What’s Happening with Scarborough’s Waterfront?

Right now, large parts of the official Waterfront Trail in Scarborough from East Point Park to Silver Birch Beach next to the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant require cyclists to go on-road. However, that may not be the case for too much longer. Last week, ground was officially broken for the Brimley Road South multi-use trail which is the first step in realizing the Scarborough Waterfront Project from Bluffer’s Park to East Point Park. Let’s look at what’s in store for Scarborough’s Waterfront.

Rendering of Scarborough Waterfront West Segment Trail (Via TRCA)

A Call to Action for Scarborough

All right, folks! We need to talk about Scarborough’s dangerous streets.

On Sunday, February 11, a memorial ride was held for a 66-year-old female cyclist killed at Brimley & McNicoll. If that wasn’t bad enough, another crash in Scarborough this month killed a 47-year-old male cyclist on Monday near Birchmount & St. Clair. While it didn’t happen right on Birchmount – which had bike lanes removed in 2011 – the consequences of refusing to build safe streets still apply across Scarborough. Finally, despite the Danforth-Kingston complete street being part of the 2022-24 Bike Plan, there still has not been a public consultation held which had been delayed due in part to last year’s by-elections for Mayor and for Council in Scarborough Southwest.

Memorial ride held at Brimley & McNicoll on Sunday, February 11

Memorial Ride at Brimley & McNicoll

Unfortunately, it seems Toronto can’t get by a single year without a cyclist getting killed. On Monday, January 30, a woman in her 60’s was struck by a driver at Brimley & McNicoll and died of her injuries on Saturday, February 3. Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists hosted a memorial ride for the fallen cyclist earlier today which started at Kennedy Station.

RANT – Consequences of Neglecting Safe Streets

In August 2021, Miguel Joshua Escanan was killed while riding northbound at Avenue and Bloor. A death which could have been prevented had the City followed through with implementing ActiveTO bike lanes on that stretch. Unfortunately, the same thing almost happened again two years later.

The removed Brimley bike lanes near this week's fatal collision

A Case of the Toronto COVID-19 Blues

This week has been a depressing one in the City of Toronto as Ontario continues to set new records for daily COVID-19 cases. A bike lane has been removed, winter conditions have caused traffic chaos, and another person biking was killed. It’s time to do a round up of these events.

Bike lane symbols scrubbed off Brimley - via Scarborough Cycles

Brimley, Huntingwood & North Scarborough Green Loop

One part of Toronto I haven’t biked around as much is Scarborough. Sure, I biked to my old job in Pickering from Rouge Hill GO station, but only two kilometres of that trip is in Scarborough. As for longer treks, I did bike along the Gatineau Hydro Corridor and got to the Scarborough Bluffs once each. Yesterday, I joined the Toronto East Cyclists for a ride along the North Scarborough Green Loop while also checking the recently installed Brimley ActiveTO lanes.

Janet Joy and Peter - along with the Toronto East Cyclists - on the Huntingwood bike lanes