and Winston Churchill both have proper MUPs along substantial portions, with many intersections having cross-rides and bicycle signals. I think it's unreasonable to rag on Mississauga when it tends to do more than similar roads in Toronto.

Generally, a proper MUP with cross-ride and bicycle signal is closer to the ideal of 'protected intersection' design than most cycle tracks. MUPs break down when there is a lot of pedestrian and cycling traffic, but generally ROWs are wide enough for the most part that they could be widened to create separate pedestrian and cyclist space.

All that being said, there is lots of room for improvement in Ontario in general for safer intersection design. Near-side signals, proper protected intersections, hardening pedestrian refuges, narrowing turning radii, etc. We are seeing positive moves in this direction. For example, NL's mentioned Argentia/Winston Churchill improvements included deleting slip lanes at that intersection and tightening turn radius with truck aprons. I believe Argentia was also 4:3 road dieted this year between Winston Churchill and Derry with bike lanes added.

Generally, I think the city gets it (and even Peel region, which I think is a bit more regressive). It just takes time to implement change and they are likely trying to avoid angering car-brains too much.
 
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With any luck, the Millwood bridge Cycle Tracks and associated works will be done this spring; they are now out to tender:

1706219081836.png
 
generalcanada said:

Some changes to the dan leckie bike lanes.

southbound portland from wellington to front will be 2 way traffic instead of 1-way southbound traffic

The traffic diverter stays

bunch of paid parking is kept.

Report to infrastructure and city conucil in march, implementation in the summer
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This one is a bit niche to the community, I don't think I can offer intelligent commentary on the trade offs here, would be interested to hear from the locals.
 
Northern Light said:
This one is a bit niche to the community, I don't think I can offer intelligent commentary on the trade offs here, would be interested to hear from the locals.
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yea I live there. same old story. same complaints... parking, traffic. congestion blahblahblah. 1way vs 2way traffic i couldnt care less for but most of theese updates are for maintaining most parking spots except for king/portland ruby soho + fancy paint markings over the bridge.

at least they arent making any major changes to the bike lanes themselves. no changes there
 
So the City just dropped plans for turning Ellesmere into a complete street from Orton Park Road to Kingston Road.

The project will add sidewalk where that is missing, and either an Multi-use Path or Cycle Tracks along the entire length. The timeline is to implement this is 2026.


This obviously overlaps with the BRT project, but is separate. I'm not clear on what the presumed timing of the BRT is; but I assume its not thought to be particularly close.
For those in the area, there is a community drop in event coming on February 12th, 2024:

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A few of the slides:

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There will be an online survey available, but its not live yet.
 
Northern Light said:
So the City just dropped plans for turning Ellesmere into a complete street from Orton Park Road to Kingston Road.

The project will add sidewalk where that is missing, and either an Multi-use Path or Cycle Tracks along the entire length. The timeline is to implement this is 2026.


This obviously overlaps with the BRT project, but is separate. I'm not clear on what the presumed timing of the BRT is; but I assume its not thought to be particularly close.
For those in the area, there is a community drop in event coming on February 12th, 2024:

View attachment 536252

A few of the slides:

View attachment 536253

View attachment 536254

View attachment 536255

View attachment 536256

View attachment 536257

View attachment 536258

View attachment 536259

View attachment 536260
View attachment 536261

View attachment 536262

There will be an online survey available, but its not live yet.
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When you said dropped I interpreted that as cancelled - glad I'm wrong!
 
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