This week has been a stinker for Toronto’s cycling community. On Tuesday, mayoral candidate Brad Bradford called for the Bloor bike lanes in Etobicoke from South Kingsway to Resurrection Road to be removed. Earlier today, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned Justice Paul Schabas’ ruling from July 2025 in favour of Cycle Toronto by arguing the bike lane removals along Bloor, Yonge, and University were unconstitutional. While it remains unclear whether Cycle Toronto will choose to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada – which only hears a limited number of cases deemed in the national interest – I used my day off work today to explore the Bartley Smith Greenway. I’ll also explain how it fits with the larger Vaughan Super Trail initiative.
I started at Finch station and rode west on the Finch Hydro Corridor to G Ross Lord Park.
After getting a bit lost at G Ross Lord Park and a short roll on Torresdale Avenue, I came across this trail fork which needs some wayfinding signage. Veering left allows you to continue on the Finch Hydro Corridor while veering right takes you to Steeles and the Bartley Smith Greenway.
Some construction on Steeles meant some sidewalk riding and crossing near Dufferin.
The Bartley Smith Trail starts at the West Don Valley Open Space per the cover photo – please come up with a better name – and has a detailed wayfinding map below.
Additional wayfinding signs are provided, but I wished these would be applied more consistently along the trail.
The pavement quality from Steeles to Dufferin is TERRIBLE! The City of Vaughan ought to repave the entire stretch as soon as possible!
Once onto Dufferin Street, a decent multi-use path is provided to just before Glen Shields Avenue. However, it transitions into a painted bike lane which goes north to just before Highway 407.
One option to continue north is to take the path by Riviera Park on the southwest corner of the intersection and go underneath this tunnel. I did this on the way back which wasn’t very pleasant. The other way is to take a sidewalk path on the north side just before Cherry Hills Road.
I’m not a fan of how the path between both ends of Glen Shields is basically a wide sidewalk. Not exactly pleasant to bike on.
The Marita Payne Pond is not a bad spot to relax.
Once past the northern Glen Shields entrance, the Bartley Smith Greenway is mostly gravel with a few paved trail sections. Here’s the trail as it goes under Highway 407. I would later note a lot of gravel stretches are too narrow to accommodate two cyclists riding side by side.
Rivermede Road has a pedestrian crossing where the trail enters Langstaff Eco Park.
A decent marsh lookout can be found just past Rivermede.
Going under the Barrie GO line.
Clearly, Vaughan can do excellent paved trails as done with this short stretch just south of Langstaff. However, this treatment needs to be done along the entire trail. Especially if you are going to make it part of the Vaughan Super Trail!
However, the trail leading to the trail parking at Langstaff is almost nonexistent.
After riding up Planchet Road, I was informed by a city employee that the trail was closed to Jacob Keffer Parkway due to some emergency tree work. Therefore, I had to back track to Basaltic Road for a bit. Not exactly pleasant riding along these industrial roads with trucks present, but at least traffic volumes are low.
After getting back on the trail at Jacob Keffer, this wooden switchback trail takes you back to Basaltic.
Basaltic has a short multi-use path before the trail veers off road again.
Rutherford has good quality cycle tracks on both sides. However, I wished there was a pedestrian crossover (or crossride) at the trail given the cycle tracks are technically unidirectional and you have to be a bike salmon until you get to Keele.
The trail splits in two at Rutherford. However, I don’t recommend riding the eastern trail which is almost non-existent.
At least there’s an opportunity for some bird watching including this double-crested cormorant.
At Fieldgate, I left the eastern trail to go on road until reaching the western trail.
While you still have narrow sections, the western trail back to Rutherford is far superior.
After returning to Rutherford, I turned back towards Finch Station for a total of 34.5 km per this Strava map.
For those who haven’t heard, the Vaughan Super Trail is a proposed 100 km trail system which would eventually see a loop created including the Bartley Smith Greenway, the William Granger Greenway (a.k.a. Humber River Trail), the proposed South York Greenway parallel to Highway 407, and another east-west trail north of Teston Road. Unlike with Toronto’s Loop Trail, a lot more work is needed to make this trail loop a reality. I hope to ride the William Granger Greenway soon.
As for the Bartley Smith Greenway, there is a northern portion from north of Major Mackenzie Drive to Teston Road which is about 2.8 kilometres.
The City of Vaughan is also looking a filling the trail gap from Major Mackenzie to Rutherford including hosting consultations in 2021 and 2022. The plan is to build it out in phases – including resurfacing the existing western trail – but no construction timelines are currently known.
While I look forward to seeing this trail gap get filled eventually, I would strongly recommend that the City of Vaughan pursue an audit of the existing trail in order to improve wayfinding, widen the gravel portions to at least three metres, and – if possible – pave the trail. Ideally, such an audit should involve local trail users who know the area best, though it appears the York Region Cycling Coalition has unfortunately gone MIA. Finally, I would encourage the residents of Vaughan to ask their candidates for public office to not only improve the Bartley Smith Greenway, but also complete the Vaughan Super Trail.
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