ADRM
Senior Member
It is not safe to assume that lane reductions lead to more traffic. And, in this case, the actual transportation report found the impacts of a reduction to be negligible.
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Yonge Street, North York Streetscape Improvements
- Thread starter salsa
- Start date
It is not safe to assume that lane reductions lead to more traffic. And, in this case, the actual transportation report found the impacts of a reduction to be negligible.
Cobra
Senior Member
I'm for the project actually but not without a subway extension to Steeles. Caravan of buses are a huge issues on Yonge. Just finding a way to remove them would go a long way to make Yonge run smoother, even with lane reductions.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
Good thing the buses all disappear before they hit the 4 lane section. This is only south of Finch.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
In a similar vein. See link.
It’s Happening: Fourth Avenue Protected Bike Lane Slated for Implementation This Spring
Brooklyn Community Board 7 endorsed the project last night, and DOT says installation will begin in the next few months.
It’s Happening: Fourth Avenue Protected Bike Lane Slated for Implementation This Spring
Brooklyn Community Board 7 endorsed the project last night, and DOT says installation will begin in the next few months.
amnesiajune
Senior Member
Why? Nobody's talking about changing anything north of Finch - in fact, the city staff say that whenever the subway is extended then they'll be able to look at making similar changes north of Finch.
And similarly, Yonge is already cut down to four lanes during rush hour north of Finch - why does it need to be more than four lanes between Finch and Sheppard?
M II A II R II K
Senior Member
And they should extend streetscape improvements to Sheppard to prompt people to actually wanting to walk there for it to become North York’s Bloor Street.
salsa
Senior Member
Due to lack of time, PWIC will finish debating this at their next meeting in late February.
constructo
Active Member
TORONTO STAR JAN. 19
Samantha Green of Doctors for Safe Cycling perhaps best characterized the lunacy around the $51 million plan to transform Yonge St. in the old North York.
The family doctor with St. Mike’s hospital urged public works committee members Friday to choose the option that will put in cycle tracks in both directions on Yonge St. from congested Sheppard to just north of equally congested Finch.
That option — pushed for more than a year by well-past-his-due-date NDP councillor John Filion with no idea where the money will come from — will see two lanes of traffic taken out to accommodate the tracks, wider sidewalks, new trees, street furniture and planters.
A second alternative — studied as part of a $2 million environmental assessment — would Enhance Yonge and put the cycling lanes on Beecroft, a ring road parallel to Yonge. This $71-million proposal is “strongly supported” by Mayor John Tory, who has said two lanes of traffic should not be taken out on Yonge St.
But Green told the committee that bike lanes on Yonge St. would be so much safer for cyclists and studies have proven — without question — cars would be removed from busy Yonge St. (and congestion would be reduced).
Asked for the studies, she couldn’t provide any.
Asked whether she lives in the area, she said no, but claimed she’d been to North York Centre “a few times.”
I decided to ask her, after she finished her deputation, whether it was indeed safe for those riding the proposed cycle tracks on Yonge St. to try to cross Hwy 401 on their bikes, just south of the planned area.
At first she mumbled that there were “alternative routes” but when I pressed her, she ran away from me.
There are no alternative routes and no easy route south from the $51-million plan. I can say that with certainty having run the Goodlife Fitness half-marathon down Yonge St. several times.
But don’t ever let common sense get in the way of leftist ideology and the absolute obsessive need to bike lane Toronto’s major arterials to death.
The left on council — propped up by Tory — have already foisted their ideology on Woodbine Ave., Bloor St. and are poised to ruin King St. as well.
In the end there were so many deputants that the public works committee ran out the clock (they must quit early on Friday), forcing a deferral of the item until the next committee meeting.
Doug Ford, who is running for mayor, told the committee he wanted to speak out about the “war on the car” and what Tory, the “King of Congestion,” has done to make gridlock far worse in the city.
He said he’s really concerned about the lack of “consultation” on a plan that will greatly impact on the neighbourhood residents and business owners and how 1% of those who ride bikes in North York Centre are dictating to the rest what should be done.
Both Ford and Giorgio Mammoliti told the media this entire plan should be put to a vote in the 2018 election, especially since with the new realignment of wards there will be one extra councillor representing the area.
Mammoliti said it’s only fair that when the ward is chopped into three for the 2018 election, all councillors be given a say.
“It’s insane what they want to do with Hwy. 11,” Mammoliti said of Yonge St.
“If councillor Filion ran an election on this issue today, he’d lose the election … that’s why they want to rush this thing through,” he said.
Samantha Green of Doctors for Safe Cycling perhaps best characterized the lunacy around the $51 million plan to transform Yonge St. in the old North York.
The family doctor with St. Mike’s hospital urged public works committee members Friday to choose the option that will put in cycle tracks in both directions on Yonge St. from congested Sheppard to just north of equally congested Finch.
That option — pushed for more than a year by well-past-his-due-date NDP councillor John Filion with no idea where the money will come from — will see two lanes of traffic taken out to accommodate the tracks, wider sidewalks, new trees, street furniture and planters.
