City staff pulled a surprise move at the PWIC meeting. In an appended agenda ("New Business") they snuck in 16.1km of bike lanes to be approved on Lawrence Avenue East in Scarborough. Our mole in the city failed to warn us of this development. This was made even more interesting by the fact that this was done using the new approval process.
The old approval process had staff complete the detailed design work before the approval, including any required by-law changes. In the new approval process staff propose to put a bike lane on a street and work out the details after the approval. Staff are also given direction to put in any necessary by-laws changes or amendments after the detailed designs are complete. The reasoning behind this change is that the current approval process is very time consuming of staff time for plans which may not be approved, and that too much bickering occurs over small sections of the proposal (as we saw on Annette) that it becomes difficult for staff to meet the targets set out before them. This change was asked for by the mayor in a meeting with Gary Welsh, the director of Transportation Services.
The big news today from the PWIC was garbage, specifically plastic bags and coffee cups, so these new bike lanes flew in under the radar.
The target this year was to install bicycle lanes on 50 kilometres of roadway, which represents approximately 100 km of bicycle lanes, as measured by lane kilometre. If approved by city council, we will meet that target with 52.8km of approvals this year. The full breakdown of all of the approved lanes can be found at http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/pw/bgrd/backgroundfile-17350.pdf on page 3.
We should be very happy to have met the 50km target in approvals this year, but we are deeply disappointed that we did not get the 50km of new paint on the roads that we were promised. Still, this is a milestone, and it provides a better foundation from which to jump from into next year's projects. We have been told to expect one monolithic report early in the new year (by or before April) with all of the bike lanes for the whole year in it. We are crossing our fingers!
The Toronto Cyclists Union has a little blurb about the Lawrence Ave East bike lanes at http://bikeunion.to/news/2008/11/12/lawrence-avenue-east -- and I'd also like to hear more details about this.
Also adopted (approved) today at PWIC: The pricing scheme for the new bicyle station at Union Station, effective Jan 1, 2009. Not sure when it will open, though.
Comments
Martin Reis (not verified)
Sigh
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 11:16While I am happy for Scarborough Cyclists, I find this very contrived ...
James (not verified)
I am so happy to here this.
Fri, 12/12/2008 - 14:17I am so happy to here this. I decided to buy another road bike.
Svend
Bravo!
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 16:33Bike lanes on both sides of Lawrence Ave., from Victoria Park Ave. to Rouge Hills Dr. - fully right across the center of Scarborough is nothing short of amazing!
It leads right to the great waterfront trail, hopefully we'll soon connect it to the Don and have more north/south routes crossing it.
Arnold (not verified)
Great Stuff
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 17:00AWESOME
as a cyclist who uses this stretch of roadway on a regular basis, I am thrilled that we are getting bike lanes along Lawrence.
I have only one comment, why stop at Victoria park? there is nothing there. if they pushed the lane only 4 Km West, you could connect to the pathways in the Leslie valley, the Lawrence walkway, and the Don Vally all of these have pathways that are destinations some of us ride to.
I ride from Yonge and Eglington to Leslie up the leslie valley trails and then down Lawrence.
It's a great development, but lets see more.
Darren_S
Misleading
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 19:29This is no surprise move. Several articles on the lanes have been in the Scarborough Mirror about Lawrence, the last being Oct. 28th.
http://insidetoronto.com/article/58206
The first time I read about it was in September 2007. Something I think I read on this site. Regardless, the rationale behind these bike lanes is to slow traffic and stop the pedestrian carnage on the street.
Since when was there an "approval target"? Holds as much water as their budget commitments. How many years have they approved cycling budgets that did not even come close to being fully utilized. Even suggesting "approval" is somewhat questionable. Are they not just reaffirming what is in the bike plan?
As another poster pointed out, why not have some connection to other routes? Or don't cyclists needs play a part in this?
hamish (not verified)
some reservations about this haste....
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 21:35I don't know the areas nor the problems, so I can only presume that there's going to be some good to come with this approval (which is only PWIC ok, though that's important).
But the devil's in the details, and I don't trust the staff/city all that much to give quality/safe bike lanes vs. big distances for the quota to make Mr. Heaps be made to look good, and to do so in bike-friendly-councillors wards alone doesn't bring us a good network.
We don't impose taxes or offer bus services only in areas where the ward councillors agree to them.
And all this xxkm quota implies that the current BIke Plan is worth doing in its entirety. In some ways it's very deficient.
So I continue to regard 1km of Bloor St. as being a salient keystone segment that continues to be bypassed; and I'd be interested to hear from other folks about the new Wellesley lanes.
Thanks for being atop this Anthony - I'd registered to be a dep on the winter maintenance issue, dropped by early afternoon, couldn't afford the entire aft, left early as there was another dep today, though the FSE is now recommended to be removed from the Official Plan. 6 years later, and they still can't really look at transit options approving instead an EA for a local Front St. road at c. $50M likely $80M...
Qui bono?
