On Monday, the Ford government approved Third Reading of Bill 60 which – among other things – would ban the conversion of motor vehicle lanes for bike lanes or “any other prescribed purpose”. Given this sad day which will be a major setback for cycling in Toronto, we need to look at how bad this bill really is. For this purpose, I will look at Toronto’s 2025-27 near-term bike plan and other projects which were already approved with a focus on arterial roads.
While writing this piece, I originally flagged eglintonTOday as the biggest project at risk because of Bill 60. However, a closer review of Bill 60 noted projects which construction was already underway (or contracts awarded) would still be exempt as was the case with last year’s Bill 212. Even though Phase 1 from Keele to Mount Pleasant was resurfaced in September without bike lanes, the City still plans to install the bike lanes when the Eglinton Crosstown LRT opens which I will believe when I see it. However, the 2.5 km Phase 2 from Mount Pleasant to Brentcliffe will most likely be scrapped, as would nearby projects on Yonge from Davisville to Eglinton (950 m) and Davisville from Eglinton to Mount Pleasant (800 m).
Speaking of Yonge Street, Transform Yonge from Avondale to Bishop (2.6 km) would also not survive in its current form which involves removing two traffic lanes, while at least the 250 m stretch of yongeTOmorrow from College to Gerrard – which has bike lanes – would likely get scrapped. The term “any other prescribed purpose” could also lead to death of the entire 1 km project from College to Queen including some short pedestrian priority blocks.
Within downtown, Wellington from Blue Jays Way to York (750 m), York from King to Front (300 m), Gerrard from Parliament to Blackburn (1.0 km), Dupont from Lansdowne to Davenport (3.7 km), and Parkside from Lake Shore to Bloor (1.9 km) would all get scrapped.
A significant Scarborough project which would at least be partially scrapped is Danforth-Kingston from Victoria Park to Cliffside which covers 3.3 km. The same fate would also apply to Victoria Park from Danforth to St. Clair East (2.0 km) and St. Clair East from O’Connor to Victoria Park (1.4 km). One part of Toronto which would remain largely unscathed from Bill 60 is Etobicoke.
There is one project which I would put a question mark on which is the already approved Sheppard Avenue East Complete Street from Bayview to Leslie (2.0 km). Toronto City Council suspended the tendering and construction of this project back in October, but a rough look at the street on Google Maps suggests there may still be enough right-of-way to work with. However, city staff would need to do their due diligence to confirm this. I originally was going to flag Eglinton from McCowan to Kingston (2.3 km) as a question mark, but the Scarborough Village Streets Plan – which will have a public consultation on Thursday, December 4 – indicates that project will still move forward but be deferred to 2029-30.
In total, at least 21 km of bikeways would be at risk of being scrapped because of Bill 60, while another 2 km on Sheppard would require further confirmation. If there are other projects I am missing (or need to remove as they will still go ahead), by all means call them out!
Here’s a table of projects at risk for your reference.
Even with this significant setback, next Thursday’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee meeting will see a lot of cycling projects brought forward. The most significant of these is Kingston Road from Cliffside to Scarborough Golf Club (5.9 kilometres) which the Danforth-Kingston 4 All group had advocated for the past few years. A few other notable projects include Rathburn from Melbert to The West Mall, Kipling from Finch to Albion, Trethewey from Jane to Clearview Heights, and Keele from Finch to Steeles. A couple of shorter – but important – trail connections are proposed for Weston from Lanyard to Finch and Morningside from The Meadoway to Pan Am. A couple of neighbourhood streets plans such as Alton Towers and Malvern are included, but I wouldn’t count the Martin Grove Cycling Connections given almost the entire route is sharrows.
In order to express your support for the Kingston Road proposal or any of the other cycling projects, I encourage you to please e-mail iec@toronto.ca, as well as copy Mayor Olivia Chow (mayor_chow@toronto.ca) and your city councillor by Wednesday, December 3 at 4:30 PM. Please reference Motion IE26.6 when making your submission. You can also e-mail iec@toronto.ca if you wish to register to speak on the item.
No comments:
Post a Comment