An East End Missed Opportunity

Earlier this week, I was informed by a fellow concerned Torontonian – Kaila Hunte – that Broadview Avenue from Danforth Avenue to Gerrard Street would see streetcar track replacement and road resurfacing later this year with a virtual information session happening on Thursday, May 4 at 6:30 PM. Unfortunately, nothing for people biking was proposed as part of this project which represents the latest missed opportunity to make streets safer during construction. Another similar problem was raised by Cycle Toronto in Summer 2021 with the reconstruction of O’Connor Drive from St. Clair Avenue East to Bermondsey Road despite a requirement to take a complete streets approach by default as part of the 2019 Vision Zero update.

Map of Broadview Avenue construction (via City of Toronto)

Dissecting Toronto's By-Election Bikelash

One unfortunate recent development of Toronto’s mayoral by-election has been candidates and campaigns opposing bike lanes on arterial roads. As of this morning, I could identify at least six candidates and two campaigns that are opposed to them. As a public service, I will identify who these candidates are – so road safety advocates know not to support them – as well as put everything into perspective.

Opponents to the Midtown Yonge complete street on January 30, 2023 (via Jun Nogami)

Holy Public Space Overload!

To call this week a public space overload would be a serious understatement. Not only has Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s plans for Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Centre been dominating the headlines, but next Wednesday’s Infrastructure & Environment Committee meeting will see the High Park Movement Strategy debated. If that wasn’t enough, the City of Toronto revealed their latest plans for Kensington Market yesterday which is a huge improvement over the previous proposal. Let’s take a look at where things stand with these three projects.

Ontario Place's West Island - Which Therme wants to use for their luxury spa

Reflection on Bloor West Consultations

Last week, the City of Toronto hosted two open houses for the Bloor West Complete Street Extension which would extend the Bloor bike lanes in two phases from Runnymede Road to Six Points. Jun N attended Wednesday’s meeting at Swansea Public School and has a great write-up about it, while I attended Thursday’s meeting at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute. Since I already covered the technical details in an earlier post, this post will focus on general observations and community feedback.

Existing conditions at Bloor and Royal York

Site Check Along College

Happy Easter, everybody!

On the week of March 6, the City of Toronto started construction on College Street to upgrade the existing bike lanes. Raised cycle tracks are called for from Manning to Spadina Avenues, while at grade cycle tracks using parking curbs will be used from Spadina Avenue to Avenue Road. Since I had errands to do in the area yesterday, I decided to check on the progress done so far.

Rendering of College Street upgrades (via City of Toronto)