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General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)

For all the talk of coordinating cycling projects with major road works, the city continues to miss one opportunity after another to do exactly that.


On this section of Royal York Road, a significant reconstruction of its sidewalks, curbs and road surface has just been completed. This stretch also happens to be part of the city's Ten Year cycling plan which calls for new bike lanes here.

View attachment 206395




Despite this, no bike lanes have resulted from the reconstruction. There are wide curb lanes and an unused yellow-painted strip in the middle of the entire stretch, but somehow no one thought to put this space to better use. Perhaps not surprising, since this is Stephen Holyday's ward.

View attachment 206394

Those lamp post (right side) are close to the road, but should have been on further out far from the curb. Doing so would allow more pedestrian use of the sidewalk.

The traffic lane widths are not meant to match the speed limit, but for speeders doing 100+ km/h. This is so the drivers would be safe, not for the pedestrians or cyclists.
 
And after seeing this article which highlights how progress on vision zero is being held up by bureaucratic crap, now I have to wonder what kind of similar roadblocks must be preventing progress on our cycling network.

Toronto city hall still throwing up roadblocks to road safety
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-road-safety-1.5299831?cmp=rss


And sure enough, I happen to find something on Twitter:

View attachment 206440

Even if the city actually creates bicycle lanes, there will always be those who think it doesn't apply to them.
 
Those lamp post (right side) are close to the road, but should have been on further out far from the curb. Doing so would allow more pedestrian use of the sidewalk.

The traffic lane widths are not meant to match the speed limit, but for speeders doing 100+ km/h. This is so the drivers would be safe, not for the pedestrians or cyclists.

This really looks like they shoved a 4 lane road into a space that had no business having a 4 lane road in it.
 
As per this post by Will Dos Santos on Facebook, Scarlett Road is getting its bike lanes painted today.


The image from his post is below:

206619
 
As per this post by Will Dos Santos on Facebook, Scarlett Road is getting its bike lanes painted today.


The image from his post is below:

View attachment 206619

What the city should have done was to raise the bicycle lane. However, the suburban anti-bicyclist councillors didn't want to upset their automobile gods.

raised-lane-in-amsterdam.jpg

raised-bike-lane-without-pa.gif

From link.
 
What the city should have done was to raise the bicycle lane. However, the suburban anti-bicyclist councillors didn't want to upset their automobile gods.

raised-lane-in-amsterdam.jpg

raised-bike-lane-without-pa.gif

From link.
As a cyclist who likes to ride at 25kph+, a curb is not desired. A slightly raised buffer is ok. Flat is safest.
 
As per an this report, updating the Yonge Tomorrow plan, the new downtown Yonge will NOT contain any cycling facilities, but will add such facilities to a nearby parallel street, one of Bay, University or Church.

 
As per an this report, updating the Yonge Tomorrow plan, the new downtown Yonge will NOT contain any cycling facilities, but will add such facilities to a nearby parallel street, one of Bay, University or Church.


The report doesn't go into much detail as to why cycling facilities were rejected, but this paragraph offers a hint:

Concerns have also been expressed regarding the compatibility of mixing major cycling facilities with major pedestrian facilities, especially in a tourism and entertainment focused district. Tourists walk, shop, and explore neighbourhoods in a very different way than locals. It should also be noted that the speed differential and potential for conflict between pedestrians and commuting cyclists is typically far greater than that between cyclists and cars on a low speed roadway. Queens Quay has provided many lessons learned regarding the preferred level of separation between pedestrians and cyclists in order to mitigate conflicts and support accessibility. The level of separation required to combine major cycling and pedestrian routes may not be compatible with a street intended to host numerous events where maximum operational flexibility is desired.


Meh, not convinced. Especially by the last point.
 

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