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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

Admiral Beez said:
Of course we cycle on the road, where we always were before bike lanes. As a mid-50s cyclist who began riding in the 1970s the very idea of dedicated bike lanes is still novel.
Click to expand...

I'm perfectly happy to bike on the road in car lanes. I usually take the full lane, since most Toronto lanes aren't wide enough for a car to pass you and leave the required 1 metre space anyways. But if I'm going somewhere with the kid on my bike, I'm not biking through traffic and parked cars. If there's no bike lane (or quiet side streets) we're not biking.

And I love biking on quiet side streets, but if it means going more than a block or two out of the way, nobody is doing that. Sorry Yvan Baker, there's no alternative to Bloor for biking east/west across the city around High Park/Humber. It's the only continuous street in that area, and it's where all the destinations are.
 
If you don't have twitter here are the photos
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Coolibop said:
Rode by Huntingwood lanes the other day and noticed the greening median sections are full of weeds. The city informs me they will plant mid-july if anyone was wondering if the overgrown mess is what they planned for...
Click to expand...
I'm hearing they are tearing these up now (between pharmacy and warden at least)... Does anyone have insight?

Note: they were still full of weeds last I passed by in late sep.
 
So I haven't biked on Adelaide at York for a while, and biked through today, and noticed they improved the problematic island.

YA.jpg



They added a flexi-post to the right (red arrow) to discourage people going around the island on the right. They also made the island smaller (green arrow) to make it easier to go around it on the left and more obvious that there is space to go around it on the left when approaching from afar. Also the large Jesey barrier (purple arrow) makes it feel like you definitely don't want to pass the island on the right. Overall it's much better, and it was much less awkward and more natural to navigate through the intersection. It no longer feels like a hazard. It would be nice if they repainted the dashed lines and the stop line (where I marked in blue), perhaps they still will.

PXL_20241020_233258587.jpg
 
bearcat said:
So I haven't biked on Adelaide at York for a while, and biked through today, and noticed they improved the problematic island.

View attachment 605959


They added a flexi-post to the right (red arrow) to discourage people going around the island on the right. They also made the island smaller (green arrow) to make it easier to go around it on the left and more obvious that there is space to go around it on the left when approaching from afar. Also the large Jesey barrier (purple arrow) makes it feel like you definitely don't want to pass the island on the right. Overall it's much better, and it was much less awkward and more natural to navigate through the intersection. It no longer feels like a hazard. It would be nice if they repainted the dashed lines and the stop line (where I marked in blue), perhaps they still will.

View attachment 605960
Click to expand...
bearcat said:
So I haven't biked on Adelaide at York for a while, and biked through today, and noticed they improved the problematic island.

View attachment 605959


They added a flexi-post to the right (red arrow) to discourage people going around the island on the right. They also made the island smaller (green arrow) to make it easier to go around it on the left and more obvious that there is space to go around it on the left when approaching from afar. Also the large Jesey barrier (purple arrow) makes it feel like you definitely don't want to pass the island on the right. Overall it's much better, and it was much less awkward and more natural to navigate through the intersection. It no longer feels like a hazard. It would be nice if they repainted the dashed lines and the stop line (where I marked in blue), perhaps they still will.

View attachment 605960
Click to expand...
Ah the flexipost, Torontos universal solution to every problem.
 
The announcement of the Minister of Transportation today. On the webpage only this paragraph is published:

New provincial approval process for the installation of new bike lanes: The bill would require municipalities to receive approval from the province before installing new bike lanes that would result in the removal of lanes for traffic. Municipalities would be required to demonstrate that the proposed bike lanes won’t have a negative impact on vehicle traffic.
Source: https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/1005212/the-reducing-gridlock-saving-you-time-act

Is this now just a paper tiger?
 
Still think DoFo is going to want his photo op for ripping up the Bloor W Bike lanes and sticking it to "city folks".

Glad nothing else or new was added. I guess we will find out when the city wants to keep putting down new ones. Pretty clear just the need to highlight the benefits and work on the story telling more to sell it. Probably the city coyld get the local fire chief, EMS to sign off too.
 
