As part of the Bike Plan, the City of Toronto is proposing the installation of bike lanes on Lansdowne Ave. between Bloor St. and Davenport Rd. This 1.5km stretch of new bike lane might not seem like much, but it will end up being a key connection between the Davenport Rd. bike lanes, Dupont St. / Annette St. bike lanes, and Lansdowne Ave. sharrows (black squiggles on the map). These all lead into other significant pieces of local cycling infrastructure such as the West Toronto Railpath (green line on map) and parts of the proposed West End Bikeways.
There will be a public meeting about this proposed bike lane on Thursday:
Thursday March 25, 2010
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Wallace Emerson Community Centre
1260 Dufferin - Ambrico Room
In the recent past, there was some significant opposition to the narrowing of Lansdowne Ave. south of Bloor St., so there may be some community opposition to the installation of these bike lanes. It would be extremely helpful if cyclists, especially locals, came to this public meeting to show their support.
The approval and installation phases of this looks like it may happen rather quickly:
Following this consultation, City Staff will review any comments received. We plan to submit this project for consideration to Public Work and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) meeting on April 20, 2010. We anticipate the Lansdowne Avenue bike lane project will be considered by City council on May 11-13, 2010. If approved, bike lanes on Lansdowne Avenue are planned to be installed in summer 2010.
If you can't make it to the consultation, be sure to the following addresses with letters of support and comments: bikeplan@toronto.ca, councillor_giambrone@toronto.ca, pwic@toronto.ca
More information about this public consultation can be found at:
http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/public-consultations/lansdowne.htm
The map is the City of Toronto's 2009 Bike Map, with some additions made with my own mad graphix skillz
Comments
Kevin (not verified)
I am sick of the hate slurs that reveal bigotry and prejudice
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 08:02Well, here is a first draft of the first comment that I'll be making:
I am profoundly offended by the two hate slurs contained in the flyer advertising this meeting.
The first one occurs with the words:
"The most significant change associated with the proposed addition of bicycle lanes would be the reduction of traffic lanes from two in each direction, to one in each direction."
The fact is, of course, that there are still two traffic lanes in each direction. One of them has been reserved for people using bicycles to get around. Cyclists are real people and their traffic is real traffic. I am deeply offended by wording which denies that we are real human beings and that our movement is real traffic.
The second hate slur occurs with the words:
"There would also be a reduction of parking,"
The fact is, of course, that with the planned installation of post-and-ring parking stands, there will be an increase in parking, not a decrease. Once again, I am deeply offended by wording which denies that we are real human beings and that our parking is real parking.
This whole flyer reminds me of the conversation in Mark Twain's book "Huckleberry Finn" between Huck and Aunt Sally about a boiler explosion on a river boat. From Chapter XXXII:
Huck: "We blowed out a cylinder-head.”
Aunt Sally: “Good gracious! anybody hurt?”
Huck: “No'm. Killed a nigger.”
Aunt Sally: “Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.
It doesn't matter if it is members of ethnic minority groups, cyclists, or any other human beings on the planet. Language that denies our humanity is offensive and totally unacceptable coming from a publication of the City of Toronto.
herb
good points: language excludes humans on bikes
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 09:34Could there be a human rights case in this? Or at the least a call to Transportation Services staff that their language excludes cyclists from being considered a part of traffic. You can send an email to bikeplan@toronto.ca
This language is in contravention of the Highway Traffic Act and CAN-BIKE which insist that cyclists are part of traffic.
GI Ppoo (not verified)
sigh
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 08:27Why did they narrow Lansdowne without adding bike lanes in the first place? Now they can't fit bike lanes in and have to use sharrows instead?
Bad planning.
herb
not the same part of Lansdowne
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 09:21The bike lanes are planned for the segment of Lansdowne north of Bloor. South of Bloor it was narrowed and sharrows were added.
Not the same part of the street.
anthill
Good MS Paint skills, vic.
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 10:24Good MS Paint skills, vic. However, the College St. bike lanes that will be painted in May are missing. The College St. lanes make this strip even more relevant.
vic
College connection
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 11:09I tried to allude to the College St. connection with my reference to "West End Bikeways". My impression is that the pavement markings that they'll be testing on College St. will be "rush hour sharrows", rather than bike lanes. That's probably why they want to implement such a serious testing program for it (they never do that for regular bike lane installations). But I think there's room for full bike lanes on the westernmost sections of College...so we'll see how that goes.
But you're right...Lansdowne is really becoming a major north-south connection in the West End. South of College/Dundas, there will also be another short section of bike lane added around the railway underpass. And then continuing south to Queen St., it's already narrowed and traffic-calmed, making it a pretty leisurely ride most of the time. Doubt they could fit bike lanes in on the southern end, but maybe give it a sharrow treatment too.
PS..thanks...I've been training hard to master my graphical wizzardry, but I don't use Microsoft products. I use The Gimp.
anthill
What? Sharrows? Bah!
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 15:06What? Sharrows? Bah!
Dietrich (not verified)
Can't wait!
Thu, 04/22/2010 - 15:01I live on Lansdowne Ave, between Wallace and Dupont and I cannot wait for this to happen. I've sent letter to Giambrone and the city voicing my support. Hopefully this really goes through once and for all!