Luke Siragusa
Re: some reservations about this haste....
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 23:14My .02 on the Wellesley St. lanes: ho hum. The street is a secondary artery and, notwithstanding the woeful state of its asphalt, has always functioned as a defacto bikeway, especially since it links to College via the U of T campus west of Queens Park.
It's the policy of expediency writ large: bike lanes on Wellesley don't unduly infringe upon parking or motorized traffic flow so, of course, why not lay some paint there? You know the routine.
A possible -- intentional? -- pernicious effect of the Wellesley lanes is that the drive for the real prize, Bloor St., is subverted. I can hear the indignation of Kyle and Co. now: "We gave you lanes on Wellesley and now you want them on Bloor too!?!?"
Futz.
hamish (not verified)
Mr.Rae promised bike lanes on Bloor and Wellesley
Fri, 11/14/2008 - 11:13In the last campaign, Mr. Kyle Rae promised bike lanes on both Wellesley and Bloor St. There was also some divic admission that the Wellesley lanes are more local, and there are problems of the connections at either end that Bloor doesn't have through this area.
So I agree that it could be used to undercut the Bloor campaign, and we've had some talk about it elsewhere, and I think the line is, yes it's good, but we need both for encouraging cyclists everywhere, transport equity, subway relief, and better connections into UofT.
Kevin Love (not verified)
I ride every day on Wellesley
Fri, 11/14/2008 - 16:16Hamish wrote:
"I'd be interested to hear from other folks about the new Wellesley lanes."
Kevin's comment:
I ride every day on Wellesley. 40 minutes ago I rode by where sharrows were in the process of being painted west of Bay street.
The bike lanes have a few serious problems. The most serious problem is that they are too narrow when they are adjacent to parked cars. The door zone extends across most of the lane. Another serious problem is lack of continuity at intersections. The Bay sharrows are a sick joke.
tanya
wellesley lanes are dangerous - agreed
Fri, 12/12/2008 - 14:29Hi Kevin,
I agree with you the Wellesley lanes are dangerous. I've only ridden it once since the lanes were put in - late at night. I could totally see how during busy traffic times, and for less experienced cyclists - total nightmare. Although most bike lanes "end" at intersections, these dump you right into the curb without a wide enough curb lane for side by side sharing (no matter what side of the car you are on) - presumably solely for the convenience of adding unnecessary left turn lanes (how about NO LEFT TURNS on wellesley?)
So the cyclist must shoulder check and merge, without any real signage, warning or sharrow cues, to a place where the motorist is not thinking or expecting merging traffic. Doesn't look like room to pass a right turner on the left either between the left turn lane and the curb lane.
The Bay sharrows are a WTF as they appear to be encouraging a lane not wide enough to be shared to be shared with the cyclist at a position that makes the motorist guess room to pass or no?
When I get some more daylight time to go and take detailed pics I'll try to write an article (critique) about them...
T
AnnieD
I was on Wellesley yesterday
Sun, 12/14/2008 - 09:59I was lucky the light was red when I approached the intersection and the lane ended abruptly because traffic was heavy, with some big trucks, and I would have hated to have to merge with moving traffic in that bit.
I also hate it when bike lanes don't resume immediately on the other side of the intersection. It encourages cyclists to move out towards the crosswalk, which then forces us to try to merge back in which is more dangerous than going straight through in the first place. But going straight through can be difficult when you've got cars breathing down your back. The bits with lanes are great - a real improvement over my previous riding experiences on Wellesley. The interesections really ruin a good thing.
Kevin Love
Wellesley bike lanes at Bay
Sun, 12/14/2008 - 14:00Hi, Annie and Tanya,
Yes, the Wellesley bike lanes at Bay street have some serious problems.
This can be contrasted with the more effective bike lane treatment at Wellesley and Queen's Park. There:
All we need is for the bike lane to be about 50% wider, with granite curbs or other barriers to keep the cars out, and the traffic lights programmed for a 20 km/hr "green wave" and then the bike lanes would be up to standard at Wellesey and Queen's Park.
AnnieD
That reminds me
Mon, 12/15/2008 - 09:51Your comment about "keeping the cars out" reminds me that I forgot to mention in my post: in the short distance that I travelled on Wellesley (Yonge to Jarvis), there were three cars and one truck stopped in the lane. Grrrrrrr. Cars using bike lanes for parking and pick-ups/drop-offs is one of my biggest beefs, and the reason I use Huron rather than St. Georges when biking through the UofT campus.
David Henderson
I agree - why stop at Vic Park?
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 22:20I've seen that the Bike Plan includes chunks connecting all the way to Bayview. The map has it going up one of the roads in the Bridle Path area, and connecting blocks north of where it starts up again on Lawrence E, just west of Bayview.
I wonder if it would be possible to connect these in more of a straight line, through York University, on some off-road trail. That would appear to be a very useful connection to provide a continuous E/W route, without resorting to a large diversion.
