Bloor Viaduct Feb. 25, 2008
Hamish took this photo on Feb 25, 2008. The same day I went to College street and the situation had not been fixed either for much of College street. Same on Harbord as Wes pointed out to me in an email that morning.
Clearly the bike lane on the viaduct is being used as the snow dump and subsequent ice melting section. The real message about cycling in Toronto as far as the city is concerned is in how it treats cyclists and the facilities that exist.
Comments
vic
Nothing changed?
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 10:41So apparently nothing has changed, even after hearing promises that bike lanes would be cleared.
There are huge mountains of snow appearing in various places around the city, where truckloads of snow have been taken after being removed from parking spaces and roads. But I guess there's no room left to put that litle bit of extra bike lane snow....
Now....one thing that was mentioned several times is that the City will clear snow from bike lanes if residents tell them about it. Has anyone written letters or called yet about these bike lanes, especially the key points like the Viaduct?
Darren_S
Did you really believe it?
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 11:28Did anyone really believe the promises about the bike lanes being cleared? Have you not been burnt enough to know better?
I have tried calling over a period of two days using the proper snow removal number and some of the general numbers, nothing but a lot of pressing numbers to get a busy signal.
Anyways, it is that cyclist's fault for riding on the sidewalk.
Aidan
too few too busy poorly cleared bridges
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 12:10This drives me insane! Just where else is a cyclist supposed to cross the Don, or the Humber, but one of the too few too busy poorly cleared bridges? This is a crime!
hamish (not verified)
hey, this was after the clearing efforts!
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 13:03Geez, all these negative comments about the city and carimes against the climate and cyclists. This picture was after, repeat after, the City cleared off the snowbanks c. 90%removal so it is actually am Improvement! though regrettably parts of these bike lanes remain 110% useless.
Yes, I've kvetched a bit - and had the good fortune to bump into Gary Welsh at the City Fri. aft and he was thrilled to see me and hear my concerns, but he did say that he'd get on the Viaduct - wasn't it done yet? - and the clearing of the snowbank did happen Sat. night.
Some parts of the bike lane network is good from city efforts eg. northbound St. George and parts of College, but southbound St. George is quite useless and the Viaduct remains a rather nasty place to bike on - and yes without choice, unless one uses the sidewalk or TTC, as what has happened with Geoffrey being run down from behind when taking the lane sends a chill that may extend beyond the temperature of today.
Please see takethetooker.ca for a fun pic of an option.
Jason (not verified)
Post and rings buried
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 16:18The snow in the bike lanes has certainly been frustrating. And I hesitate to even bring this up since the city has been having so much trouble on that front alone, but another related problem is the fact that the post and rings near where I work are buried in a mountain of icy snow. Looking around I see that this problem is widespread. I understand that the snow has to go somewhere and there has been a lot more than usual this year but for those of us with employers who don't provide indoor bike parking, this can be an insurmountable obstacle to commuting at this time of year.
tanya
Different standards for different roads
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 17:59The Queen street bridge over the Don has been completely cleared of snow right to the curb - so the excuse that the snow has to go somewhere doesn't hold. There has been additional removal on Queen after the fact, so why not on Bloor/Danforth?
I disagree with Hamish though that taking the lane is too chilling an option. Getting hit from behind is an exceedingly rare occurrence and much less likely to happen "by accident" than a car misjudging room when passing when you are trying to share the lane with them. Get a good rearview mirror so you can see who is behind you. Threats appear threatening from a long ways off - they are just bad drivers period.
That said, over the viaduct traffic moves very quickly and it would be useful to have the city earmark for priority for snow removal. But they can't do a half-ass job of it either. Merging out of the bike lane again can be difficult in this section, so you don't want to have to weave around some bits.
8sml (not verified)
Asking for snow removal
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 18:06I called the city's bike lane snow removal line a couple weeks ago and asked them to remove the snow from the bike lanes on The Kingsway and on Runnymede. Both were still filled with snow this week.
hamish (not verified)
disparities in clearings
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 23:25Some portions of the bike lanes are nicely cleared eg. northbound St. George St. and a lot of College west of Spadina. The Viaduct though has been missed, though passed by hundreds of dump trucks of snow to the Don Valley each day.
Given how destructive freeze-thaw cycles are for bridges one might think prudent management would focus on such costly infrastructure ahead of some suburban side streets, but maybe if we have more crumbling infrastructure we'll be even better positioned to ask for money!
My nerve for lane-taking isn't what it used to be after Geoffrey being hit with little civic or police response.
hamish (not verified)
error in comment
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 23:28too tired - all of the College is west of me now, but it is the east of Spadina segments that seem pretty clear relatively speaking.
Martino (not verified)
Excellent Info
Fri, 02/29/2008 - 08:08Thank you for reporting in on The Kingsway and Runnymede. I was told repeatedly to call that
number by a whole bunch of people when after the snow it hard earlier this month.
Right.
Good to know I was right to be skeptical. But above all I am sorry to read they don't care.
The message is clear.
8sml (not verified)
Update
Fri, 03/14/2008 - 08:53Runnymede bike lanes were cleared of snow yesterday. A nice job, too, right down to the ground and under all the parked cars.
The Kingsway bike lanes are still unusable.