The "war on the car" is over, so I imagine we will move with steady determination to remove all impediments to automobiles on all streets. We must solve traffic congestion for the sake of all taxpayers in this city. Everything that impedes traffic - bike lanes, speed humps, crosswalks, streetcars, stop signs and traffic lights - will be removed. NIMBYs have for too long pushed for traffic calming on their residential streets. No longer will we allow them to ruin the freedom of driving a car.
Let me single out one group as an example, the Moore Park Residents Association, though merely as a way to demonstrate what should be done everywhere in Toronto. They have been strident in their call for the removal of bike lanes on Jarvis Street, yet have been silent about the unnecessary traffic calming on their own street. If a five lane highway on a downtown street with a high density of condos, schools and houses is a Good Thing, it must also be a Good Thing to increase the freedom of driving on Moore Avenue as well. (Thank you John G. Spragge for pointing this out.)
Moore Avenue is currently only two lanes with a posted speed limit of 40 km/hr and extensive traffic calming. Moore Avenue, like so many similar residential streets, is contributing to traffic congestion in our city and this is costing the city billions of dollars every year. We should expand Moore Avenue into the 4-lane Moore Highway that it wants to be. See image below of how we envision that Moore Avenue can be turned into a highway:
Since cyclists can just drive to the Don Valley if they want to bike; there will be no need for bike lanes. Frankly, the sidewalk is optional as well; the only reason it isn't removed is because removing it wouldn't be enough to add another car lane. The speed limit should be raised to a consistent 60 km/hr to best optimize the time for cars getting to and from Bayview and Mount Pleasant. I'm sure there are many more improvements we can make to Moore Avenue to improve traffic. Perhaps removing the houses or trees? Let's put on those thinking caps!
We should not let the special interests of Moore Park override the needs of hard-working, taxpaying drivers!
Comments
W. K. Lis
Maybe we should increase all
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 10:07Maybe we should increase all speed limits on side streets in the city to a minimum speed of 50 km/h, with all main streets having a minimum speed of 60 km/h. That's minimum, not maximum!
simplicius2wheels
'love it! Why not use humour
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 10:13'love it! Why not use humour to get a point across!
Random cyclist (not verified)
Herb - you couldn't be more
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 14:13Herb - you couldn't be more wrong about Moore Avenue. As a Moore Park resident, there is no purpose for the bike lanes on Moore Ave. It was a typical Miller expensive stunt. Where would we bike to??? the DVP? Bayview?? Mount Pleasant? We should get rid of those lanes too... I've never seen anyone on it and 99% of cyclists go through the cemetary.
Remember - bike lanes are for 4 months a year and for 1% of the population.
But don't get me totally wrong. I'm all for lanes in the right streets. I bike to work almost every day. Sherbourne is great.... it should have barriers. Jarvis just makes no sense for bike lanses however. Thanks God for reaonable, sensible people like Rob Ford. I wish Tam Wong listened to her constituents for once.
beerich
I lived in Moore Park for 30
Fri, 07/15/2011 - 01:47I lived in Moore Park for 30 years. You must be new. Moore is the only thoroughfare from the actual park, to Bayview. Did you miss that?
Bike lanes are for 4 months and 1% of the population? You are on crack. While living on Inglewood, I biked easily for more than half the year, and see Toronto increasing its cycling population every year. The Belt Line that continues from Moore Ave should be continued all the way down to Rosedale Valley Road, and bridged over to the Don Valley Trail. In fact I pitched the City on this about 5 years ago. Of course nothing has been done, and how much was spent on Moore Ave? For what reason? It was already a single lane, one which generated money for the City of Toronto.
Oh, by the way. The Cemetery, where my parents are, have closed down on cyclists years ago. It is 100% private property and they don't want cyclists there. The reason cyclists take that is because it's the only safe route around.
Politicians work at City Hall because they can't get hired anywhere else. They are not smart people. Watch a Council debate. I've had Kindergarten discussions that have more to offer.