A second alternative — studied as part of a $2 million environmental assessment — would Enhance Yonge and put the cycling lanes on Beecroft, a ring road parallel to Yonge. This $71-million proposal is “strongly supported” by Mayor John Tory, who has said two lanes of traffic should not be taken out on Yonge St.
But Green told the committee that bike lanes on Yonge St. would be so much safer for cyclists and studies have proven — without question — cars would be removed from busy Yonge St. (and congestion would be reduced).
Asked for the studies, she couldn’t provide any.
Asked whether she lives in the area, she said no, but claimed she’d been to North York Centre “a few times.”
I decided to ask her, after she finished her deputation, whether it was indeed safe for those riding the proposed cycle tracks on Yonge St. to try to cross Hwy 401 on their bikes, just south of the planned area.
At first she mumbled that there were “alternative routes” but when I pressed her, she ran away from me.
There are no alternative routes and no easy route south from the $51-million plan. I can say that with certainty having run the Goodlife Fitness half-marathon down Yonge St. several times.
But don’t ever let common sense get in the way of leftist ideology and the absolute obsessive need to bike lane Toronto’s major arterials to death.
The left on council — propped up by Tory — have already foisted their ideology on Woodbine Ave., Bloor St. and are poised to ruin King St. as well.
In the end there were so many deputants that the public works committee ran out the clock (they must quit early on Friday), forcing a deferral of the item until the next committee meeting.
Doug Ford, who is running for mayor, told the committee he wanted to speak out about the “war on the car” and what Tory, the “King of Congestion,” has done to make gridlock far worse in the city.
He said he’s really concerned about the lack of “consultation” on a plan that will greatly impact on the neighbourhood residents and business owners and how 1% of those who ride bikes in North York Centre are dictating to the rest what should be done.
Both Ford and Giorgio Mammoliti told the media this entire plan should be put to a vote in the 2018 election, especially since with the new realignment of wards there will be one extra councillor representing the area.
Mammoliti said it’s only fair that when the ward is chopped into three for the 2018 election, all councillors be given a say.
“It’s insane what they want to do with Hwy. 11,” Mammoliti said of Yonge St.
“If councillor Filion ran an election on this issue today, he’d lose the election … that’s why they want to rush this thing through,” he said.
sunnyraytoronto
Senior Member
More like due to PWIC being flooded by deputation from special interest groups and people from outside the area.
junctionist
Senior Member
It's rare to see people cycling on Yonge in North York at the moment, but the street undoubtedly needs to be redesigned to be focused on pedestrians rather than drivers. It's the main street of a vibrant and dense neighbourhood. If narrowed for bike lanes, I predict fewer commuters from the 905 will use it. Having streets as wide as Yonge induces demand from other areas of the city. All in all, encouraging cycling on Yonge and providing safe infrastructure is a reasonable project to undertake. It will only improve the area and make it more livable in the medium to long term.
Root
New Member
I contributed to the PWIC with an e-mail. If cycle tracks are put in on yonge street and things are overhauled (to make it a vibrant, safer street), at the expense of two traffic lanes, yes, things will really improve. Despite what people are opposing. Then again, you can't make people not drive on a street no matter what's done (I ride a bike everywhere, expect to be respected as I do with other road users). Cycle tracks, or bike lanes, encourages more to get out and ride. Those people in condos are probably just waiting for it to happen.
amnesiajune
Senior Member
The street is already pretty good for walking, and the same proposed pedestrian improvements are included in both the "enhance yonge" and "transform yonge" proposals. This debate is just about whether city council will take out the curb/parking lane and use it as a separated bike lane, or spend an extra $20 million and put separated bike lanes on Beecroft, which is one block west of Yonge. The "transform yonge" proposal is a lot better if you ask me (and probably everyone here except SunnyRay), but the status quo is still pretty good and the alternative proposal isn't dramatically worse.
I really wish people would quit the hyperbole surrounding this project. Sometimes I think that John Filion hasn't walked through his ward in more than a decade based on how he craps all over Yonge Street.
Root
New Member
Can you prove that he "doesn't walk in his ward"? Seems you are one of the people who dislike his great purposals, in which I also support.
amnesiajune
Senior Member
He keeps saying that it's dead, lifeless, has no character, nobody walks there, nobody ever goes there, it's nothing but a highway, and so on. If you've taken three steps on Yonge Street at some point in this decade, you'd know that those are all lies. Even if you just look at the city's publicly-available pedestrian counts, Yonge between Sheppard and Mel Lastman Square is as busy as Bloor West and Spadina, which you'd never hear someone describe that way.
You can read through the thread and see my opinions if you want - I was initially skeptical but now I support the "transform Yonge" option for the most part. But whenever I see John Filion take a dump on his own neighbourhood to drum up support from people who know very little about the area, I really want to oppose it.
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LNahid2000
Senior Member
After working downtown for a few years, I had a brief stint working in the area...first at Yonge/Norton and then at Yonge/Finch. I hated walking on Yonge in NYCC because it was so much noiser than downtown, the sidewalks were narrow, and most of the space is dedicated to cars. Yeah, it's better than walking in the outer subrubs but it's still not a great pedestrian experience. I agree with Filion that it's not pleasant to walk in this area, and removing 2 lanes of high speed traffic will make a huge difference.