Here's the bill:
www.ola.org

Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024

Bill 212 from Parliament 43 Session 1 of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024.
www.ola.org www.ola.org

and the part about bicycles:
PART XII
MUNICIPAL BY-LAWS AND BICYCLE LANES

4 Part XII of the Act is amended by adding the following section:

Ministry approval for bicycle lanes required

195.2 (1) In the circumstances described in subsection (2), a municipality shall not construct, install or mark a bicycle lane on a highway or part of a highway under its jurisdiction and control unless the design for the bicycle lane has been approved by the Ministry and, in considering whether to give such approval, the Ministry may require information from the municipality including traffic information relating to the design for the bicycle lane and the highway.

Application

(2) Subsection (1) applies where,

(a) the design for the bicycle lane would reduce the number of marked lanes available for travel by motor vehicle traffic along any portion of or on either side of the highway where the bicycle lane is to be located; and
(b) the municipality is prescribed by regulation for the purposes of subsection (1).

Same, transition

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply if, on the day section 4 of Schedule 4 to the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024 comes into force, a contract has already been awarded or entered into for the procurement of construction, installation or marking services for the bicycle lane or, if the construction, installation or marking of the bicycle lane is to be done by the municipality and not by any party under contract, such work has already commenced.

Consideration of traffic flow

(4) When considering whether to approve the design for the construction of a bicycle lane, the Ministry may consider whether it would unduly diminish the orderly movement of motor vehicle traffic.

Ministry may review existing bicycle lanes

(5) In the circumstances described in subsection (6), the Ministry may require a municipality to provide traffic information relating to an existing bicycle lane on a highway under its jurisdiction and control, and the municipality shall comply with the request.

Application

(6) Subsection (5) applies where,

(a) the addition of the bicycle lane reduced the number of marked lanes for travel by motor vehicle traffic along any portion of or on either side of the highway where the bicycle lane is located; and
(b) the municipality is prescribed by regulation for the purpose of subsection (5).

Regulations

(7) The Minister may make regulations,

(a) prescribing municipalities for the purposes of subsections (1) and (5);
(b) governing the information that may be required by the Ministry under subsections (1) and (5);
(c) exempting any highway or class of highway from this section or any provision of it, or providing that this section or any provision of it does not apply to any highway or class of highway;
(d) providing for anything necessary or advisable for carrying out the intent and purposes of this section.

Definition

(8) In this section,
“bicycle lane” includes any portion of a highway, the use of which is wholly or partially restricted or dedicated to bicycles.
Click to expand...
 
Well the province could set an arbitrarily high bar to demonstrate no negative impact on vehicle traffic, for example a predicted 10 second average delay for drivers is more than 0 and one can claim that "it unduly diminishes the orderly movement of motor vehicle traffic", therefore bike lane NOT APPPROVED!
Andy_in_Toronto said:
The announcement of the Minister of Transportation today. On the webpage only this paragraph is published:

New provincial approval process for the installation of new bike lanes: The bill would require municipalities to receive approval from the province before installing new bike lanes that would result in the removal of lanes for traffic. Municipalities would be required to demonstrate that the proposed bike lanes won’t have a negative impact on vehicle traffic.
Source: https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/1005212/the-reducing-gridlock-saving-you-time-act

Is this now just a paper tiger?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
txlseries4 said:
Here's the bill:
www.ola.org

Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024

Bill 212 from Parliament 43 Session 1 of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024.
www.ola.org www.ola.org

and the part about bicycles:
Click to expand...
So as "bicycle lane” in the bill "includes any portion of a highway, the use of which is wholly or partially restricted or dedicated to bicycles", does the mean that if there are new bus lanes added that replace a car lane they would not be allowed to be designated to also be used by bicycles, otherwise these new bus lanes would be subject to this law and provincial approval?

For example I think the RapidTO priority bus lanes allow bicycles, thus can be said that the use of them is "wholly or partially restricted or dedicated to bicycles".
 
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