Oh, and try to service your neighbourhood instead of closing it up. Bicycles have 100% to get on the road. If they choose, they will take your lane and then you'll really start to whine.
And another thing. We got your stupid 88 and 88A buses past our house for all that time. How about you suggest taking that route out as well? Noisy frickin buses filled with people that don't want traffic in their part of town.
rabeille (not verified)
Actually, I use the Moore
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 14:31Actually, I use the Moore bike lanes twice a day, 5 days/week for about 7 months/year.
Ed
I'm glad to hear that a
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 18:16I'm glad to hear that a "Moore Park resident" says:
You're right, it should be four lanes. Every time I've driven across Moore Avenue, I am amazed by the fact that Miller installed all those expensive stop signs.
To support Moore Park's quest for efficient traffic arteries, every time I drive along Moore Avenue I'll be sure to rev my engine and squeal the tires at every stop to show my support for the end of the war on cars and the start of really good fast roads for cars. Since my car is an old Trans Am with a 400-cubic inch engine and four-speed manual transmission, you bet my protest at Miller's expensive stop signs will be obvious for blocks around!
locutas_of_spragge
A few years ago, I had the
Thu, 07/14/2011 - 03:04A few years ago, I had the pleasure of listening to a woman on so-called "traffic calming", and it certainly clarified a great deal for me about the practice. She said that in certain neighbourhoods, the city should only only permit auto traffic "on sufferance. OK, sister, I thought, I grew up in the Anglican church, I can speak Cramner's English as well as thou canst. She certainly left me with a clear mental picture of whose neighbourhoods she expected to remain inviolate, and whose neighbourhoods she expected to drive through in her own car.
Councillor Parker has now exposed, even more clearly, the contradictions at the heart of motoring culture. His ward has restrictions designed to exclude cars everywhere. Consider Merton Street, north of Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Merton runs straight from Bayview to Yonge, and connects with McRae in the East which takes it through to Laird, and thence to Thorncille, Overlea, and Don Mills Road. That would make it a natural East-West route-- if not for the speed humps and 30 km/h speed limit.
I say this not to blame the residents of Merton Street for wanting to exclude automobile traffic, but to cricize them, and other constituents of Councillor Parker, for not seeing that people who live on Jarvis have a right to the same consideration, no more but certainly no less.
Overall, the confusion caused by traffic restrictions plays a significant role in accidents. I believe the maze of one-way streets designed to keep cars out of Kensington and the Annex played a role in the recent bike vs. pedestrian crash, and I also believe they played a role in my getting t-boned by a car on Euclid four years ago. I have long believed that "traffic calming" should go, and we should replace it with a shift away from the car. If you allow private cars on your street, you should have to
allowwelcome all comers. If you want to exclude cars, then you should have to exclude all private vehicles except ones with wheelchair stickers.If I get to drive on your street, you should have the right to drive-- on the same terms-- on mine. Obviously that won't always work in practise; I now live on a street that ends in a bluff over the Humber River. But I agree with it as a general principle.
John (not verified)
I love how the self-absorbed
Fri, 07/15/2011 - 12:00I love how the self-absorbed Moore Park residents are determined to miss the point by declaring that no bike lanes are needed on Moore Park. Pay attention: WE AGREE!
Let's make this modest proposal less modest. For real, let's demand everything that is proposed here. Four lanes, no speed humps, increased speed limits, and you bet: no bike lanes!
If they selfishly demand that other neighbourhoods accept a multi-lane highway to serve Moore Park's driving needs, then the very least they can do is accept the same highway through their own neighbourhood.
I wonder how John Parker likes how his $200,000 anti-pinko performance art piece has divided Toronto and pitted communities against each other. Cyclists are now demanding the whole lane, and motorists are promising to kill cyclists in retaliation. It's gonna be a long, hot summer. Let's hope nobody gets hurt.