Leaside-Danforth Consultation (+ Other Upcoming Events)

Tonight marked the second cycling consultation I attended this week after the West Parkdale bikeway one on Tuesday which was also well attended. There was some security present at this consultation; probably because of last week’s event in Etobicoke. Even so, I didn’t see any protest signs tonight and there wasn’t a petition against this project as far as I know of, while there were still some concerns to be had. I already discussed the project in an earlier blog post, but wanted to take this opportunity to provide some additional information, as well as highlight some other projects coming down the pipe.

Revisiting the East End Grid

Last year, the City of Toronto announced plans to upgrade existing bikeways on the Leaside Bridge to cycle tracks which were approved by City Council. However, there was still a big question mark on providing an additional north-south connection from there to Danforth Avenue. The City recently announced a public consultation scheduled for Thursday, March 7 (6 – 8 PM) at 816 Logan Avenue to address just that.

The City of Toronto's proposed bikeway connecting the Leaside Bridge to Danforth Avenue

Approaching Fifteen Kilometres of Glory

This summer in Toronto has seen bike lanes installed at an unprecedented rate including the ongoing establishment of a fifteen kilometre continuous east-west cycling corridor along Bloor-Danforth. This has been a dream decades in the making and one poised to become a game changer for cycling in this city. On Friday afternoon, I had the chance to check out some of the progress.

Dawdling Along on Danforth

The last week in January saw two public meetings for the Bloor bike lane extension to Runnymede and one for the Danforth Study. The feeling I got after pulling a double header on Monday, January 27 was the two meetings couldn’t have felt more different though turnout was high at both. The Bloor meeting felt very optimistic with many participants feeling the proposed design was very good, though the intersection at Bloor and Keele needs a rethink. Fellow Toronto bike blogger Jun provided an excellent breakdown of what is proposed for the Bloor extension.

Hundreds of people attended the second Danforth Study meeting

The Danforth Study meeting – the second in the process – was more respectful without the shouting from a few bike lane opponents and the lack of a presentation, though there was still more opposition to bike lanes compared to the Bloor meeting. Instead, a bunch of panels from the three different studies – planning, retail, and complete streets – were put up including the feedback collected from the first meeting held in November. The feedback cited strong support for complete streets and pilot bike lanes, but that’s where the good news stops.

The Value of Tactical Urbanism

For those who aren’t already aware, the term “tactical urbanism” refers to the use of temporary, low cost materials to help improve public spaces and neighbourhoods. The practice has been around for a long time, but this term has been popularized over the past few years including by Mikael Colville-Andersen during his TV series “The Life Sized City”. Last weekend, 8 80 Cities and Better Block took this concept to a whole new level by building a pop up complete street on Danforth Avenue known as 8 80 Streets Danforth; a first of its kind for Canada.

One Year Later – Where Are We On Protected Intersections?

Last year saw two cyclists killed in places where bike lanes intersected; those being Douglas Crosbie at Dundas and Jones in May and Dalia Chako at Bloor and St. George in June. Those fatalities helped spark new demands for Dutch style protected intersections from road safety advocates and the Toronto Star, while City Council approved ten “complete intersection” pilots. What happened on this file since then?

Cycle Toronto's protected intersection demo at Open Streets TO

Back to the Bike Plan Drawing Board

This Thursday, Toronto’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee will review an update to the bike plan along with this year’s proposed cycling projects. The update effectively throws the bike plan approved in 2016 out the window; instead opting for more flexible three-year plans and a city-wide cycling network to be developed over the long term. What a slap in the face! Especially when you consider Toronto had a $16 million annual cycling budget (excluding federal and provincial funding) and five cycling fatalities in 2018, yet they built only 25 kilometres of on-street cycling infrastructure since 2016?!?!

The Bloor bike lanes need to be extended west from Shaw Street (pictured) to High Park

What's The Holdup, Danforth Bike Lanes?

With much of the cycling community’s focus on extending the Bloor bike lanes west to High Park, we cannot forget the need to extend the bike lanes east along Danforth Avenue. A complete streets study was announced at last year’s Bells on Danforth ride, but WTF has happened since then? Turns out there’s a lot going on with the east end’s main street.

Bells on Danforth 2018

Forwards (and Backwards) on Bloor-Danforth

Last week, the Toronto and East York Community Council approved the recommendations of a planning study done for Danforth Avenue from Coxwell to Victoria Park Avenues, as well as supported expanding the study to cover the section from Broadview to Coxwell Avenues. The Danforth planning study was widely consulted which saw strong support for 7-8 storey mid-rise buildings, heritage conservation, and complete streets including wider sidewalks and protected bike lanes. All four speakers present expressed support for improved cycling facilities and the motion will go to City Council on July 23; the last meeting before October’s election. If approved, we will be one step closer to getting bike lanes on “The Danny”.

2018 Bells on Danforth

A New East End Connection

Bike lanes on Woodbine Avenue

Normally, my bike commute takes me along Richmond-Adelaide and Sherbourne Streets, as well as Danforth Avenue to get to Danforth GO station. Sometimes, I will go home via Bloor and Shaw Streets thanks to the Bloor bike lanes installed last year. Given bike lanes were installed on Woodbine Avenue south of Danforth Avenue during the weekend, I decided to give Woodbine a try and check out other bike lanes which connect the east end to downtown. This new routing also allows most of my commute to take place on dedicated cycling facilities.

Cycling Towards Climate Optimism

Over the past twelve months, Cycle Toronto and advocates across the city were hard at work with the Bloor Loves Bikes campaign, which gained support from over 9300 residents, dozens of local businesses, and residents’ associations. One group which contributed significantly to the successful pilot project vote on May 4, 2016 is the David Suzuki Foundation (DSF). I interviewed Gideon Forman – their Climate Change and Transportation Policy Analyst – to learn more about the DSF’s campaign efforts and environmental leadership in general.

Yonge Loves Bikes ride in June 2016