June 2025 Cycling Consultation Roundup

As Bike Month continues to pedal along, the City of Toronto has recently launched public consultations for three projects. Two of them are in Scarborough; those being the Alton Towers and Malvern neighbourhood connections. The third is a Phase 2 consultation for the Leaside Bridge to Danforth Avenue Cycling Connections. Let’s review these projects, as well as one recent installation I came across yesterday.

Neighbourhood greenway option for Ingleton Boulevard (via City of Toronto)

Alton Towers Neighbourhood Connections

The consultation for Alton Towers in Scarborough already took place on Wednesday, June 11, but the survey will remain open until Wednesday, June 25. This project will be split into two phases with Phase 1 – the focus of this consultation – being focused on Ingleton Boulevard from Middlefield Road to Alton Towers Circle with construction expected in 2027. A second phase – which would address several other streets such as Boxdene, Alton Towers, Whistling Hills, Ketchum, Oakhaven, and Audrelane – will be revisited next year.

While the short stretch of Ingleton from Middlefield to Milliken District Park will have bike lanes, the remaining three sections will give residents a choice between a neighbourhood greenway with sharrows and dedicated bikeways. Personally, I was disappointed with the use of the neighbourhood greenway option as the primary project rendering. While Sections 2 and 4 suggested uni-directional cycle tracks for a dedicated bikeway, Section 3 from Shady Hollow to Boxdene called for a multi-use path on the north side next to Muirlands Park and a school. I would have preferred having a consistent design along the entire route. The Ingleton and Alton Towers intersection will also offer two choices which are an improved crossover and conversion to an all-way stop. In both cases, a short cycle track would be installed on the west side of Alton Towers.

Malvern Neighbourhood Connections

As with the Alton Towers project, the Malvern one will be split into two phases. Phase 1 – which will be built in 2027 – will consist of sharrows on Crow Trail (which don’t count), uni-directional cycle tracks on Brenyon Way and Casebridge Court, and multi-use paths on Venture Drive and Water Tower Gate to the existing Sheppard Avenue bike lanes. Phase 2 will look at Malvern Street, McLevin Avenue, Tapscott Road, and Sewells Road for installation in 2028 or later.

The public drop-in event will be held on Tuesday, June 24 (7:00 – 8:30 PM) at St. Columba Catholic School (10 John Tabor Trail) while the online survey will be available until Tuesday, July 8. One last call out for this project is I like the use of a woman and kid on a cargo bike for the rendering of Brenyon Way.

Leaside-Danforth Phase 2 Consultation

During the public consultation for Leaside-Danforth held last year, the City was looking at possible traffic diverters and/or direction changes for Logan Avenue between Danforth and Cosburn Avenues. While the cycle tracks on Broadview and O’Connor were installed last year along with sharrows on Hopedale Avenue, the Cosburn to Danforth stretch was postponed. Residents expressed concerns about the traffic diverters and direction changes, while there was also significant interest in adding a contraflow on Carlaw Avenue. Therefore, residents will be able to pick between the original option for Logan only and the new option which calls for a southbound contraflow for Logan and a northbound contraflow for Carlaw. Residents would also be able to pick between two parking options for Carlaw from Mortimer to Fulton Avenues; the first of which places the parking on the east side and the second one has the contraflow on the east side. The second one should be deemed best practice for contraflows to reduce the risk of dooring and crossover traffic.

The public drop-in event will be held on Monday, June 16 (6:30 PM to 8:00 PM) at Frankland Community Centre (816 Logan Avenue) while the survey will be available until Friday, June 20.

Wallace Emerson Neighbourhood Streets Plan

Yesterday while biking to Nations, I came across a new cycle track on Hallam Street which goes from Bartlett Avenue to Dufferin Street.

As part of the recent construction notice for the project, a contraflow is expected to be installed on Millicent Street from Dufferin Street to Emerson Avenue soon. The Wallace-Emerson project is also expected to see contraflow bike lanes added on St. Clarens, Wallace, and Emerson Avenues in July. (Thanks Kanchan) It’s too bad Dupont got put on hold because of Bill 212. 😞

Next Steps

If you live, work, or travel near the Alton Hills, Malvern, or Leaside-Danforth projects, please make your opinions heard! In the current environment, we may need to focus more on these neighbourhood projects until bike lane approval criteria can be established by Queen’s Park which some argue the lack thereof could be a feature instead of a bug.