One Final Push For Bloor

This month has brought lots of good news for Toronto’s cycling community! First, Toronto city council approved the Bloor bike lane extension from Runnymede Road to Six Points with only one councillor opposed. This past Monday saw Torontonians elect bike-riding Olivia Chow in the mayoral by-election! And yesterday, Mississauga City Council finally approved the Bloor Street Integrated Project using Alternative #6 consisting of two traffic lanes, one centre turning lane, and protected bike lanes! Let’s find out what this means for the soon-to-become intercity bikeway.

Checking Out The Finch West LRT

Last week, I did a site check along the Eglinton Crosstown LRT route between Cedarvale and Eglinton stations. That project may be subject to endless delays & lots of negative criticism, but the Finch West LRT quietly chugs along. Yesterday, I got off Finch West station on my way home and checked out a short stretch between Finch West and Jane and Finch stations. Let’s see how that project is shaping up.

Connecting Southern Ontario's Rail Trails

Over the past few years, I have had the chance to ride several regional trails in southern Ontario; starting with the Greater Niagara Circle Route in 2016. I have since done the Oro Medonte Trail from Barrie to Orillia, the Georgian Trail from Collingwood to Meaford, the Brantford to Port Dover trail, the Elora Cataract, and part of the Omemee Rail Trail near Peterborough. However, a look at Google Maps show there are a lot more regional bike trails, along with some significant gaps. Let’s look at some of these regional trail gaps and how they can be filled.

Map of current bikeways per Google Maps

One Step Backwards With Kensington Market

This week saw some good news with the approval of the Bloor West Complete Street Extension to Six Points. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Kensington Market. The City of Toronto announced that the Toronto & East York Community Council would be debating the Kensington Safe Streets project at their June 22, 2023 meeting. Upon reviewing the final report, it amounts to nothing short of a betrayal to those Torontonians who had been calling for a car-free market for years (if not decades). Let’s recap what was previously proposed and what has been recommended in the final report.

All graphics used in this post are from the City of Toronto

Progress Along Eglinton Avenue

Construction on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT seems to have no end in sight with Metrolinx and the Ontario government not offering any clear timelines on when the new transit line would open. However, most of the road work appears to be completed with the exception of between Avenue Road and Holly Street. Before heading to Canadian Blood Services to donate blood yesterday – it happens to be National Blood Donor Week – I decided to check out the progress between Cedarvale (at Allen Expressway) and Eglinton (at Yonge Street) stations.

2023 Bloor Recap (+ A Site Check)

This week saw two debates related to Bloor Street; those being Toronto’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee (IEC) on Monday and today’s General Committee in Mississauga. Toronto’s IEC approved their motion – which will now go to City Council on Wednesday, June 14 – while Mississauga’s General Committee offered a silver lining despite the motion being deferred. Let’s review what happened at both meetings, as well as a site visit I did on my way home from the IEC meeting on Monday.

Albert Koehl getting ready to speak at Monday's Infrastructure & Environment Committee meeting