Next Exit - Anything Better

It is a hard intersection for cyclists and drivers to get along at because the drivers barely get along with one another there. It is poorly designed mixed with high speed. I spoke to a resident that virtually lives over the intersection. While he said that he felt accidents were no greater than most other comparable intersections there is a lot of near misses. I have spent a total of 20 minutes at the intersection in the last week, I have seen 4 near misses and screeching of tires (either trying to avoid or stop) at least ten times.

Your post brings to mind the different abilities of cyclists. I (and I assume most of the readers to this blog) can handle Bayview or Finch and have found ways to deal with the major crossings (the freeways and railways mainly). I would like a place where my dad could feel comfortable cycling, which would mean some boulevard bikepaths on the suburban arterial roads and some special routing around the big crossings.

I use to live up by North York city hall and commute by bicycle to my workplace in Don Mills. The route I had worked out involved crossing the 401 at Bayview, not because it was the best interchange but because as soon as I got south of the 401 I had a really good route through residential streets for the remainder of the ride. Fifteen years ago, when I was doing this route, crossing under the 401 at Bayview was pretty hairy. I solved the problem by moving south of the 401. Now, with the greater volume of cars on the road, that crossing must be hell.

I'll find out for sure monday morning when I have to do the reverse route to go to the passport office. Again, because of the connecting routes, the Bayview/401 intersection makes for the most logical crossing point.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Just looking at the (yr 2000) map, I would give consideration to a bailey (footramp) bridge model - exactly like the one built over the QEW/service roads between Dixie & Cawthra roads, or the other one at the base of Roncesvalles Ave that stretches across the Gardiner at Parkdale. I would think that Bessarion Rd / Banatyne Drive might make for a reasonable pedestrian etc. route given the stubway stop on Bessarion.
I'll note however that 49-year old Applewood - QEW bridge's former iron railings used to have a pleasant colour of green. Now it unfortunately looks a bit prison yardish.

While this is being mentioned, Bessarion~401 footbridge, a companion twin-constructed paved pedestrian bridge may be useful near the base of Willowdale Avenue between Bayview & Yonge Street. There appears to be available parkette land on each side of the highway.

On a side issue, I would also like to see a another bridge, smaller in design, over the CN railway about midway between the 401 and Lawrence Ave, between Bentworth/Caledonia and the tiny path indicated at the end of Maple Leaf Dr. All three light traffic roads are marked as suggested bicycle routes. Generally, I am opposed to the encouragement of mainstream cycling upon major city roadways where alternate grid design road routing is present.

I agree that the Eglinton West path is great. In Toronto, I also enjoy, and prefer, cycling directly on most of the roads. It's merely an opinion, but I happen to disagree with some of the 'takeover the streets' inclined activism.

I live at Avenue and Eglinton and work in Markham. It's 21km between my apartment and my office - a long commute, but doable. I can live with the lack of showers at work and cope with the hills, but the lack of decent routes made it untenable.

Unfortunately, of the all roads between the 404 and Avenue, Bayview is probably the best compromise in a north-south route. Side streets are totally unsuitable for a commute of that length because of the four way stops. At least one of those streets needs proper bike lanes. Bayview makes the most sense and there's plenty of room beside the road.

As for me, I'm going to get a cover for my folding bike and the the subway take me to Leslie/Shepard where I'll get on the trail and go almost all the way to work. Now I'll just have to watch out for early morning joggers and the occasional deer. Here are my thoughts about each highway crossing.

Avenue

Good - Crosses the 401 on a bridge, all off-ramps make T's with the road (i.e no fast off-ramps), some wide sections (eglinton to lawrence), lot's of side street alternates if the going gets tough
Bad - Road essentially stops at the 401 and it's not clear if there's a way to bike across the golf course to get over to yonge, lots of stop lights, parked cars, heavy and aggressive traffic, some narrow sections (eglinton to lawrence)

Yonge

Good - nothing
Bad - high-speed on and off ramps, very long tunnel section, very very big valley to the south, very very fast traffic between York Mills & Shepard

Bayview

Good - few stop lights, fairly consistent traffic speed (counter-flow), all off-ramps make T's with the road, no disappearing lanes northbound
Bad - fairly long underpass, traffic can be agressive, pavement very rough near curb, lane is neither narrow enough to force cars to change lanes, nor wide enough to have them pass comfortably.

Leslie

Good - few stop lights, connection to a trail at N.E. Corner of Leslie/Shepard that runs to Leslie/Steeles without a single at-grade crossing. From Steeles it is possible to get up to John St. in Markham mostly off-road
Bad - Everything. This is the worst of the bunch, high speed on and off ramps, curb lanes repeatedly disappear (requires lane changes in the underpass section), high speed traffic, aggressive drivers, road ends at Steeles

Betty Sutherland Trail

Good - it's a trail, quite scenic, meets above mentioned trail
Bad - it's a big detour. Trail runs from Leslie/Shepard to Don Mills/Duncan Mills. That's the better part of a city block in the wrong direction if you're not going northwestward.

Don Mills

Good - shared bike/bus/HOV/taxi lane, no 401 interchange
Bas - shared bike/bus/HOV/taxi lane also features, asshats alone in their cars driving very fast/aggressively in the empty lane, it's almost continuously uphill going north, road jogs westbound to become Leslie somewhere north of Steeles, not so many side streets to bail onto.

404

Good - nice wide paved shoulder, slow moving traffic, no stop lights
Bad - likely a hefty fine and a ride in a police car for your effort, high speed ramps

Yonge subway

Good - air conditioning, easy ride, connection to Shepard line will drop you off or pick you up at the north side of any of the aforementioned crappy intersections
Bad - no bikes between 6:30 am and 6:30 pm.

407 Crossings

Strangely, when I got to the 407 every single one of the crossings was better. There are no underpasses and often there's a narrow paved shoulder between the sidewalk and the curb lane.