On Sunday evening, a cyclist was seriously injured at Eglinton & Oakwood. Something which prompted renewed calls asking when will the long promised eglintonTOday Complete Street from Keele to Mt. Pleasant be installed? Especially given the Eglinton Crosstown LRT opened last month. Given this unfortunate development, it’s time to put the spotlight back on Eglinton to find out where things stand and issue a call to action.
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| Cycle Toronto's Rally and Ride for Eglinton from September 2025 |
Last fall, the City of Toronto resurfaced the stretch of Eglinton Avenue without installing the bike lanes given they were contingent on the LRT opening per the June 2024 city council motion. This prompted Cycle Toronto to organize a rally and ride along that street to raise awareness about the matter. To be fair, that stretch of Eglinton was in terrible shape and needed the resurfacing, though we still need to hold the city accountable. Especially given the Ford government’s hostility towards bike lanes which I will get back to.
One of the stretches of Eglinton from Croham Road to Ronald Avenue was to be deferred because of a scheduled storm sewer replacement. A construction update was issued on February 2 which stated that work started in January and is expected to be completed in May including road resurfacing. Depending on when work on the long-promised bike lanes begins, it’s possible the Croham to Ronald segment could be done at the same time after all.
However, there is one stretch from Marlee Avenue to Bathurst Street – except the completed portion in front of Cedarvale Station – which is up in the air because of the Eglinton & Allen Intersection Study. A virtual public meeting will be held on Monday, March 23 at 6:30 PM to update the community on the study and various trial traffic changes. When I asked Cycle Toronto, I was informed most stakeholders agreed it wouldn’t be practical to install bike lanes from Marlee to Bathurst until that study has been completed. If you plan to attend the meeting on Monday, I encourage you to ask these questions:
- When does the City of Toronto expect to complete the Eglinton & Allen Intersection Study? This is important to determine the earliest timeframe for bike lane installation along with any other obstacles that could come up.
- When does the City of Toronto plan to install Phase 1 of eglintonTOday outside of the Eglinton & Allen study area now that the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is open?
Regarding provincial legislation, Bills 212 and 60 – the latter of which bans converting motor vehicle lanes to bike lanes (or any other prescribed purpose – exempts projects that were already underway. In the case of eglintonTOday, Phase 1 from Keele to Mt. Pleasant qualifies for that exemption because the Avenue to Chaplin stretch was already built by the time Bill 212 was approved and work on the remainder of that stretch was already awarded. Phase 2 from Mt. Pleasant to Brentcliffe would likely be at risk, though I would certainly welcome evidence suggesting the contrary.
In order to hold the City accountable for Eglinton, here is a letter you can send to city staff, Mayor Chow, and the councillors along the route. This version was revised from the one I sent on Monday to account for some additional information that wasn’t previously mentioned.
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To: eglintontoday@toronto.ca; cycling@toronto.ca
CC: mayor_chow@toronto.ca; councillor_matlow@toronto.ca; councillor_colle8@toronto.ca; councillor_bravo@toronto.ca; councillor_nunziata@toronto.ca; info@cycleto.ca: community.bikeways.toronto@gmail.com
Dear eglintonTOday Team and Cycling & Pedestrian Unit,
CC: Mayor Chow, Councillors Matlow, Colle, Bravo & Nunziata, Cycle Toronto, Community Bikeways
It has been brought to my attention a cyclist was seriously injured at Eglinton & Oakwood earlier this week. As you are aware, that part of Eglinton was supposed to have included bike lanes as part of the eglintonTOday project, but that street was resurfaced last fall without them because the bike lanes were contingent on the opening of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT when the project was approved by City Council back in June 2024.
Given the long-delayed LRT line finally opened last month, when will those long promised bike lanes from Keele St. to Mt. Pleasant Rd. be installed? Especially with the snow having almost disappeared from the warm weather we have been having as of late, as well as the fact that Phase 1 stretch should technically be exempt from the Ontario government’s Bills 212 and 60. We can't afford to have any more deaths or serious injuries on Eglinton because of continued inaction by the City of Toronto.
While the stretch from Marlee to Bathurst is affected by the ongoing Eglinton & Allen Intersection Study, does that study have an expected completion date? Especially considering the installation of bike lanes along that stretch is contingent on completion of that study.
I look forward to hearing from you soon and urge you to ensure eglintonTOday Phase 1 gets built as soon as possible.
Sincerely yours,
(Your name and address)
I am cyclist and ride about 10,000KM a year. I would NEVER ride on Eglinton even if there were continuous bike lanes. There is too much traffic, too many intersections, too many pedestrians, and cycling across an entrance/exit to a highway is crazy dangerous (regardless of lights or bike lanes.)
ReplyDeleteThere is a good bike lane (needs some repaving in areas) that runs parallel to Eglinton on Elm Ridge-Roselawn-Castlefield. That route connects with the great bike lane that starts just west of Keele (that is wonderfully separated from the road and pedestrian side walk).
There is also the beltline that also runs parallel to Eglinton starting at Caledonia and runs east all the way connecting to the Mt Pleasant Cemetery bike paths connecting either through Mud Creek through Bricks to Bayview OR Moore Bike lane that also connects to Bayview Bike Lanes.
The Bayview Bike lanes also are completely separated from the road and from their you can either go South to the downtown or Lake Shore Bike paths or you can go North through the Don Valley paths all the way to Lake Simcoe.
I would rather than bike advocacy groups advocated for a continuation of safe bike lanes North to Richmond Hill. Simply bikes on very busy downtown streets are a death trap UNLESS they are completely separated (not next to) from the roads and do not have intersections every 100'.
I respectfully disagree. People regardless of how they get around want to get to destinations on arterials including Eglinton, so it's only fair that they get protected bike lanes despite what Doug Ford claims. Yes, the Beltline Trail can make for a nice ride, but it's no substitute for on-street infrastructure.
DeleteAny news from the March 23 2026 Eglinton & Allen public meeting? Were bike lanes even mentioned?
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to do a follow up post soon, but need the City to make the slide deck publicly available first.
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