Hamish, I can't use my bike to get to work this week, but next time I get a chance, I'll try the new Wellesley lanes, and post back here. Last time I took Wellesley going east, I was annoyed... not because of the poor road conditions at the time, or the cars, but because I got hung up at every stop light from Bay across to Parliament. Now that I think about it, a poor connection between Harbord and Wellesley made this a poor route too.
Luke Siragusa
Take it when you can.
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 22:43Bike lanes on Lawrence Ave. from Vic Park to the Rouge -- it sounds too good to be true. Is it?
These are exactly the initiatives that are required: considerable distances along major arteries -- especially in hostile territories (such as Scarborough).
I don't doubt that the maneuverings responsible for slipping the 16 KM worth of Lawrence Ave. lanes onto the agenda justifies a measure of cynicism, but it's good to know someone somewhere at 100 Queen W. is sympathetic.
It ain't squeaky clean, but let's take it anyway.
Yangster (not verified)
New Bikelane will make Grocery shopping easier
Fri, 11/14/2008 - 10:13I'm glad there's going to be a bike lane on Lawrence Ave East, it will make my grocery shopping trips much easier.
I think the lane ends at Victoria Park because west of Victoria Park will be the entrance/exit ramps to/from the DVP.
Merging with cars at highway entrances/exits can be scary at times.
Not to mention that the grade is quite steep there.
Cars will be traveling at 60km/h while I pedal at 12km/h uphill, yikes!
It will be even better if there's a path from Don Mills to Victoria Park that avoids the highway ramps.
Arnold (not verified)
While I see your point, I
Fri, 11/14/2008 - 16:31While I see your point, I regard this as a mild issue, if you are going uphill, you are past the merge lanes, I ride over the dvp regularly and have never had an issue with cars not giving room or going uncomfortably fast
Jacob L.
Crossing the Don Valley Parkway
Wed, 12/17/2008 - 18:17In my opinion, all of Lawrence Avenue East, including the highway crossing should be covered with bike lanes. Although it would be very difficult to install a conventional bike lane on Lawrence across the highway.
Maybe, the city can install conventional bicycling lanes, continuing west of Victoria Park and ending at the Railside-Underhill-Lawrence intersection. I would imagine that these conventional lanes be on the sidings of Lawrence Avenue.
At the Railside-Underhill-Lawrence intersection, what if bike boxes were installed in both directions? Then, along the Don Valley Parkway crossing, two bike lanes can be installed in the very centre of Lawrence Avenue, instead of on the sidings. That way, cyclists don't have to worry about merging traffic as they cross the highway.
This is just an idea. The biggest barrier that I can think of is traffic signalling considerations to give cyclists priority and time to switch to and from the centre bike lanes.
I'd like to hear your responses on this.
Martin Reis (not verified)
Not contrived
Fri, 11/14/2008 - 12:05OK. I like it.
geoffrey (not verified)
2 M + please!
Fri, 11/14/2008 - 12:11Yes. Bringing them west to something useful like Park Lane is important. But no less than making them wide enough that cyclists can boot along at a safe distance from the curbgutters without having to worry about being clipped by rear view mirrors on encroaching pickup trucks.
Hey city of Toronto. Do the right thing. Stop the pinch on bike lanes and put the pinch back on speeders taking advantage of boulevard de facto drag strips.
AnnieD
Exactly the type of lanes needed
Fri, 11/14/2008 - 12:55I was checking out what my routes will look like when/if the bikeplan is ever completed, and for some destinations, it will remain a mish mash of detours and "designated bike routes". 16km in a straight line along a main artery with no parking - now that's a bike lane. I hope it encourages more cycling in Scarborough.
anthony
Still more compromises
Fri, 11/14/2008 - 18:49Apperently some of these bike lanes won't be as good at the cycling satff (and us cyclists) would like them to be. On some sections staff were hoping to put in buffered lanes, these are lanes that have extra space between the (fast) moving traffic and the cyclists' bike lane.
Going to council is the following:
But the Lawrence Avenue Study and Streetscape pans preclude this nicety for cyclists. I'm still trying to find out more, but I am hoping to get some momentum in council to override this ammendment so the we get the high quality bike lanes we deserve. Also, I hope that the timing of the resurfacing in Ward 43 does not cause this to be unduly delayed.
I was told that Councillor Grimes added these ammendments, and while I can beleive that, I have not yet verified this to be true.
Let me know by posting another comment if you know more...
Erhard
Excellent news!
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 12:36As others have said: the addition of a major artery to the network is so important, and I am glad to see it happening.
One of the major obstacles for commuting via bike is safety - bike paths are a visible and easily understood right of way.
I personally do not expect the path network to be as complete as we like it on day one, but a major route like this moves us in the right direction. Missing connections can be worked out as we go. We'll just have to stay diligent and make sure that when- and wherever road work is about to happen, it advances the Bike Plan as well.
anthony
Torontoist Covers Lawrence Ave East
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 15:37http://torontoist.com/2008/11/many_lanes_allay_my_fears_improve_m.php