Dissecting Doug Ford’s Bike Lane Removal Annoucement

On Friday, August 28, Toronto showed up big time during a Critical Mass ride to protest the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision earlier that month which gave the Ford government the green light to remove bike lanes on Bloor, University, and Yonge. This morning, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced his government issued a request for proposals to restore traffic lanes on those streets which could put our bike lanes at risk. The most immediate focus is on a 600-metre stretch from Clissold Road to the Tom Riley Park parking lot.

A November 2025 protest ride on Bloor Street in response to Bill 60

To find out how much risk our bike lanes are under, I looked at Google Maps’ satellite view and take some measurements. However, I would welcome suggestions for alternatives given their shameful move to rename Lake Ontario. Unfortunately, MapQuest – which vowed not to carry out the name change – doesn’t have a biking layer.

After Clissold Road, there is one block to Islington Avenue which is about 29 metres wide and has cycle tracks, a bus loading zone, two westbound thru lanes, a concrete median, one eastbound left turn lane, one eastbound thru lane, and one eastbound right turn lane. Adding an eastbound thru lane would lead to a total of seven lanes. Assuming all of them were 3.3 metres wide, that would be a total of 23.1 metres. If you remove the centre median, that gives you about six metres left to work with which is more than enough to keep the cycle tracks.

The east side of Islington is about 21 metres wide with cycle tracks, two westbound thru lanes, one westbound left turn lane, a concrete median, and one eastbound thru lane. If you were to add one eastbound thru lane, you would need a total of 16.5 metres for motor vehicle traffic; leaving 4.5 metres to accommodate narrower cycle tracks from Islington to Monkton Avenues if you remove the median.

The next two blocks from Monkton to Eagle Road are about 23 metres wide including cycle tracks, the eastbound parking lay-bys, one eastbound thru lane, and one centre left turn lane. You then have two westbound thru lanes west of Lothian Avenue or one thru lane and one parking lane east of Lothian. You need about 2 metres width for the southbound parking lay-by which leaves you with 21 metres. As with from Islington to Monkton, it is technically possible to have four thru lanes and a centre left turn lane while keeping the bike lanes west of Lothian. However, the north side parking lane east of Lothian would need to be converted into a traffic lane while allowing parking only outside of rush hour. Alternatively, the centre turning lane could be removed for that stretch.

The next block covers the intersection at Aberfoyle Crescent which is about 20 metres wide with no parking layby on the south side. Having four traffic lanes and an eastbound left turn lane would leave only 3.5 metres left which is barely enough for painted bike lanes. There is not enough room to keep both the turning lane and the parking lane, so a trade-off between the two would be needed as with the Lothian to Eagle block.

The block east of Aberfoyle is only 19 metres wide which is more problematic. It would be impossible to have two thru lanes in each direction plus a centre turning lane without removing the bike lanes. If you remove the centre turning lane, the bike lanes could then remain. There is also a parking lay-by on the south side which would be unaffected.

Finally, you have the bridge crossing Mimico Creek. At 17 metres wide, it can accommodate four traffic lanes at 3.3 metres each which that leaves you with 3.8 metres which is barely enough for painted bike lanes.

While these measurements show it is technically possible to keep the bike lanes from Clissold Road to Montgomery Road while allowing two traffic lanes in each direction, there will inevitably be some trade-offs need. It may be possible to achieve similar outcomes along other parts of Bloor Street, but there are a few stretches which are too narrow to accommodate four traffic lanes and bike lanes. These include the Yorkville stretch from Church Street to Avenue Road at 14 metres wide, Spadina Avenue to Dundas West Station which varies from 12 to 14 metres wide, and the Humber River bridge (pictured below) at 14.6 metres wide.

In response to today announcement, Cycle Toronto issued a new petition calling on Doug Ford to focus on fighting Donald Trump instead of Toronto which over 2700 people have signed so far. They also encouraged people to call or text the Premier at (647) 612 3673. While there is reason to hope that the bike lanes can be spared, we must remain vigilant and be ready to participate in any direct actions that come up should they end up being removed.