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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

Divas S. said:
Will the city be allowed to convert on-street parking to transit and bike lanes? If so, wouldn't it be possible to turn the curb lanes into parking for a year and then propose a bike lane that would technically not remove vehicle lanes?
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I think the part below from Bill 60 prohibits this, and I can't think of places where this would work because many areas with on-street parking are only for certain hours and otherwise used by vehicles as a travel lane, so even if the city had the idea to convert a lane into 24/7 parking, #2 would prevent it.

Prohibition re reduction of lanes
195.3 (1) Except as permitted by the regulations, a municipality shall not, by by-law or otherwise, reduce or permit a reduction in the number of marked lanes available for travel by motor vehicles on a highway or a portion of a highway under the municipality’s jurisdiction and control for any of the following purposes:
1. A bicycle lane.
2. Any other prescribed purpose.

It also modifies the definition of "adjacent infrastructure" in the related part of the HTA:

"The definition of “adjacent infrastructure” in section 195.2 of the Act is amended by striking out “features” and substituting “measures”."

HTA PART XII.1 BICYCLE LANES;
“adjacent infrastructure” includes sidewalks, planters, curbs and traffic calming features; (“infrastructure adjacente”)
 
txlseries4 said:
I think the part below from Bill 60 prohibits this, and I can't think of places where this would work because many areas with on-street parking are only for certain hours and otherwise used by vehicles as a travel lane, so even if the city had the idea to convert a lane into 24/7 parking, #2 would prevent it.

Prohibition re reduction of lanes
195.3 (1) Except as permitted by the regulations, a municipality shall not, by by-law or otherwise, reduce or permit a reduction in the number of marked lanes available for travel by motor vehicles on a highway or a portion of a highway under the municipality’s jurisdiction and control for any of the following purposes:
1. A bicycle lane.
2. Any other prescribed purpose.

It also modifies the definition of "adjacent infrastructure" in the related part of the HTA:

"The definition of “adjacent infrastructure” in section 195.2 of the Act is amended by striking out “features” and substituting “measures”."

HTA PART XII.1 BICYCLE LANES;
“adjacent infrastructure” includes sidewalks, planters, curbs and traffic calming features; (“infrastructure adjacente”)
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Prescribed purpose means something that province identifies by way of regulation.

No regulations have yet been published.

TBD.
 
The first phase of the Rouge Beach Improvements Project has started and closed part of the waterfront trail until spring '27... resulting in quite the lengthy detour should anyone venture out east this coming year.

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Source
 
TwoWheelPoli said:
That's a bummer regarding the detour, but I am curious about this new trail they are hoping to build to connect with the Mast Trail immediately north of Highway 401.
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Temporary inconvenience for what will be a fantastic connection. I tried to pull some of the older materials showing the proposed trail(s), but perhaps others who are better at sleuthing can dig deeper…

Screenshot_20251129_122215.jpg


Essentially, this will eventually link the Beachfront with the new visitors’ centre, zoo and beyond.

That said, I’m not certain where things landed on cycling infrastructure if any. The concepts I found suggest a boardwalk through the marsh areas, which doesn’t seem especially conducive to cycling at speed:

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TwoWheelPoli said:
That's a bummer regarding the detour, but I am curious about this new trail they are hoping to build to connect with the Mast Trail immediately north of Highway 401.
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Trails Plans (coneptual) from 2016 for Management Area 1 (south of Steeles) :

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Coolibop said:
Hah.. You're too fast.... Gotta give me 2 minutes to put my edit in (I already had that map ready) ! LOL.
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LOL, I could say the same to you, I had the renders in my post, when your post went live. I deleted them.
 
Coolibop said:
The first phase of the Rouge Beach Improvements Project has started and closed part of the waterfront trail until spring '27... resulting in quite the lengthy detour should anyone venture out east this coming year.

View attachment 699624

Source
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Good thing those bike lanes on Port Union don't go over the 401. And it's odd that they did not suggest to use them here, as I saw last weekend all that's left is to remove the pylons and signs.
 
Voltz said:
And it's odd that they did not suggest to use them here, as I saw last weekend all that's left is to remove the pylons and signs.
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I think you answered your own question: construction isn’t officially finished, and they had to put a detour in place as of the closure on November 22 - would have been nice to coordinate better... I presume that if the sidewalks are also complete, they could suggest using them, since the Waterfront Trail isn’t just about cycling. Once they get final approval, all construction work will be considered done.

I'm not sure they change detours either once they are in place, but worth a shot to send them a note: projetsrouge-rougeprojects@pc.gc.ca
 
Coolibop said:
The first phase of the Rouge Beach Improvements Project has started and closed part of the waterfront trail until spring '27... resulting in quite the lengthy detour should anyone venture out east this coming year.

View attachment 699624

Source
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Wow, that's a doozy. I'm confused by the no-cycling signs at the east/west ends of the waterfront portion. Does that mean people on foot can walk in? Obviously if the bridge is closed you can't cross the Rouge River, but I don't see why they would specifically ban bikes only from the trail.

Also, forgive my ignorance as I'm not that familiar withe Rouge National Park, but up until now there has been no trail access at all from the water, under the 401 to the rest of the park?
(I've looked at some park maps and that seems to be the case. Same with another rail corridor further up and the 407. So the park is essentially a series of disconnected segments cut off by highways and rail corridors!)

That lower access will be great to have, though I agree it doesn't look like cycling is a consideration. Always the bastard child of design in this province. In Quebec, they would 100% build in cycling from the get go.
 
UntitledCyclist said:
Wow, that's a doozy. I'm confused by the no-cycling signs at the east/west ends of the waterfront portion. Does that mean people on foot can walk in? Obviously if the bridge is closed you can't cross the Rouge River, but I don't see why they would specifically ban bikes only from the trail.

Also, forgive my ignorance as I'm not that familiar withe Rouge National Park, but up until now there has been no trail access at all from the water, under the 401 to the rest of the park?
(I've looked at some park maps and that seems to be the case. Same with another rail corridor further up and the 407. So the park is essentially a series of disconnected segments cut off by highways and rail corridors!)

That lower access will be great to have, though I agree it doesn't look like cycling is a consideration. Always the bastard child of design in this province. In Quebec, they would 100% build in cycling from the get go.
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It is a real shame that none of the Rouge Park trails south of Steeles/Taunton are bikeable per Parks Canada's trail map. There needed to be at least one continuous bike trail from Webb Road in Stouffville to Lake Ontario.

In other bike related news, Insauga published this article recently saying a new conservation area in Mississauga - including a new Waterfront Trail - will open on the last week of May 2026. I remember seeing the trail under construction when biking from Toronto to Niagara back in October.

 
TwoWheelPoli said:
In other bike related news, Insauga published this article recently saying a new conservation area in Mississauga - including a new Waterfront Trail - will open on the last week of May 2026. I remember seeing the trail under construction when biking from Toronto to Niagara back in October.

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I don't think the trail will run through yet. I think the connection on the western side will have to wait for the Lakeview Village developments to advance further. But this is still good news.
 
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